Home Again!

 

Kolya is a budding artist in all mediums. Here
he has created an island in play dough 
populated by dinosaurs!

Kolya shares the family red hair!

We left the campground in West Virginia early as it was a 4 hour plus Google trip to Washington. That usually means another hour or more as we go slower than the speed limit. But we enjoyed the scenery on the first half before joining an interstate. Cherry Hill RV Park in College Park, MD is a beautiful full service resort.. Unfortunately we pay for that but never really spend any time there. We stay with our son James and his family in the Capitol District of Washington. We arrived Friday afternoon so had a full weekend with he, Morgen and our (so far) youngest grandson Kolya. 

The weather wasn't great, cool with occasional showers but we had some good walks, a fun trip to Kolya's favorite, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and a great lunch out at Belga's. James is a excellent cook so we enjoyed some wonderful meals at the house. On Monday we drove up to my sister's in Belcamp, MD  We planned to drive her to the doctor's that same day so rented a car nearby (she can't get into our truck). Again, we left Baby & Junior at the Bar Harbor RV Resort for the week while we stayed with Paula. We had 5 days with her and managed to help her organize doctor appointments and hire an agency to provide in house services. 

Brent lights the birthday candles while Kimmy 
and Wandi look on with Heather.

Wilma, Brent and Wandi at home in South Orange.

On Saturday we drove north to South Orange, NJ to spend the night with Scott's brother Brent, his wife Wilma and their daughter Wandi. It was Wandi's birthday so we shared a celebration meal with her friend Kimmy. Brent made a great Jambalaya for dinner. They got special permission for us to park the RV in front of their house. This really splits up the trip home and allows us to spend time with them. 

Rustic Rooster is our "local", only a mile
away in our village of Cuttingsville

Although it was 70 degrees out, no one seems to
be ready to eat their dinner outside on this day.

We didn't rush out on Sunday but had a great walk up at a nearby Reserve with views of NYC with Brent. Then drove home after lunch in sunny warm weather. We laughed as it was over 70 degrees and sunny at home - better than a lot of weather down south these last months! It was too late to cook a meal at home so we parked our rig at our "local" (British slang for your nearby special bar/restaurant), the Rustic Rooster. There we were greeted with hugs from the owners and welcomed home. 

This year's journey has ended. It has been an amazing trip. We're already planning the next one! But it's wonderful to be home and there are lots of things planned here. So the blog will go on....

Baby upon our return in May

And to contrast, the day we left in December

Looking up at the house in December

The same view in May!

West Virginia History Lessons

Grayson State Park where we stopped for lunch and a hike on our way to the New River National Park

The view from the beginning of the Fayetteville Station Road of the New River, looking away from the bridge.

We spent four nights in West Virginia before moving on to Washington DC and it was a fascinating history lesson. This is a beautiful state with a rich history that we knew little of. We visited the New River Gorge National Park and then Blackwater Falls State Park. Both were centers of coal and coke production from the 1860s to the 1950s. There were remnants of mining operations and whole towns that no longer exist. 

For the first two nights we stayed at the very nice Rifrafters RV Park. Our site was spaced well away from others with a good view. The owners came over and chatted with us for some time. It was only a few miles from the main Visitor's Center at the north end of the National Park, which was only redesignated from being a National River in 2020. It is 53 miles long but not that wide as it follows the river. That river exposed four seams of coal, considered among the best bituminous coal in the world. That smokeless coal once fed the boilers of the nation's trains, factories, fleets and power plants, and the coke made from it fueled the nation's iron furnaces. But that mining process and industries tore up the land and polluted the waters and air. It provided jobs for thousands but ruined their health and their families'. The coming of the railroad in 1873 opened up the region and it is still in constant use by Amtrak.

The bridge down at the bottom of the gorge at Fayette Station

We were able to visit three of the main sections of the Park. The one way now, but two way originally, Fayette Station road winds it's way down the cliffs on both sides of the river. It led to at first a ferry crossing, then a succession of bridges that were eventually destroyed by river flooding (a newer small bridge is there now), and finally made obsolete by the building of the longest single arch bridge at one time and now the longest outside of China. It was completed in 1977 and before then it was a long process to cross the river in this area. The road is narrow with hair pin turns and it took us almost an hour to go from one side of the river to the other. Now it can take minutes!

View of the bridge from 
halfway down the 
Fayette Station road.

The New River Bridge from Fayette Station at the river level.

The Thurman Amtrak Station 

That's the one way road at Thurman across
 the river on the left with a person on it. 

The Town of Thurman main street right along 
the railroad tracks. The homes were up the hill
on winding roads.

This was once a thriving town of several hundred
and lots of business and hotels catering to the 
railroad. The 2020 census showed 5 residents.

The entrance to the next area, Thurman, was 45 minutes south and was accessed by another narrow but paved road down to the river edge and then to an amazing bridge. A long one lane narrow road for cars goes along side the railroad tracks. We assumed it was one way and there was another way back - NO, that was almost the only way back (I'll tell you about the alternative we tried in the next paragraph). So you had to wait until the bridge was empty and go out quickly to establish the direction. Cars entering after you on the other side had to back up and get out of the way. Not easy! And then the parking lot on the Thurman side was small. We can't imagine how this all works in the busy season!

