West Virginia Trip Day 2

Friday morning began early and after a not so great breakfast at the hotel we began to make our way to the falls at Hills Creek in the Monongahela National Forest. The drive took considerably longer than I had planned. However, I was delighted by the mountains. The morning was a cloudy, foggy, misty morning. The smoke of clouds rose up out of the trees of the mountains like wistful, angelic beings dancing up into the clouds. It was amazing watching them leave the trees to only disappear into the sky. The boys didn’t notice because they were watching Superman 3.

We finally arrived at our destination and enjoyed the morning exploring. The trail to the waterfalls was largely made up of stairs. Lots and lots and lots of stairs. Joshua decided that he wanted to collect some river water and then would add more river water to it from other rivers we would see on our trip. He brought a little water bottle and filled it about half way. He then preceded to show his water to everyone we met on the trail.

We left the waterfalls and went to the nearby Cranberry Mountain Nature Center ran by the Forest Service for lunch and a visit. While sitting outside having our lunch, a small group of seniors came walking by. Feromsa, the ever talkative one, began a conversation with one of the ladies. She asked how come there were only boys in our group. He quickly told her that Mommy and Hannah were home spending money.

The boys loved the nature center because they were able to see live snakes and turtles. However, the biggest highlight for them was an exhibit where you stuck your hand in a box and tried to guess what you were feeling. Their excitement at this must have been contagious because they were able to get grown men who had rode in on their Harleys to join in on the fun.

Our next stop was at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park (yes, this is another Civil War battlefield). This was just a quick stop to climb a lookout tower and then we were back on the road again.

A little over an hour later we were at the Sandstone Falls on the New River. The boys especially liked this site. Not only did they have another opportunity to play in some water but, and this was a real special treat, they saw two dead fish floating in the water.

After Sandstone Falls we began to make our way to Grandview Park Overlook on the New River. This wasn’t a long trip but it was long enough for all the boys to take a quick nap. Grandview Park was a particular highlight for the boys. Here there is a short trail that leads to a “cave.” Really it is just a large crevice in an even larger rock. The crevice is about 30 feet long and at points is only about 3 feet high. For the boys it was one of the most amazing things we had done on the whole trip.

Our 2nd day ended with dinner at Wendy’s and the boys watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl. This night I shared a bed with Joshua. He unfortunately was not much better to sleep with than Bereket. Once again a pretty restless night while the three boys slept soundly.