West Virginia---North or South

Growing up in the New York metropolitan area, I was indoctrinated that life west of the Delaware River (and for residents of the City, the line was the Hudson River and we in New Jersey were included) was just simply inferior. People just were not.......the same as us....not as smart, not as open to new ideas, not as whatever stupid thing we believed.

Since I left New Jersey in 1975 I have always lived west of the Delaware. I have even lived south of the Mason Dixon. I was scolded when I moved from Connecticut to Nashville with Dan and Lisa in elementary and middle schools that I just should not take my kids to a place with inferior schools. I heard the exact same words spoken to me when I moved from Nashville to West Virginia. with Sam entering middle school.

What I have learned is people are people are people everywhere. Opportunities for education exist everywhere just as everywhere there are people who ignore those opportunities for education.

I have also learned that in each place I live, people believe it is the very best place to live and can not, to some extent, conceive living anywhere else. No where is that more evident that here in West Virginia.

People just want things to stay the same...families to stay in the same town. Stores to always be where they were when they were growing up. We did notice, when we got back to Huntington from our vacation, that the welcome sign which said something about the Marshall Football Team being a champion in some long past year..that sign has been removed....time for the team to win again I guess.

Okay, enough ruminating. On to the Pig Roast. We were invited by some friends to join them at their beautiful Ohio Riverfront home for the evening. It was a wonderful meal and the friends there were warm and cheerful and we had to leave way too soon.

It got me thinking that pig roasts are typically southern in tradition and West Virginia still straddles the southern culture despite what people during the Civil War era decided. I had a teacher for 5th grade who was from Mongalia County, West Virginia..and she had a southern accent..at least to my Yankee ears. And yet the Smith family generally felt that Dave's mom, from West Virginia, was a Yankee.

One thing is for sure.....it sure is prettier here than in New Jersey.

Thoughts about the trip

A few things happened on the trip Graham and I took that I want to ponder. They generally relate to the hard times people go through in their lives. Some people are private; some are like me and cope better by sharing the turmoils through conversation. But one thing I definitely learned going through the years of Dave's illness is that we all, each one of us, has a story. Each one of us has or is going through some test, some turmoil, some troubles. Whether it makes us a stronger person, or an embittered person, or one who is weary or one who can smell the roses that exist.....each of us choses our pathway.


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My family enjoys staying at B&Bs. Our experience started when I took Dan and Sam on a west coast trip years ago. I alternated B&Bs with really inexpensive motels to keep the lodging budget in line. On that trip we found a delightful one along the northern California coast, the Howard Creek Ranch, and another worth revisiting on the ocean in Oregon, the Sylvia Beach Hotel. We stayed in two others, and while they were not unpleasant, they didn't sparkle. The boys and I got into a good discussion about what made us feel good in the places we enjoyed. We fantastized that one day we, too, would have a B&B and make it a sparkler that people would enjoy.


We've come to our senses now. After many more visits to B&B and frank discussions with their owners, we also have good friends who own a B&B nearby and hear their stories. Running a B&B is not easy work. One aspect is the early morning start. While Graham , for example, makes divine omelets, he is not a morning person, so a B&B owned by Graham would not serve breakfast, at least not until 9am. LOL


On this trip we stayed in 3 B&Bs---Phoenix Risin' in Baltimore,MD; the Queenstown Inn in Queenstown, MD on the Eastern Shore; and the Silver Thatch Inn located in Charlottesville, VA. Each has its wonderfulness. We best enjoyed the Queenstown Inn, partially because the decor better fit our sense of comfort, but also because the host made time to be with us and he was warm and relaxed. The Silver Thatch innkeepers were very nice people and the place was very cozy....perhaps a bit formal for me. The food was great, both breakfasts and we also ate a dinner there. We can strongly recommend both those places for any of you to visit.


I'm still pondering the experience at Phoenix Risin'. When I was searching for a place to stay I ran the gamut form the hotels in the Inner Harbor (looking for off-price deals on Priceline and similar websites) to suburban locations but I kept looking at the B&Bs. Most seemed to be decorated in Victoriana, which is not a comfort zone for me, so although they may have offerred a great experience, I chose not to look at them further. I narrowed the choice down to two B&Bs whose websites really shone with the personality of their owners. I sent emails to both and although both answered, the one from Jo was so warm and inviting, the choice was easily made.


