giradman
iPad Fan
Susan & I just returned from a 4-night vacation to West Virginia, known as the Mountain State and also for its 'mountain highways' - take a listen HERE to John Denver singing Take Me Home, Country Roads - driving the major roads of this state is like having your car in the midst of an ocean w/ waves cresting and valleys between; this is our third vacation to this state and I'm still enthralled with driving these mountain roads (and I cannot really find a pic on the web to duplicate the visual experience, sorry).
West Virginia is an oddly shaped state (separated from Virginia by seceding from the Confederate State in the beginning of the Civil War and was then admitted to the Union in 1863 - more history HERE, for those interested; and see first map below) - bordering the state of Ohio along the great river of the same name; touching Pennsylvania w/ a thin finger (where Wheeling is located) extending north; then touching Maryland in a rather convoluted manner; its borders w/ previous 'parent' Virginia are pretty much along the Shenandoah Valley.
From our home in Piedmont North Carolina, I usually head first into Virginia on HW 77 (second map below) - then turned onto HW 19 (traverses the New River Gorge on a world famous bridge - more in a separate post) which then hits HW 79, which we took to the Stonewall Jackson State Park and lake (see the red arrow below on the 2nd map); we did 'day trips' to Charleston, the capitol of the state (blue arrow), and also to the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (approximately where the green arrow is placed; I've already posted a few pics in the image sharing thread). We stayed at the Stonewall Resort (third pic below) which is on a man-made mountain lake w/ numerous 'watery' fingers, typical of these lakes.
So, I'll be adding further posts about the state park, visits to Charleston & to Fallingwater, and also one on the New River Gorge Bridge - for those who live in the eastern part of the USA and have not been to this mountain state, then a strong recommendation. Dave
.
West Virginia is an oddly shaped state (separated from Virginia by seceding from the Confederate State in the beginning of the Civil War and was then admitted to the Union in 1863 - more history HERE, for those interested; and see first map below) - bordering the state of Ohio along the great river of the same name; touching Pennsylvania w/ a thin finger (where Wheeling is located) extending north; then touching Maryland in a rather convoluted manner; its borders w/ previous 'parent' Virginia are pretty much along the Shenandoah Valley.
From our home in Piedmont North Carolina, I usually head first into Virginia on HW 77 (second map below) - then turned onto HW 19 (traverses the New River Gorge on a world famous bridge - more in a separate post) which then hits HW 79, which we took to the Stonewall Jackson State Park and lake (see the red arrow below on the 2nd map); we did 'day trips' to Charleston, the capitol of the state (blue arrow), and also to the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (approximately where the green arrow is placed; I've already posted a few pics in the image sharing thread). We stayed at the Stonewall Resort (third pic below) which is on a man-made mountain lake w/ numerous 'watery' fingers, typical of these lakes.
So, I'll be adding further posts about the state park, visits to Charleston & to Fallingwater, and also one on the New River Gorge Bridge - for those who live in the eastern part of the USA and have not been to this mountain state, then a strong recommendation. Dave
.