According to my Uncle Bill, I've aged well. I'll be 46 next week. Whaddaya say?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
We Took A Little Trip Over Labor Day
We had a 4-day weekend - probably the last of such for a while, as John starts training this week for a new job within NFS. That means no more 3-day weekends, and it will soon mean a real change, as John goes to the night shift. We are strangely fascinated by the idea of this possibly monumental change in our lives. Surprised? You shouldn't be. After all, our mantra has always been "We are nothing if not flexible". Soon we shall see just how well we live up to our mantra.
In the meantime, we decided to head up to West Virginia for the weekend. We had been to WVA just a few weeks before, remember, when we made the trip with June to her ancestral home in Hemlock. This time we had two goals: explore the New River Gorge and also an area quite a bit north of there in and around the Blackwater Falls State Park. Oh, it was fun!
The New River Gorge is beautiful, and boasts longest single span bridge and the second-highest, at almost 900 feet, in the US. Here is a picture of John standing in front of a massive rock with the bridge (part of it, anyway) in the background. Pretty neat, huh?
Before this bridge was built in 1977, a traveler wishing to cross the New River had to drive down a winding road to this spot and cross a single-lane wooden bridge, which still stands. There used to be a mining town there, but that is gone. The trip across the river would take about 40 minutes top to bottom to top again.
Every year, about this time, there is a festival the closes down the bridge so crazy people can bungee jump or parasail from it. We are not crazy. We are flexible, but not crazy.
This area is mostly interesting for people who like to climb rock cliffs (we don't), whitewater raft (we haven't, but may, someday), parasail (see above), and hike. So, we did a little hiking, but mostly decided to save it for the next time. It is about 3 hours from us, so it could even be a day trip.
So, we headed north toward Blackwater Falls State Park. After a few detours (Google is not perfect) and side trips, we made it. One interesting side trip was to a little town called Phillipi. It is on the Tygert River, which claims to be to only spot in the US to boast a 5.0 earthquake, a Cat 1 Hurricane and an F3 tornado in the same place (but not at the same time). It is also the spot where the first land battle of the Civil War took place. We got the lowdown from a very sweet little lady in the Phillipi Museum, which is next to the Phillipi Covered Bridge - the nation's longest covered bridge, and one that is very much still in use. The beams still have musket holes from that Civil War battle.
Along our way, we came upon a wind farm. It is not very far from Thomas, West Virginia and can be seen from the motel in which we stayed. It got me to thinking about all the hubbub about wind farms that we are hearing, these days. Ted Kennedy is against having one in his back yard, as is nephew Bobby, Jr., as is our own Tennessee Senator, Lamar Alexander (who owns property near the proposed wind farm the Kennedys are fighting to stop). Funny. I would rather see this any day:
Than this, which is the alternative that is being greenlighted by the EPA:
The funny thing is that most of the arguments you hear against wind farms are that they are ugly. Again, I offer, for your consideration: which is uglier? This:
Or this:
I thought so.
Now the other argument, oddly enough, the one that doesn't get heard all that much, is that wind farms kill birds and bats. Now, we are bird-lovers. We are bat-lovers. We belong to Bat Conservation International, which, by the way, has a great article on this very subject. It is a problem, but it is one that they are pretty confident can be mitigated, with the proper research, which requires the proper funding. Which they aren't getting. BCI is working on it, though, and could use everyone's support - either by writing Congress to provide funding, or by donating to the organization yourselves.
We need to make wind farms a reality, and learn to love them like we love our ugly uncle, so we see more of this:
and less of this:
and no more of this:
OK! Enough with the roadside sermon, and on with the trip!
We spent the a good bit of time riding our bikes around the paved roads inside Blackwater Falls SP, saw some deer, some great waterfalls, had a few good meals, and came home. It was a great trip. We've pretty much decided that this area of West Virginia will be our new destination, as the North Shore was for us when we lived in Minnesota. It's good to have a getaway place. If you don't currently have one, I suggest you get a move on!
In the meantime, we decided to head up to West Virginia for the weekend. We had been to WVA just a few weeks before, remember, when we made the trip with June to her ancestral home in Hemlock. This time we had two goals: explore the New River Gorge and also an area quite a bit north of there in and around the Blackwater Falls State Park. Oh, it was fun!
The New River Gorge is beautiful, and boasts longest single span bridge and the second-highest, at almost 900 feet, in the US. Here is a picture of John standing in front of a massive rock with the bridge (part of it, anyway) in the background. Pretty neat, huh?
Before this bridge was built in 1977, a traveler wishing to cross the New River had to drive down a winding road to this spot and cross a single-lane wooden bridge, which still stands. There used to be a mining town there, but that is gone. The trip across the river would take about 40 minutes top to bottom to top again.Every year, about this time, there is a festival the closes down the bridge so crazy people can bungee jump or parasail from it. We are not crazy. We are flexible, but not crazy.
This area is mostly interesting for people who like to climb rock cliffs (we don't), whitewater raft (we haven't, but may, someday), parasail (see above), and hike. So, we did a little hiking, but mostly decided to save it for the next time. It is about 3 hours from us, so it could even be a day trip.
So, we headed north toward Blackwater Falls State Park. After a few detours (Google is not perfect) and side trips, we made it. One interesting side trip was to a little town called Phillipi. It is on the Tygert River, which claims to be to only spot in the US to boast a 5.0 earthquake, a Cat 1 Hurricane and an F3 tornado in the same place (but not at the same time). It is also the spot where the first land battle of the Civil War took place. We got the lowdown from a very sweet little lady in the Phillipi Museum, which is next to the Phillipi Covered Bridge - the nation's longest covered bridge, and one that is very much still in use. The beams still have musket holes from that Civil War battle.
Along our way, we came upon a wind farm. It is not very far from Thomas, West Virginia and can be seen from the motel in which we stayed. It got me to thinking about all the hubbub about wind farms that we are hearing, these days. Ted Kennedy is against having one in his back yard, as is nephew Bobby, Jr., as is our own Tennessee Senator, Lamar Alexander (who owns property near the proposed wind farm the Kennedys are fighting to stop). Funny. I would rather see this any day:
Than this, which is the alternative that is being greenlighted by the EPA:
The funny thing is that most of the arguments you hear against wind farms are that they are ugly. Again, I offer, for your consideration: which is uglier? This:
Or this:
I thought so.
Now the other argument, oddly enough, the one that doesn't get heard all that much, is that wind farms kill birds and bats. Now, we are bird-lovers. We are bat-lovers. We belong to Bat Conservation International, which, by the way, has a great article on this very subject. It is a problem, but it is one that they are pretty confident can be mitigated, with the proper research, which requires the proper funding. Which they aren't getting. BCI is working on it, though, and could use everyone's support - either by writing Congress to provide funding, or by donating to the organization yourselves.
We need to make wind farms a reality, and learn to love them like we love our ugly uncle, so we see more of this:
and less of this:
and no more of this:
OK! Enough with the roadside sermon, and on with the trip!
We spent the a good bit of time riding our bikes around the paved roads inside Blackwater Falls SP, saw some deer, some great waterfalls, had a few good meals, and came home. It was a great trip. We've pretty much decided that this area of West Virginia will be our new destination, as the North Shore was for us when we lived in Minnesota. It's good to have a getaway place. If you don't currently have one, I suggest you get a move on!
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