When Sam was invited to the Governor's School for Math and Science and I learned we would be attending an orientation program that would start at 3pm, I informed Jo that we would be arriving late. No problem, she assured me and told me to telephone her when we left Morgantown and had a better idea of our ETA.


I was eager to meet her in person. The website told a bit about the naming of the B&B and hinted at overcoming something and a "rising from the ashes." I can relate to that kind of spirit. We had had that email exchange as well as a phone call where she asked if we preferred cider or champagne for our welcome beverage, what we would like for breakfast and if we had any food dislikes or allergies for her to avoid. We talked at length about her recent trip to Egypt and Dubai. It sounded like this woman really had a sense of giving us warm and welcoming hospitality and one who has a travel bug in her blood as I do.


Well, we left Morgantown earlier than I had expected and I called her, eager to tell her that we would be there 7-ish and could she make reservations for us at some place wonderful for 8pm. I got her voicemail and chatted the request. Several hours later, as we were maneuvering the route the GPS had given us through the slums of Baltimore she called and told us she had just awakened. She gave us directions, warned us parking would be a bit tough because of a street fair nearby, and told us to call when we got closeby.


We went around the block a couple of times and then lucked into a parking spot just half a block from the B&B. I telephoned and she said she would be right down. We unloaded what we needed and made our way to her door, expecting her to be there already. We waited. We waited. We waited. I rang the bell. We waited. We waited. And we waited some more. I telephoned her. She said she was still up on the 3rd floor and would be down shortly. Graham went back to the car to get one more thing and she finally opened the door. She was clearly right from bed, not quite dressed for unfamiliar people to enter her home, but it also surprised me that she was wearing arm crutches.


I'm at a point in my life where I will NOT ignore the elephant in the room I said "No wonder it took you a while to get down here. This is a tough house for that." Her answer amazed me...."I was already using the crutches when I bought the house." A couple of days later I asked her why and she simply said she loved the historic area and she had purposely looked for a house that could serve as a B&B.

Her house is like a museum of all the things she has collected on her travels. Fascinating, but a tad overwhelming. So although I enjoyed taking time to look at the collection, there was not a sense of peace in there for me. There was too much calling to me for attention.


Probably the hardest thing during our stay was her delay in getting breakfast. Graham had two meetings that Monday and he had to be at the first one at 9. She offered breakfast at 8, but she only came downstairs to start preparing the meal at 8. Graham left at 8:45, about 10 minutes after she gave him food. To make things a bit easier for her, we suggested 9 for the next morning.


I woke at 7 and used the time to edit photos and write an entry for this blog. Graham came down around 8. We would have loved to go out and take a walk around the neighborhood but saw that the security system was armed and decided to wait until she came downstairs, surely any time then, to prepare our breakfast.


At 9:06 Graham knocked on her door and woke her. She came downstairs a few minutes later and told us she had to run to the store to get eggs to make us breakfast. I told her no, we didn't want eggs. What I didn't want was more delay. Graham told her we would take a walk around the neighborhood to take photos of the area while she made us some kind of breakfast..and so it happened.


I have no idea why Jo was so different from her website persona and the woman I had chatted with weeks before. I am purely speculating that she is going through an emotional turmoil which should be personal. However, she is running a B&B, a type of business that requires a certain amount of service. And she could not provide that to us.


I admire her sense of self that empowers her to rise about whatever illness she has and take on the endeavor of a B&B. I wonder why she could not get help in if she was feeling in a funk, unable to provide the service she so proudly offerred. I hope she gets through this phase and finds her phoenix is stronger than ever. THEN, I can tell you all to go there also!! There is a lot to learn there.

Later Note: Jo and I have been in touch and she is saddened that we did not find her B&B restful and rejuvenating...the pheonix of our own pysche healed and rising ready to face the world. She is getting things working and wants us to come back. While we have no plans at this time to return to Baltimore, in time we will I imagine, and I would love to be there and discover what she offers when she herself is at peace.


