A Fall Visit

Our home in West Virginia affords us opportunities, within a very short drive, to experience intense and earthy beauty, much of it the natural kind, but also much of it crafted by the hands of artisans.

Early fall color

I so enjoy seeing West Virginia from the eyes of others, and when our friends, Jim and Cindy, came for a visit, their first to the state, Greg and I determined to show them as much as possible without overwhelming or tiring them, in the few days they were with us.  It was in mid-September when they landed at Huntington's Tri-State airport following a flight of just under two hours from their home in St. Petersburg, Florida.  (Huntington sits at the western border of our state, moments away from Ohio and Kentucky, and just under a two-hour drive from our home in Fayetteville.) They were looking forward to seeing us, but they were also hoping to find fall in its glory, but, unfortunately, the mountains had barely begun their transformation, except for just a hint of gold and rose at some of the higher elevations.

Still, we were determined to introduce them to beautiful things, starting in Huntington.  After a nod to the lovely campus of Marshall, and poking our noses into a couple of downtown shops, we shoved open the door to enter Huntington Prime, our son's restaurant which occupies the first floor of the historic West Virginia Building on Fourth Avenue. This is also the tallest building in Huntington, and Michael showed Jim and Cindy his soon-to-open dining space on the top, penthouse, floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing an eagle's view of much of the city, campus and the Ohio River.  Next was an early dinner, supremely delicious, accompanied by Michael's eagerness to please, and by his attentive staff.

Then on to our home -- from Huntington, leaving the Ohio River, next to the Kanawha, and then up the curving mountains to the plateau where humidity is at bay and the temperatures are usually about five degrees cooler than in the valley below.  Our drive began in Cabell County, and then through the counties of Putnam and Kanawha, before arriving at our destination, the county seat of Fayette.

Along the way, we pointed in the direction of a world-famous glass plant, Blenko;  further, into South Charleston, we indicated the once busy chemical plants that had earned the area (in my lifetime) of having been the chemical center of the world;  and then, finally, past the gold dome of the state capitol.

From Charleston, we enjoyed the great Kanawha River, with its breathtaking falls at Glen Ferris, passing the photogenic stately old stage coach inn that is still in business.  Then on to the mouth of the Kanawha, where the Gauley River meets the New; we passed the grand Cathedral Falls, and then we began the climb up the mountain.

Side note:  Our state was born of the Civil War, separating from Virginia in 1863 with the signature of Abraham Lincoln.  Fayetteville had seen much action in battles;  there are soldiers in unmarked graves, an earthen foundation of a fort, still many relics to be found, such as belt buckles, buttons, mini balls, and the like.  Even our own home sits where once was a gun emplacement, and if you look out at the road that passes by our front yard, you just might see through the mists of time, the horses, cannons, infantry, and supply wagons trundle up and settle into position here beside the house.

In no particular order, here are some of the things we shared:

We took our friends on a local tour -- including the upward view, as well as the crossing of, the western hemisphere's longest steel arch bridge, the site of our yearly "Bridge Day," the state's largest single-day
festival.  Crazy people from all over the world congregate on the New River Gorge Bridge to throw themselves off and fall almost 900 feet to the sandy bar at the edge of the New River.  I don't care if they are wearing parachutes and it's perfectly legal that one day of the year.  They're nuts.

New River Gorge Bridge

Close to home, we kept Jim and Cindy busy:  they enjoyed seeing the most photographed grist mill in the country at our Babcock State Park.

Babcock State Park Grist Mill

And, from the deck of a whitewater rafting company's restaurant, we looked through the pale early evening  into the New River Gorge, where only a few brave souls were still testing themselves in the rapids below.

Touring Beckley's Exhibition Coal Mine

One of our breakfasts was provided by some of the Greenbrier Resort's trained chefs at Tamarack (the state's showpiece visitor center).   We saw the "islands in the sky" from the top of the slopes at Snowshoe Ski Resort Village, and marveled at the mega-dishes at Greenbank's National Radio Observatory.  On this trip, Jim and Cindy went from the heights of the ski resort to the depths of a coal mine . . .




But one of their favorite things was relaxing in our living room, looking through the bay window, and taking pictures of our chipmunks with their bulging jowls.  These little guys were on a mission to store every last morsel of our birdseed, an activity which has earned them all names of vacuum cleaners.

Kirby, or his cousin, Hoover (can't tell them apart)

For such a short visit, we, like the chipmunks, crammed in as much as possible in a short time.  Guess our friends had to rest up quite a bit after this.