Livin' Outside the Box!: Back "Home" to West Virginia.

We left Michigan on August 24, heading back to the state where I grew up. After spending 31 years in Georgia, I still call the mountain state home. I guess you can take the man out of the mountains but you can't take the mountains out of the man.

On our way we stopped at Mohican State Park in Ohio for 3 nights. This place was great with large level sites, paved roads, good utilities. Forty dollars per night for full hook ups. The park is located within short driving distance of the Amish country and towns of Millersburg and Berlin. Link to the park HERE.

We drove into the towns one day and hit a lot of the shops. Great cheese factory, road side stands with fruits, veggies, and home baked goods. Several amish style restaurants to choose from, so take your pick. I would wager they are all equally good! And of course, there are the Amish living a simpler life style as they have for many years. Somehow we managed to spend the day and not take one picture! Oh well, just have to go back sometime!

Our next stop was in West Virginia. I have never been to Wheeling so I wanted to check it out. We decided to dry camp for a night at Wheeling Island Casino. It seemed that every where we went the roads were under construction. The city just felt kind of "old and dirty". My research for things to do in the area did not turn up much so after one night, I was ready to roll again. Our original plan was to spend a few nights at a COE campground until our Labor Day reservations rolled around but since our plans are carved in jello, we diverted to Rippling Waters campground near Kenna, WV. Sometimes things just go your way and we stumbled on this great little campground and scored the perfect site in the park.

The view from our front door!

The church at night.

This place is run by a church and there is not a lot of activities. There are several seasonal rigs in the park, but everything is clean and well cared for. So nice we stayed a week and took the opportunity to tour the capital city of West Virginia, Charleston.

Not having been inside the state capital building before, that was surely on my list and we also found a great museum on WV history at the complex. They have many artifacts but no flash photography is allowed so I wasn't able to get many pictures. The museum is very well done and laid out on a timeline that starts you in pre-historic times when the coal seams were being formed and brings you up to what the state is today. They have pictures that talk to tell the story of John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry West Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War. A good part of the displays provide information on the history of coal mining and the life in the coal fields. If you are in the area, stop by. The museum is free and you can link to it HERE.

They have a display of items owned by George Washington that he used while surveying in the state.

After about 2 hours in the museum we fed the parking meter a few more coins and walked across to the West Virginia State Capital building with its gold dome. I have never been in this building either and had to check it out while in the vicinity.

The gold dome of the capital building

Senate meeting room

House meeting room.

No trip to the Mountain State would be complete without a tribute to the coal miners that helped feed the engines of the industrial revolution, risking life and limb to dig the black gold out of the mountains. My family has a history in the West Virginia coal fields and I worked there a few years myself before moving south to Ga.

Another attraction in the state is the New River Gorge National River and the New River Gorge Bridge. You can access these near Fayetteville, WV on highway 19. The New River is one of the few major rivers in the world that flows north and is also one of the oldest rivers in the world. The gorge has been cut through the mountains over tens of thousands of years and offers some great white water rafting. The bridge that spans the gorge opened in 1977, is 3030 feet long and 876 feet above the river. Bridge Day is held every year on the third Saturday in October when the bridge is closed to vehicles and people paraglide and bungee jump from the structure. It is a real carnival atmosphere attended by thousands. Stop by and check it out, you won't regret it. Information on the bridge HERE and information on the New River HERE.

Finally, my main reason for taking a route through the state was to re-connect with some old friends that I have not seen in 40 years. We stayed 4 nights at Pipestem State Park (LINK), nestled among the hardwood trees and the mountains. Several of the guys I went to school with that I was able to contact made the trip to sit and visit a spell. It was great catching up!