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Our gastronomic goal was to test crabcakes while we were in Maryland. Truthfully, they all were good and after 4 times, it was enough. And we had that fun whack-a-crab dinner where we had to open the shells ourselves to get the meat. That sure showed me the labor intensity of getting chunks of crab meat out to make available for those crabcakes, for example. I explained in one of the blog entries (below) about how the crab cannery employs most of its workers from Mexico.


The owner, who gave us the tour, explained the legal process of being allowed to hire guest workers. He said most of the people he hired came back to him season after season. That's what I want to muse over here now.


Imagine living in an economically depressed place where work is hard to find and it becomes necessary to leave your home and family for six months of each year. And that the wages you earn are so profound to your household that you are willing to repeat that experience year after year.


These people don't make a lot of money. They get paid by the pound so they work as fast as possible. They work 8 hour days. April to October.


Could you?


What type of hardship in your current location would make you change your mind?


We know people came to the US and still come to the US to escape difficult times in their home country, often sending money back to help the household or to pay for passage for another family member to make the voyage across the ocean. People are still doing that today. We are a beacon of opportunity here in this country, despite our current economic recession.

Count your blessings.

Governor's School of Math and Science

When Sam was in 7th grade his math teacher suggested he apply for the Governor's School of Math and Science, but Sam was very hesitant so we let him relax. But towards the end of 8th grade, that math teacher as well as his Alegebra I teacher suggested once again that he apply.



He was hesitant, but I assured him we would not embellish the application at all. If he had no experience with someone, we would say so. And so we did. And he was invited!! He was a bit concerned he would feel dumb, but we suggested that perhaps he was the perfect candidate....not genius level, fixated only on certain aspects of math or science, but a bright kid with high aptitude in both math and science as well as writing.






As I reported in the first entry to this year's vacation, we went to Morgantown the night before, enjoyed dinner with Father John Stonesifer, who graciously offered to be an emergency contact for Sam since we would be so far away. Lisa and Dan, Sam's older sibs, are living about 2-3 hours from Morgantown, so as his mom, I felt I could let the apron strings out.


After an orientation for the students and parents, we older folks were told to leave and the fun began for Sam. The program did a great job of mixing classroom time (maybe 5 hours a day) and lots of outside and indoor activity. They went for hikes, played basketball, went swimming, played pingpong, and went on field trips, including two to Pittsburgh, one to the museum of natural science (Sam had some deja vu, as I had taken the kids there the summer before Dan started at Carnegie Mellon.) and a long day at Kennywood Park, an amusement park in Pittsburgh.





The theme of the Governor's School was to design an amusement park ride, using math and science to achieve the goal. Sam's group designed a roller coaster that was about 6 feet high and 6 feet long. They had to make the ride last as close to 2 minutes as they could and achieved something around 1:45 or so (sorry, Sam, I should have had yoou write this part.)









This is the group that attended, about 35 kids in all from all over the state of West Virginia.

And in case, you think smart kids have no sense of humor, this is the same group.

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The day after Sam returned from the Governor's School he participated in his first ever triathlon. Organized by Healthy Hungtington, the day before the adult event there was a modified raace for kids. Ages 9 and under (and there was a 3-year-old particiapting!) and 10-14 were the two groupings. So Sam's first try at a triathlon is his last at a shorter race.

Beech Fork Lake is a state park near Huntington, The older group swam 100 yards. I had told Sam how to move his arms and position his hands and finders to maximize his stroke strength but we had had no opportunity to practice. Even so, he finished about midway in the field of about 35 kids.

The problem happened next. We had not practiced or even discussed how to transition from being wet to getting on his running shoes. He also put on a tee-shirt. And he had forgotten to bring his helmet and needed to readjust the borrowed one. In all, he seemed to spend a kazillion years in this staging...probably more like 3 minutes...but was the last one out of the chute into the biking phase.

Last summer Sam went on a cross country bike ride from New York City to Albany, NY. We had gotten him a hybrid bike for that trip and that is the bike he used to race. He has very strong legs and halfway through his 4 laps he had pulled up to about the midpoint in the group.

Running distance, of course, is Sam's forté, and he quickly gained more ground. He came in 5th in his age group! Yeah Sam!!