This shows how big the hotels were at Thurman -
now all gone. This one burned down.

After we emerged from our attempt at going
down the east side of the river, Scott took 
this picture and enlarged it so we could read
this warning! The town of Thayer is 
misleading - just a few houses left.

But the abandoned town of Thurman has been "stabilized" and the railroad station is very active. Quite a few trains came and went while we were there. We had to wait quite a long time for one train to pass before we could return to our car. On the park map another road is shown going down the east side of the river about 40 miles to our next destination. It was clearly a small road but there was a town, Thayer, midway so we thought it wouldn't be a problem. Until we reached that "town" the road was very narrow with pull offs for cars to pass each other,  but it was paved and there were fences or stones along the steep drop offs in most places. The "town" consisted of about 8 very dilapidated houses and the next section of the road had a sign, "Unimproved" and "Rough". It seemed such a long way to go back at that point so we started down it. The pavement ended and ruts and big pot holes appeared. It was very narrow. Now finally, we made the right decision. We carefully turned around and made the long journey back to the main road. 

Grand View of the New River

Looking south from Grand View

Part of the Tunnel Trail at Grand View

Once on the highway we proceeded down to the last section of the park, Grand View. This was a very popular State Park until it was incorporated into the National Park in 1990. It has trails, a theater, ball park, children's playground & picnic areas - and an amazing view of the river. We did a short hike on the Tunnel Trail and enjoyed the views. It was a long but delightful day exploring this beautiful National Park!

Heather at one of the viewpoints along the 
stairs that descend the Gorge at Blackwater Falls.

Another view going down the Gorge. The last viewpoint is on the left of the falls.

Next we drove east to Blackwater Falls State Park for two nights, staying right in the Campground there. Our daughter-in-laws family go there every year for vacation together, renting cottages in the park. There is a full service Lodge in the park, reminiscent of the National Parks out west, where we had a good dinner there one of the nights. The park is named for the 62-foot cascade which is amber colored due to its tannic-darkened water. A long series of rustic stairways descend into the gorge from the Visitor's Center providing lovely views and a good workout! We did this our first afternoon and then spent our full day exploring the area, including Lindy Point and Elakala Falls. After spending most of the day in the park itself we drove to see the Douglas Falls near the town of Thomas. The very rough unpaved road that led us down there from the town (we would have turned around but a truck came out from there and told us it was passable) goes to the abandoned town of Coketon, once a busy coke producing industry. One of the signs (lots of them detailing the history) says, "The last underground coal mine here closed in the early 1950's, leaving a legacy of acid mine drainage, abandoned industrial structures, coke ovens and debris". And lots of pollution!  

A view of just one section of the stairway
down to Blackwater Falls

White Laurel was in bloom. There were huge 
numbers of rhododendron every where. It must
be amazing when in bloom.

One of the living rooms areas at the Lodge at
Blackwater State Park.

One fascinating piece of history - The Coketon Colored School was the center of a Civil Rights case in 1892. The teacher Carrie Williams and the first African American lawyer in West Virginia, J.R. Clifford, brought suit against the Board of Education, which finally went to the state Supreme Court and they won it. She had been ordered to shorten the school year for her students. It was the first civil rights case in the history of the U.S. to determine discrimination on the basis of color to be illegal. 

The view from Lindy Point looking south.

We both love the twisted limbs of trees.

The trails around both parks were often lined with
rhododendrons.

The Company Store at Thomas, now an artist's
cooperative gallery. 

Abandoned Coke furnaces. There were over 
200 originally spuming smoke and gasses. 

A section on the river on our way to Douglas
Falls. This river is still heavily polluted.

There was a steep path down to the falls that
looked wet and slippery so we skipped it. Not
much of a view from the trail at the end of the
road.

That's a picture of Douglas back in the 
heyday of coal mining. The forest was all
clear cut and it was a big town. Now the 
trees have grown back and only a few houses
remain.

But our time in West Virginia was over and we headed east again to Washington D.C. and then a week later we'll go back up to Vermont. That will be my next and last post on this trip.

California, Denver and moving East!

 

We have generally visited Zoë's home in Palo Alto, CA in the fall so it was a nice shock to see the hills around their area green! We did several walks in the Arastradero Preserve just above the city.

We had a bit of a challenge backing into our small site at Ridgeline RV Park in Denver but the suggestion of our neighbor Rick solved the problem. It was a back in site but we were able to drive through as it was on a corner and flat. I've been cooking down the refrigerator so we went out to dinner at an excellent restaurant not far away, Smokin Fins in Littleton (very pretty little downtown). On Monday we drove to the airport early and parked in a Long Term Economy Lot, grabbed a shuttle and checked in. Although it was very crowded we found a good place for breakfast. It was a bit late getting to the gate though so we were forced to check in our carry-on bags. It's only a 2 hour flight to San Francisco and after picking up our rental car, we were on our way. By that time it was well past lunch so we stopped at a fast food Chinese place before continuing to Zoë's. 

