Day Five, My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.


Day Five:
Gorges, Girders, and Grist Mills

It was another warm day with no rain. Our main goals of the day were to visit the New River Gorge Bridge and do laundry. We accomplished both and more.

The New River Gorge National River is run by the National Park Service. The park is 53 miles along the New River which has cut a deep gorge through the surrounding mountains. There are trails, overlooks, historic sights, visitor centers, trains, and many other things. So our first stop was at one of the visitor centers to get help to plan our day.

After we watched an overview movie, we decided the first order of business was to take a hike to one of the overlooks. The weather was hot and the trail went up hill both ways. Or at least on the way back. I got tired. but I survived. The scenery was beautiful along the way.

We saw wilted azaleas all over the area. Southern West Virginia is in a drought and drinking water is threatened because some of the streams are 75% below their normal water levels.

At the end of our trail, we got a good view of the bridge that crosses the gorge. The bridge is the longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. For scale, the white dot on top of the bridge is a big truck.

At another spot, we got different view of the bridge.

And Ward climbed lower to get a better look at the girders.

As the afternoon was heating up to near 90, we decided to go to nearby Babcock State Park.

Besides camping and hiking, Babcock is home of the Glade Creek Grist Mill. It was assembled from three other mills and is a replica of a nearby mill. It operates on the weekends. 

On the way back to our hotel, we drove through the bottom of the gorge and got to see the New River up close.

We had dinner tonight at Tamarack. Tamarack is a collection of arts and crafts made by West Virginia residents. It also has artisans demonstrating how their work is made. After we ate, we enjoyed browsing the variety of handmade items there.

Until next time...

Day Four, My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Four:

Telescopes, Towns, and Twisty-turny

Today we had rain showers on and off as we drove about 2 1/2 hours east to our first destination. Because of the different days of when things are open and closed, we are driving further some days than we originally planned.

We saw some breathtaking scenery today, especially at the higher elevations. However, we were only able to get a couple of pictures because there was no safe place to get off the twisty-turny mountain roads. It's hard to get perspective, but that mountain in the background is far away.

Our first stop was at the Green Bank Observatory. The observatory is home to several radio telescopes that can detect faint radio waves from far outer space. Because man made radio waves (think cell pones, gasoline powered vehicles*, etc.) cause interference, it is in the middle of a radio quiet zone. No chance of getting a cell phone signal for miles around.

This is the largest and newest telescope at the facility.  It is almost 500 ft. tall and weighs 17 million pounds. Recently it discovered the most massive neutron star ever found. We got this picture at the one spot we could get a photo before we had to turn everything off. The  Allegheny mountains that surround it help protect from man-made radio waves. That is one reason for its location.

I think this is one of the coolest places I've ever been. I was awed to be in a place that was detecting things from the "edge" of the universe.

Next we went to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. As you might have guessed, they have regular steam engine train rides from here. However, the trains don't run on Monday, so we explored the town.

Cass was built in the early 1900's as company town for a pulp company. After about 50 years, the the business left and there was not much but a ghost town left. The state bought the town in the 1960's and made it into a park featuring the train rides up the mountain to where the logging was done. In the picture, you can see the company row houses that still exist. The whole town is now on the the national historical register.

Timbering is one of the oldest and largest industries in the state of West Virginia and still going on. We saw two log trucks go through town while we were there.

To take a break from the twisty-turny roads, we stopped at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. Droop Mountain was the scene of an important Civil War Battle.

The park was a pleasant place. You can see Ward heading toward the log cabin that houses a museum.

Until next time...

Day Three, My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Three:
Destinations, Distractions, and Discoveries

Today was a transition day as we moved from the Parkersburg area to go south to a new base in Beckley. We had planned to take about a five hour drive to get there with one stop along the way. But we got distracted and it took us about 9 hours to complete our journey. But we discovered a lot of interesting, fun things. That's what is great about having flexibility.

We made an impulse stop at JR's Donut Castle before we even got out of town. In spite of having breakfast just an hour a go, I felt hungry as we passed and told Ward we had to go back. JR's has been making fresh donuts for 40 years and in fact one of my uncles started his day there every day for years.

We drove south along the Ohio river which forms the western boundary of West Virginia with Ohio. Ward has been curious about dams along the river since we saw it the first day. And, lo and behold, when we saw this sign we just had to stop.

This is one of 10 dams along the Ohio River and accompanied with four locks at this location. Ward is always happy when he gets to look at dam construction.

