Thursday, June 21, 2007

Almost Heaven?? I think not.





I'm pretty sure I can see angels in EVERY ONE of these photographs.

Yesterday was such a fantastic day. We were in Elkins, WV for a meeting for work, which ended up getting over a little early. We were so close to Seneca Rocks - and I had never been there before, so Pepper and I decided...why not?

Indeed. Why not.

After about a 45 minutes, a stop for some Diet Pepsi's and snacks, and some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen up to that point (remember this), we arrived at Seneca Rocks. As I was wearing flip-flops, we opted not to climb, but we did have a fantastic lunch on the porch of a restaurant overlooking this amazing sight.


Note to self: BRING SHOES SUITABLE FOR CLIMBING, HIKING, OR OTHER WALKING ACTIVITIES TO FUTURE MEETINGS. You just never know.

We were sitting there eating, and there was a gigantic map of WV on the wall. Pepper started looking at it, and realized that we could see a few other amazing WV sights if we took a certain route. Not having ever been in the area before, I just got in the car and said, "Let's go!" Thank God.

We drove for a while longer, on a curvy mountain road that followed a beautiful river on our right side. Then...we were on an even curvier mountain GRAVEL road, which had a sign at the beginning that said the road was impassable in the winter time. Wow!

We drove and drove, up and up...occasionally catching a glimpse through the trees of the beautiful scenery...just enough to tease. We got to the top and got out of the car to walk out to the overlook - this was a bit of a challenge (remember the flip flops?) but as Pepper claimed this was one of his favorite spots in the whole world, I didn't think I could afford to miss it.

I couldn't.

What I saw when we got there literally took my breath away, and I'm pretty sure I cried just a little. The pictures don't do it justice. We were on top of the WHOLE world up there! This was Dolly Sods...




We looked for a little while and then off we went...more adventure awaited! We just drove and talked and laughed and had fun - if we wanted to stop, we stopped. The skies were blue as blue can be. It was a little windy, and actually a cool day for the last day of Spring. What a way to spend it!

We had to work for it a little at Blackwater Falls. This was a walk down 217 steps to an overlook which, again, took my breath away. This place is a mere 1.5 hours from my house. Why on earth have I never been here before?? Absolutely stunning...



After Blackwater, we meandered back home. We did not see interstate for the entire trip. It took us 1.5 hours to get to Elkins on Tuesday - and about 6 hours to get home on Wednesday. What a perfect day!

Do you see the angels? I sure do.