Chris, their foreign exchange student from 
Denmark and our grandson, Tommy

George, Tommy and Zoë (Tommy loves to 
show off his height)

George made dinner our first night and then each night another person has responsibility. They have a Danish foreign exchange student staying the year with them, Chris, who is at high school with their younger son Tommy. So Zoë only has dinner duty two nights a week, which she loves. And I took one of them for her, chicken schnitzel, which is a family favorite. Saturday night we celebrated my birthday and our anniversary (44 years). Scott made his famous Oreo ice cream cake - yummy! 

Heather's Birthday cake that Scott made

During the week we went on a hike everyday and sometimes a walk around their lovely neighborhood as well. Chris is on the lacrosse team and we attended our first lacrosse game one night. Then on Sunday Scott, Zoë, and I drove up to Merced to visit our grandson Nick who is a sophomore at the University of California there. We visited his very spacious apartment, met his roommate and took him out for dinner. It was a great time but a long day driving, 2.5 hours each way. Monday we flew back to Denver, picked up the truck and drove back to Baby. But this was my actual birthday so we went out to dinner again at Smokin Fins as we'd liked it so much. And our waiter arranged a complimentary dessert with candles. Terrific end to the week. 

Scott & Zoë on the trail.

One of our hikes was at the Foothills Reserve
also above Palo Alto

Every where we saw California poppies in bloom

Celebrating my birthday at Smokin' Fin

Next morning we were off early and headed east. It was a long boring day on Interstate 70 to a KOA at Wakeeney where we had a nice level drive through not far from the highway. Off again early it was another boring day to Walnut Grove RV Park near Kansas City. We had planned to see the WWI Museum the next morning but it was not to be! When we arrived, I noticed that the lights were out on our refrigerator. After Scott investigated the connections inside and out, he was stumped. But the office gave us several people to call and a bag of ice for a temporary fix. For a change, the service men were very responsive. The first man spent quite a bit of time with Scott over the phone eliminating many possible problems but couldn't come over. The second person not only spent time with Scott on the phone, but picked up the necessary part in the morning, came over and fixed it. Hooray! But that meant we got a late start and we got to our next KOA in Granite City, near St. Louis, later than we like. 

Having dinner at the KOA Granite City outside!

Part of the line up for the pods to the top of the
Gateway Arch 

Scott enters the tiny pod

Inside and trying to be brave!

We stayed here two nights and spent the day in between touring the Gateway Arch National Park in the morning and the Busch Brewing Experience in the afternoon. Between them we had some excellent BBQ at downtown Smoke N Bones. We could see (and admire) the arch as we drove into the city along the river. It's set in a park right on the waterfront. We felt it was a different combination of National Park and Private Enterprise. There were Park Rangers and a nice museum exhibit but the ride to the top and the movie cost money. The former was difficult for me but I did it. I'm claustrophobic so when faced with entering a tiny pod for 4 people and riding up to the top inside the arch, I almost panicked. Another large gentleman near us did: "No way, I'm getting in that' he said and bolted. The nice couple we shared it with helped by chatting away and keeping me occupied. The views from the top were great and I'm glad I did it - but not again. 

It's a small area at the top for viewing and the 
windows were long and narrow. Here's the view
on the city side of the old Capitol.

And on the other side of the river.

The arch itself, right on the river banks. 

The Brewery Tour was fun, but the main interest for us was the history and the beautiful buildings on the campus, not the beer. Bud is not a beer we'd ever buy or order. But we did drink most of the samples they offered during the visit! And they now own many other breweries so we had a chance to try two craft type beers as well. One was Big Wave from the Kona Brewing Company - pretty good. 

Scott and Heather on tour

One of the famous Clydesdale Busch horses

The buildings at the Brewery campus were 
beautiful and hardly looked like beer factories!

Here's one of them for example.

The next morning Scott had an appointment nearby to get the oil changed on our truck and what good luck again. They checked a few other things and found we had a nest in our air filter from some creature who had moved in, probably while we were in California. That could have caused some big problems! Next we headed east again, this time to two one night stands: Tipsaw Recreation Area in St. Croix (!) Indiana and then the Outpost RV Park in Salt Lick, Kentucky. The former was very nice and the very helpful hosts gave us a better site and led us to it. We drove down to see the lake on our way out and walked around the campground as well. The second was very spacious and welcoming although the lake is far away and we didn't even see it. Through all this we've been traveling with the cold weather. Everyone told us, "It was 80 last week." We had freezing temperatures at night and highs in the high 40's during the day. So that's all for now folks - on to West Virginia next.

Tipsaw Recreation Area - view from Baby

The Outpost RV Park - our site

At Chris' lacrosse game - notice the different tolerance's for the cold - Zoë and I are bundled up, George has a light fleece and Tommy is in a t-shirt and shorts!

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Scott took this from the top of the hill at Arastradero Reserve with his telescope lens. That's San Francisco Bay in the distance over the city of Palo Alto.