Home again, Home again jiggity, jig

or My Trip Back 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 Seven:
Chips, Cataracts, and Cats

We decided that even though we had been enjoying this trip, it was time to go home today. 

We couldn't leave West Virginia without getting a bag of Mr. Bee
potato chips, the only potato chip made in WV. They are made in Parkersburg
which was the 1st part of our trip.

We had about a five hour drive back, so we decided we would stop along the way at Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland and take a hike. On the map it seemed just a little out of our way. But it seemed a lot our of the way as the GPS took us on miles and miles of dirt roads to get there. Earlier in the week, we had been happy to explore several places on back roads, but when you are starting to think about getting home, they can be annoying after an hour or so. But we eventually found the back entrance to the park.

 The park had a loop hike that went past four different falls on the Youghiogheny River. The water levels were very low so the falls were much smaller than normal but they were pretty all the same.

On the way out, we finally found the front entrance to the park.

We are home now and the car is unloaded, but much of our stuff will have to wait until tomorrow to get sorted and put away. The cats are demanding that we pay attention to them. Even though Theo took good care of them, they have missed our laps.


Until next time...

Day Six, 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 Six:
Moving, Mines, and Mental Hospitals

Today we moved our base from Beckley to Weston. It was another hot, dry day but most of our time was either spent in the car or touring indoor things.

Before leaving Beckley, we made one last stop at the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. In 1953 the city of Beckley bought the abandoned Phillip mine and reopened it almost 10 years later as an exhibition mine to help to educate the public about coal mining. 

We took a tram down into the mine that was driven by Marvin, our tour guide. He was a retired miner and said that he had had just about every job in the mines except electrician and boss. Here is he is showing a bird cage that would house the canary that helped monitor air quality. When the bird died, you had about 15 minutes to find fresh air.

The mine was forced out of business in 1910 by bigger companies. We were seeing the mine as it operated in 1910 when it closed. However, they had newer machinery displayed for us to see along the way.

Outside the mine were representative buildings from a coal camp. Each one had been in a coal camp and moved to this area. And each building had a guide who had lived in a coal camp or had a relative who had lived in one. Everyone was very friendly and eager to tell what they knew about their particular area.

Each building had a guide, that is, except this one which was too small.  This was a bachelor's shanty meant for one person.

Inside of the bachelor shanty. Looks pretty nice because apparently his grandmother embroidered and crocheted things for the inside.

A little more information about the miner's shanty.

Coal has been an important part of West Virginia's history and continues today as an important part of the state's economy.  It has provided many jobs--but jobs that are dangerous with long term health effects. This exhibition mine gives a small glimpse into that.

After that stop, we headed north to our destination of Weston to tour the abandoned Weston State Hospital, formerly and now known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. The hospital building was begun in 1861 before West Virginia became an independent state from Virginia in 1863. After the Civil War, it was completed and admitted its first patients 1864. Construction continued throughout the years.

The hospital operated until it closed 1994. It remained abandoned until it was bought by Joe Jordon in 2007. He has begun restoring it and is giving tours to help with the expenses. We had an excellent tour guide who went through what happened in different locations of the 1/4 mile long building and the changes of treatment for mental illness throughout the years. It was an informative tour about a very difficult subject.

Until next time...

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...