West Virginia is rich with natural resource of coal, oil, gas, and silica which means there is industry up and down the Ohio River using these raw materials. The river provides inexpensive transportation to get the raw materials to the plants. This is the APG Polytech plant along the river at Apple Grove, WV. The business went bankrupt a few years ago, but some of the employees convinced the bankruptcy judge to let them go in and shut down the plant properly with no pay. This kept the equipment in working order and allowed another company to buy it. The new owners reemploy many of the same workers and brought back prosperity to the town again.

Next, we finally arrived at our first planned stop for the day, Hillbilly Hot Dog in Lesage, WV. I only learned about this place recently when one of my sisters said I should visit it. Apparently people come from near and far to eat here and it's been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

It would take a tome to thoroughly describe Hillbilly Hot Dog, but basically it consists of several old school buses cobbled together with lots of junk artifacts piled everywhere that serves all kinds of hotdogs.  Ward had a nacho dog and I had a basic hot dog with chili and both were delicious.

After Lesage, we headed east away from the Ohio River. We were enjoying the change in scenery until we came up the Pumpkin Festival Parade in Milton, WV. All of the roads were blocked that we needed, so there was nothing to do other than stop and enjoy the parade. We watched with a group of very friendly people and now we have a standing invitation to stay with Jerry anytime we are back in town.

After the parade, we headed on our way taking the scenic route. We made another stop when we saw this sign.

The Kanawha Falls are natural falls where a water powered power plant was located. The plant has since closed and now the area has good fishing according to the several people we met with their poles in the water.

After our full, but fun day we finally arrived at our destination at dark.

Until next time...

Day Two, My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Two:
Family, Friends, and Findings

Today was the event that was the impetus for our vacation: my family reunion. It was held at this little hilltop church.  Our reunion originally started when I was a little girl and my father and his siblings and families would gather at my grandparent's farm to celebrate my grandmother's birthday.  It has changed a lot over the years as the family has changed. The reunion was bittersweet today since this was the first year without any from my father's generation. The last sibling passed away a few months ago.

But a good time was still had by all as we caught up with each other, laughed at family stories, and of course, enjoyed great food.

After the reunion, we crossed the Ohio River to visit a high school friend, Julie, in Marietta, Ohio.

We took her somethings from my mother that Julie might use 

for creations she makes from old objects. Above is a lamp she made. 

See if  you can identify where the different parts came from.

After visiting Julie, we had a little time so we decided to explore Marietta and took a walk on the River Trail. Marietta is a town of about 14,000 that is located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers. The trail follows the Muskingum River and the garden club had several nice plantings along the way.

Also, along the trail, we saw several historical markers and displays such as the pilot house from the Tell City steamboat. If you want to know more about it, you can read below.

Then we walked around the historic district downtown and saw
interesting architecture including the county courthouse you see here.

Until next time...

Let the Adventure Begin, Day One, September 27, 2019

or My Trip Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.


Day One, Friday, September 27, 2019

The first part of our trip was the same as always as we traversed Maryland on our way to West Virginia. We were armed with a full tank of gas, snacks, and sandwiches for lunch, so we wouldn't have to stop along the way if we didn't want to. However, I ate my sandwich before we even made it 10 miles from home.  What can I say? The excitement of the trip made me hungry. :)

Here are a few things we saw.

We entered West Virginia about half way through our five hour trip. Soon after this, we stopped at a welcome center to pick up brochures on some of the areas we plan to visit.

Next stop was Morgantown, West Virginia, to see the statue of Don Knotts. Don grew up in Morgantown and went to West Virginia University, which is also my alma mater. Since we visited the statue of Andy Griffith in North Carolina, I wanted to see this one too. In case you haven't guessed, I am a big fan of the Andy Griffith show.

The destination for the beginning of the trip was Parkersburg, WV. I have a lot of family history here and it is the location of my family reunion tomorrow.

One of the things I've always wanted to see is Blennerhasset Island--an island in the middle of the Ohio River near Parkersburg. To get to the island we took a 20 minute ride on a stern wheeler boat.

The captain let me "steer" the boat along the way.

In the late 1700's, the Blennerhasset family immigrated from Ireland and built a mansion on the island. The mansion was visited by many influential people including Aaron Burr.  Burr and Harman Blennerhasset, and others were allegedly plotting to set up an empire in the southwest. Thomas Jefferson accused Burr of treason and then the accused were on the run. After capture, trial and acquittal, Blennerhasset never returned to the island and the house burned down in 1811. In the 1980's using archaeological digs and detailed records from the time, the mansion was reconstructed and the area made into a state park.

That evening we had dinner with friends. There was a lot of talk and laughter as only old friends can do.

Until next time...