New River, West Virginia

Have you ever heard of Bridge Day? It is a Saturday in October set aside for people to rappel or freebase off the US Highway 19 bridge which is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere. (They used to bungee jump there also but we heard that has been stopped now.) It is pretty high up above the river! Graham and I found the windy small road that leads down to the old bridge. It used to take 45 minutes to drive from rim on one side of this river canyon to the other rim...now, with the new bridge that was built in 1977, it takes 45 seconds.




We went to the Visitor Center, as the New River Gorge is a National Scenic River, one class below a National Park. When I asked the ranger how truck traffic would travel on this highway route before the new bridge, he didn't know. But later in the day, the woman who drove the bus taking us to the put-in point and out again after our raft trip told me there was no US Route 19 before the bridge. A highway study had been done that showed the need for a new connector route in that portion of the state, and the bridge and 4 lane divided highway was built.

This is the old bridge, rebuilt in the 19902. It is one lane with a plank roadbed.

At the Visitor Center we learned that much of the land immediately adjacent to the river was dotted with small towns in the late 1800s-early 1900s as the area was mined for coal and trees were harvested for various needs (pulp and wood for furniture). At one point during the raft trip our guide pointed out a brick wall that was part of a building in a town that had long been abandoned and overgrown by nature.

We stayed two nights in a one bedroom cabin located about 10 minutes from Class VI, the white water rafting company we used for our trip. Class VI is a class act! If you plan to go for an experience on the New or Gauley Rivers, feel confident you will get good attention there. Not only do they offer a variety of white water trips, but they also have many other outdoor adventures offered including a treetops tour on ziplines and rope bridges.

We ate the evening after our raft trip at the Class VI Smokey's on the Gorge restaurant. They have a gourmet buffet, which seems like an oxymoron, but it actually was the second best dinner of our trip (b in Baltimore was better.) with 4 or 5 entrees well prepared and a wonderful salad bar with many great cheeses as well.

We stayed for the sunset which got clouded out with a low bank of clouds.

We've gone white water rafting a number of times. I think my first experience was when I worked at the Vanderbilt Eye Clinic and about 30 of us went to the Ocoee River one Saturday. This was the river used for the Atlanta Olympics. The following year I went again with my daughter Lisa and my sister Susie.

Then when Sam was about 5 years ago, he and his brother Dan and I took a trip from Oakland, California to Portland, Oregon. At that time, because of Sam's age, we were limited to rivers with only Class I or Class II rapids and enjoyed a trip down the McKenzie. We were the only rafters that time so we suited up into wet suits, climbed aboard our raft with one guide and the other guide (always 2 for safety) kayaked along with us. Sam was like a bowsprit in the front, way too small to paddle, and he was eager for each and every little ripple of water.

So, two years ago, when we made another west coast trip, this time from Sacramento to Seattle, we opted for a fantastic trip on the Upper Klamath with Momentum River Expeditions. What we appreciated about this group was that they were well experienced, with no one having less that 6 years experience. The Upper Klamath has really long runs of Class IV rapids, some of the longest in the country. It was a wild ride. They heard we were from West Virginia and recommended Class VI for any trips we would want on the New or Gauley.

Last year, as you can read below in this blog, we rafted the tidal bore in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. We did not paddle as the raft was motor driven and I will admit I did not enjoy it as much as the downstream rafting.

On the Lower New River trip, there were 2 rafts and 14 people. Shane, our guide, had been working for Class VI for 20 years and had seen it grow from a small trailer to the large quality operation it is now. The other guide had also worked there for 20 years. When I told Shane one of the guides on the Ocoee had purposely dumped us all into the water, he assured me he prefers the trip taken in the boat, and trying to dump us may end up dumping him. In fact, he also told us that if any of the guides dumps any of the passengers, they have to buy beers for all the other guides. That's incentive not to dump people! LOL

The Lower New has many Class III and IV rapids and maybe one V. There are stretches of quiet float areas and several rocks for jumping into deep water. It was a great trip!

The next morning we woke to rain. During the trip we had had some sprinkles as we drove and it rained several nights, but this was the first time we had a pretty steady downpour. It was okay...we were heading homee.

