West Virginia

September 22nd, Monday: We reluctantly left Uncle Lester and Aunt Betty Sue. Audrey was against it, well, throughout the entire day and continuously stated, "Why did we have to leave?" I'm mildly optimistic that eventually she'll be able to get over it. At Uncle Lester's suggestion we drove down I-79/Hwy 19 to the New River Gorge Bridge. The drive itself, without reaching the bridge or the gorge would have sufficed as it was in continuous mountains. Now, out west if the mountains aren't in National Parkland or in Wilderness areas you can see the slopes dotted with clear cut logging. Well, it's a crop and we do live in wood houses and read newspapers and books, etc. We need to log. But out here in the east, logging has to go on somewhere, but as far as we can tell, it is not as extensive as in the west and Uncle Lester told us that in West Virginia there is selective logging but no clear cutting. I believe him, for in all of our driving in West Virginia there was not one clear cut slope and the mountains are full of forests, trees on the verge of becoming vibrant reds, oranges and yellows. It is truly something to behold. I'm an Autumn person, and I wish I could be here a few weeks from now, but the schedule didn't allow it so we move on (we do want to beat winter and be home in Port Angeles before snowfall (hopefully) and the kids are missing their school routine and friends so we do need to get them back for that). The New River Gorge is operated by the National Park Service (since 1978) and it is very scenic. If we lived here we would be white water kayakers. The mountains would be great to hike in. I can't tell you how many turkey vultures we've seen across this nation, but if numbers would have won out, they would have undoubtedly been our National Bird. Today we saw a group of eight at the Gorge. I love the 2-lane highways of our nation and today we drove on the old "First National Pike Road", highway 60 through West Virginia and it wound and climbed and dropped and wound and climbed and dropped some more, all without an inkling of a shoulder and the shoulder that was there was a soft one at that. But, it was well worth it, for at the half mile high passes Autumn had arrived. Wow. There was a smile on my face. Even so, Audrey still said, "Why did we have to leave Aunt Betty Sue??" I have always considered Uncle Lester a surrogate father. If a person could choose their parents, I would chose Uncle Lester and Aunt Betty Sue as my parents. They are the icing on the cake. I love the Filicsky family and I am proud to be a part of them. Today as the conversation of the morning went from one subject to another both Uncle Lester and I had a few things to add. Aunt Betty Sue said, "They are just alike." Connie giggled. This trip is amazing. It should be longer. September 21st, Sunday: When we were planning this little trip both Con and I thought, "That is going to be a long time". Well, as it is turning out, it is becoming a trip that is too short. For at almost all of our destinations we find ourselves wanting to spend more time there, but needing to move on. We've all said it before and it is appropriate to repeat it again here, "There isn't enough time in 24 hours to get done what we WANT to do". And, "There aren't enough days in a week." Plus, "There isn't enough time in the day to make the blog entry". And for us, "This trip is too short." If we had it to do again we would add at a minimum, two more months. We don't want to leave West Virginia for our next destination, and in fact, we didn't want to leave Gettysburg, or New York, or Mystic, or Cape Cod, etc. . . . You're getting the idea. Our time in Gettysburg will be for me probably the most memorable experience of the entire trip. If you have never been there before my advice is to, "Go!" What I had imagined the battlefield to be was far less than what it actually was. It is vast. It is north of the town, it is in the town, east of the town, and it is south of the town. The monuments placed by the different states (North and South), regiments, brigades, divisions, Corps, etc., are impressive and taken in the context of being there and actually looking down from Little Round Top, or across the mile wide field that Pickett advanced upon, or for me, to walk in the field where my 2-Great Grandfather fell . . . . . was, a very special experience. I wish I had more time to spend at Gettysburg. We moved on. We drove across Maryland and the surprises continued. Western Maryland, whom I had imagined in my mind was nothing like what Maryland actually is. It is beautiful. Forests upon forests, mountains upon mountains. I was not expecting that. The entire family was surprised by Cumberland, Maryland. What a beautiful town. Then we arrived in West Virginia and made our way through the forested mountains to Uncle Lester's and Aunt Betty Sue's in Bridgeport. . . . . It is like spending time in a very upscale, plush bed and breakfast. The girls don't want to leave. It is going to be a challenge to turn on the ignition of LaFawnduh and move to the next destination. Plus, we are sleeping IN the Bed & Breakfast and not in LaFawnduh, who has her windows open and is hopefully airing out some of the stench of living for 50 days in her (the four of us plus Cocoa, ah yes, Cocoa). A little bit about our West Virginia sight seeing so far, since we are getting ready to head out and continue the little experience. We had dinner yesterday at the Stonewall Jackson Lodge. This is a state park near where General Jackson spent his childhood (from age 6 to age 18 when he went to West Point). Beautiful. Then we drove the short distance to Jackson Mill, which is the mill where the General lived at and worked in. It is the mountain valley where the General established his strong feelings of "loyalty" and "duty" and "honor" and "Presbyterianism". Reading of the Chancellorsville Campaign is still on the reading list of Marine Corps officers today. But, the tour of the mill was a surprise for us. We actually learned of how mills worked, and saw gears and structures that had been built in the 18th century and were still working. Connie bought 10 pounds of corn meal ground at the Jackson Mill. I am looking forward to the cornbread and the hush puppies and the skillet bread made from this meal. This morning we went with Betty Sue to the Bridgeport United Methodist Church and we enjoyed the pastor's sermon, the service, and Betty Sue's friends in the congregation. Uncle Lester was gone long before we were up since he is a deacon at the Catholic Church in nearby Clarksburg. In his service he serves the sacraments to shut in parishioners. He's back. I would write more, but Uncle Lester is wanting to get going. . . . . John Denver wrote of West Virginia, and his words of the state are appropriate. We are thankful for this trip and for our time spent in West Virginia. p.s. This entry, as are 99% of the blog posts are unedited due to time constraints. Sorry for the gibberish and the spelling errors. Got to go.