Doug and Chris, at 29

We took a one night overnight trip to West Virginia to celebrate our anniversary. It wasn't the week long adventure I wanted but it was pretty sweet. Here is we did.

Sunday morning we got up and lazed about, didn't really get our butts in gear but made it out the door "before noon," at 11:54.

We headed west, taking the highway to Front Royal and then down to Strasburg, and then a two-lane road further west into West Virginia to Petersburg.

Winding through the countryside, we drove through Smoke Hole and past Eagle Rock that area seen to the left here, and over to Germany Valley.

We spent an inordinate amount of time at a wayside on the highway hanging out with some cows, and looking at an amazing view of the valley below. Everything was perfect.

There was a family of 5 trying to take a selfie with the cows, and I walked over offering to take the picture for them.

It then occurred to me that my "old" self who often lovingly offered to take someone's phone into my own hands and take pictures for them was just weird now. Dad was cool and gave me his phone, and I got some sweet shots of them smiling with the valley below, and then the youngest one was the only one who played along when I suggested they act freaked out there were cows there.  The whole rest of the family laughed as he pointed and screamed.

For a minute, for the first time in 3 months maybe, I felt normal.

To the right here, that is one of the cows. And the slope down to the valley, and the rise up above in the distance, and sky and clouds. You can see why we spent a bunch of time here.

We made it over to Seneca Rocks, which was beautiful. We took a leisurely walk around and didn't venture up to the Overlook, because it was getting late in the day. We sat at the visitors' center and watched the sun play against the exposed rock face, the big outcropping of stone, and counted climbers going up and down.

After Seneca Rocks, we drove to Elkins, where Doug had booked us a hotel room. When he started to plan this out, he wasn't sure how far to drive or keep driving, but this was the perfect spot and I'm glad he picked it.

For layout purposes, sticking this shot of  Seneca Rocks in here. It was a gorgeous area, and watching the clouds and sun play across the face was so beautiful to me. When we were walking around way below, we saw so many people headed towards the rocks to climb. It is a popular rock climbing location.

It is a brand new hotel, and there were very few guests. We asked the guy at the desk where to go for dinner and he suggested this local BBQ spot that I saw recommended on TripAdvisor called Smoke on the Water.

We called ahead to make sure they were open and the girl seemed incredulous. "Yeah? but we close in an hour." Okay then! Out in West Virginia, they have not had the big shut down that we've seen here, I guess. But they close on schedule.

We pulled into the parking lot, and a guy coming out lit up a smoke and said, unprompted, "Damn, the food here is so good. You are in for a treat!" Doug asked what he recommended, and the guy shook his head and said "it is all just so good. You like shrimp?" We said yes. "Okay then the smoked shrimp appetizer is a must. Start there, you can't go wrong. I ordered six for myself but they are so good I got 12 to go home!"

The inside and patio were open, and we opted for the patio. Many places in our county aren't open yet but when they do open, they can only have outdoor seating. We figured we'd stick with that plan. The waitresses and bartenders were all required to wear a mask, but we were not.

Our waitress ran down the beer list and I picked a local brown ale. Doug still isn't drinking beer, so he had Maker's Mark.

She asked if we knew what we wanted, and told her about our exchange in the parking lot about the shrimp and she laughed. We got a dozen, and they were indeed up to the recommendation. Both of us got the mixed platter of wings and ribs, which were amazing, and came with sides of sauces - a Carolina mustard sauce and a spicy BBQ which were both outstanding.

For dessert, which neither of us would normally had, we had the raspberry cheesecake which was unbelievably delicious.

It was a great night out. I took no pictures of the food but the two beers I had are on Untappd.

This morning we checked out around 10, and Doug's goal was for us to go to a waterfall.

We started with breakfast at Bob Evans, which made me think of Gary. He would always take Craig and Elyse, my nephew and niece, there - and sit and color pictures for me and mail them to me. They would always crack me up.

First, we went to Bickel Knob and an observation tower, seen above. We had the dirt road all to ourselves, which was pretty sweet. I would think that normally there would be a lot of other people out here at this time of year enjoying the scenery, but this was all ours. It was a delightful view, we could see all the way to Elkins and the wind turbines that are out on the way to Davis. We spent a good amount of time here, and it was beautiful.

We came down the tower and drove around, saw several deer jumping across the road, and eventually ran into another vehicle (Traffic Jam!) who pulled over to allow us to pass.

We got back to Rte 33, and headed to the Blackwater Falls, via a back road that Doug had picked. And boy, was this a back road.

Rte 72, or Dry Fork Road, wends for miles past farms and homes, skirting the hills and mountains. It was an adventurous drive and the sign at the start said it was not for trucks (meaning Semi-trucks, I think).

So beautiful, and so remote in so many ways. I wanted to upload pictures that I'd taken through the morning but there is no internet here, and it was blissful.

We got to a major road and drove through a town called Thomas, which looked like the kind of place I would love to hang out, and then over to the Blackwater Falls. There were too many people at the closer landing, so we happily spent our time at the upper observation landing, with this view.

Doug and I drove to the lodge, where we were not welcome to stay at this time because it is only open for WV residents (same as the camp grounds, which we may have used if we were allowed to). We then drove back to Rte 48/33 and headed back to 81 and 66 and the way home. We were home in time for dinner, and because our county is not yet fully where West Virginia is, and we had swordfish and salad for dinner.

I brought my camera with me, which is something I haven't done for a long time because I've been uninspired and I don't have photoshop or a personal computer to work on my images. But I'll see if I can get some good shots off of this to post on Flickr, which I also haven't used in a very long time.


A part of me is deeply asleep, still. I miss that creative me. But this trip was good for my heart, and there is so much I still want to see and have questions about, like the miles of wind turbines ... how much energy do these supply? Who owns them? I want to know more.

This was a good trip. I want to do more.

For long time visitors you know. It is not an official Doug and Chris vacation if there isn't a dirt road found. And we found them.

Thank you West Virginia for being so beautiful.