We decided to drive back on Route 60 so I could see another part of the state. The road winded through the hills above the New River and finally came down at the town of Gauley Bridge, were we crossed the Gauley right upstream from where it flows into the new. The river at that point changes name to the Kanawha, which is the river that flows through Charleston.

We finally got home and were happy to discover that it only took 2 hours to drive from the New River area....we will return!!

Charlottesville Virginia-a great town to visit

Lizzie (my friend from 6th grade) and her husband Jimmy met us in Charlottesville. It was her birthday (gee, Lizzie, are we really THAT old now???) and Jimmy wanted to get her out of New Jersey.

I was unable to get them a room at our B&B, but found a space for them west of Charlottesville out in the countryside, Sugar Hollow Farm. We have discovered we do not have any photos, but here is the website link for you. http://www.sugarhollow.com/

This is a lovely B&B located in a tranquil area..a great place to relax and find a sense of peace.

We stayed at a nice B&B as well, the Silver Thatch Inn. It started its life as a prison for Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War. They have seven rooms, each one named for one of Virginia's own that went on to become President. (Now we will see who among you are Presidential buffs and tell me something interesting about that.)

Years ago, the kids and I spent a weekend in Charlottesville. We ate lunch at Michie Tavern and toured Monticello.

When I planned this summer's vacation and determined that Graham had never been to Monticello I knew we had to go there.

Designed by Thomas Jefferson, it really is a lovely museum dedicated to his inventiveness. He was constantly making changes to the house itself as well as the farm.

For example, the walls are very thick, so instead of having the beds in the room taking up a large portion of the floor space, the beds at Monticello are actually built into alcoves in the wall. Jefferson's bed is located in the wall with openings to his office on one side and his dressing room on the other. The space is 6 feet 3 inches long. The man stood 6 foot 2.

He designed a clock, placed in his front foyer where visitors waited, that needed to be wound only once a week. The foyer was full of artifacts of interest, such as Native American articles, brought back by the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as fossilized bones of ancient animals. People who arrived to visit Jefferson uninvited often had to wait a long time to see him, so he wanted them to have something to keep their interest during that time.


The grounds are lovely. The gardens lush with plants we knew and some we don't typically grow, like sesame. Perhaps my only issue is how the tours are run. Because Monticello is a popular tourist spot, they have worked it out to have tours start every ten minutes in the busy summer months. Each tour group has about 20 people, and the docent moves the group from room to room so quickly and each room is so full, there is not really enough time to listen and then look at all the interesting items. Also, interior photography is not permitted, so if you want to see Jefferson's invention of a copy machine, you will have to take the tour.

I've had a varied working career, but my university degree in is geography and urban planning. When I was in high school the new towns of Columbia, Maryland and Reston, Virginia had just been built and the concept of designing a city to incorporate all aspects of mixed use-houses, businesses and factories-so things work well together and perhaps there will be fewer conflicts-seemed very appealing.

So when I see something done that takes a prevalent problem-like how downtown areas in cities seem to have fsailed because of suburban malls-and makes it something that really works, I sit up and take notice.

About 30 years ago, Charlottesville took about six blocks of Main Street and bricked it over, making a pedestrian mall. They must have planted pretty large trees at that time, because the trees in the middle of the promenade are very large now.

The mall is bordered by shops, restaurants, and offices. There were a few signs of residences above but not as many as I would have thought.

They have a wall that is essentially an outdoor blackboard, called the First Admendment Wall. Anyone can write anything (except the request for no profanity) on it. We noticed no graffiti anywhere else.

One end of the pedestrian mall is anchored by a large covered ampitheater for outdoor concerts or presentations.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing we saw was PEOPLE!!!! This was a Sunday evening and there were about 15 restaurants doing a brisk business with indoor and outdoor seating available. There was only one shop open and if you know me, you know I was not shy about chatting with the merchant. She said she tends to be the only one who stays open as late as 9pm on Sundays, but the other evenings most of the shops are open. The first Friday of each month the art galleries change exhibits and it has become the place to go, with wine and cheese and other refreshments available.

It has turned out to be a very viable project. While we saw some vacant storefronts, the shopkeeper we spoke with said there are always new shops opening. During the school year, when the University of Virginia students are there, the mall is full of people each evening.

Great going Charlottesville!