Friday, September 4

Several weeks ago Cerwin mentioned that we should plan a road trip as our trip to Belgium was cancelled due to COVID-19. We chose West Virginia because it isn’t far away and should be a fairly safe place to go during the virus. This was also our 57th wedding anniversary trip. (Our anniversary is still several days away.)

As we backed out of the driveway on Friday morning at 7 AM, I noticed six new mushrooms and quickly took pictures.

If you stay tuned for the entire trip, you will see what they looked like when we got home on Labor Day.

The view to our east as we pulled out of our driveway.

Our first stop was for brunch when we exited the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Bedford, PA. 10 AM.

It was a fun diner that reminded us of our dating years in the early sixties.

My over-medium eggs with rye toast and home fries.

Cerwin’s steak omelet with wheat toast and home fries. The home fries came with every breakfast – whether you wanted them or not. 🙂

By the time we got to West Virginia it was raining lightly.

We reserved motels before our trip, then looked for things to do between the motels. Our first stop was Blackwater Falls, Davis, WV.

We got there about 1 PM.

My research before our trip said: Blackwater Falls is one of the most photographed locations in the state; there are many post cards from this falls; and it is one of the most stunning places in West Virginia.

As we walked down the 200+ steps, we knew the return walk was going to be more difficult. It rained just before we got here, but the sun was shining when we visited the falls.

When I first saw the falls, I thought the water was muddy, then I read this (below).

The falls was impressive and loud and sprayed the walkway as we got closer.

Because of the warm day and the earlier rain, I felt like we were in a rainforest.

Because we didn’t have any other stops planned for our first day, I asked Cerwin to pull over onto a side road so I could get some close up pictures of roadside wildflowers and whatever is there.

My camera tells me this stop was about 3:30 PM

He chose a dead end road. We joked that it might take us to a whiskey still. (We didn’t go far enough to find out.) 🙂

As I stepped off the road to get the fence photos above, I smelled mint and looked at my feet. I probably disturbed it – which created the strong, delightful scent.

A few other things I saw on the dead end road.

We really think the road led to a farm because of hay bales and other farm-related things.

After leaving the dead end road, we drove by this pretty old barn.

We saw this creative decoration on a bridge – just before arriving at our motel in Mingo, West Virginia.

We purposefully chose our first two motels from places that were not part of a chain – giving us a unique place to stay for the evening. We were not disappointed with our first stop – The BrazenHead Inn. This photo was taken just inside our motel room.

We were supposed to go directly to our room. The owner said the door would be unlocked – with the keys on the microwave. We couldn’t locate the room numbers so after searching a bit, Cerwin rang the bell – which would ring in the owner’s living quarters. But before the bell rang the neighbor across the street called him to say that someone was on the porch looking for a room. 🙂

Love it! Sounds like we are in West Virginia!

I found our number (1) about the time the owner came out on the porch. The numbers were black and almost blended with the dark wood of the log cabin style building.

Meals are usually served in the attached restaurant, but that is closed due to the virus, so the owner (a personable man who was born in Ireland) gave us a few nearby options: the 66 Diner a few miles south of the motel or Snowshoe Village.

We opted for a restaurant in Snowshoe Village at the top of the mountain – where the motel owner said we could see for many miles.

I forgot to take a picture here, but we parked at the far end of this parking lot, deciding what to do. The village was really busy, so it looked like there may be a long wait at the restaurant – in the area of the red roofs.

From the Internet: Snowshoe Mountain is a ski resort with 244 acres of skiable terrain and covers 11,000 acres in the Allegheny Mountains – part of the Appalachian Mountain Range. It is positioned in the bowl shaped convergence of two mountains, Cheat and Back Allegheny.

While Snowshoe is still best known for its winter activities, today the resort has extensive mountain biking trails, horseback riding, a golf course, wedding and convention areas, and a number of other summer activities. About 480,000 skiers visit the resort each year.

The mountain’s highpoint is Thorny Flat, which reaches an elevation of 4,848 feet.

We drove down the mountain (with many switchbacks) to this nice ordinary restaurant along Route 66.

This photo is of the chairs at a nearby table (moose and bear). I enjoyed a biscuit with sausage gravy. Delicious. Cerwin had a bowl of chili. Perfect amount of food for the end of the day.

Our unique bedroom awaited us when we returned from the diner.

That was a good day. The blue line on the right shows our travels for the first day.