DAY 12: Going Back in Time

Observation of the day

Driving 6 hours in 5 states does not equal driving 6 hours in Florida! The former seems to go by much faster than the latter.

 

Quote of the day

“Flying sucks. This is why I love my truck.” – texted by JM as he sat in Baltimore today on a stopover delayed 6.5 hours by terrible weather & a lack of pilots.

 

VM & EM: Today we arose early to take JM to the Hartford airport. We are sorry he can’t join us for our remaining adventure, but grateful he was able to come to the Academy. Afterwards, we headed southwest, traveling through Connecticut, Pennsylvania (missed the sign!), Maryland and Virginia to finally arrive in West Virginia. We even drove through the Pocono Mountains!

 

       Stunning views from the roadway!

 

By 3:30pm, we arrived in Harpers Ferry, WV. Harpers Ferry is part of the National Park system. It is a town frozen in time. It is where the Potomac River meets the Shenandoah River, cutting through the Blue Ridge. It is part of the Appalachian Trail.

 

We parked our car down by the train station and made sure to put our overnight parking permit in the window as you can only park there with a National Parks parking permit [note: if you want to do this, you need to PLAN as nothing which involves government stuff is either clear or easy]. We then trekked up three STEEP staircases to our inn on the hill circa 1840 – The Town’s Inn (https://thetownsinn.com).

 

The Town's Inn is super quirky, but cool.

This quirky spot is run by a lady named Karan who greeted us from a teeny cluttered office at the entrance of the inn. She handed us off to her “assistant” who took us up to our room for the evening – the Appalachian Room. Her assistant was extremely concerned about our vehicle at the train station but I assured her I had completed all the proper National Parks’ paperwork to park there overnight. I told her they offered this permit for people who wanted to hike the area & leave their vehicle overnight. To this she replied, “Well that explains why me & my husband can’t find parking when we come to work. They’re giving it to everyone else!” I just remained mum and thanked her.

 

The Rabbit Hole was a perfect linner spot.

EM selected another great spot for linner–The Rabbit Hole (https://www.facebook.com/therabbitholeWV/). We indulged in loaded pork fries which was a concoction of fries with pulled pork, cheese & green onions. We counterbalanced it with a wonderful green salad with creamy goat cheese, walnuts and blackberries. I also enjoyed some local draft beers. The place is fun and filled with National Parks’ artifacts – old signage, pictures, etc. And best of all, it was across the street from our inn with plenty of dogs sitting out on the patio. After getting our doggie fixes and filling our bellies, we walked around Harpers Ferry, simply exploring. It really is a neat spot and definitely somewhere we would like to return to explore the hiking trails around here some more.

The Rabbit Hole was filled with
National Parks' paraphernalia. 

Sometimes you just gotta do it!

 

Tomorrow we are excited to keep heading southwest to reach Beech Mountain, NC and our friends & at-home neighbors, the McDonoughs!

We had a crazy storm roll in, including a mini tornado. Freaked
me out a bit as we've been through a tornado before, but didn't seem
to trouble the locals -- "the mountains usually break them up."😳

Loved the old train trestles.

Water girl.

Part of the Appalachian Trail, we walked along the footbridge
next to the train tracks.

We would've walked further on the Appalachian Trail, but this crazy storm
started rolling in. Disconcerting, but beautiful!

Random Pic of the Day

We have learned smart squirrels hang out in 

National Parks. The Harpers Ferry ones are quite plump.