Local travels

A quick break from grocery shopping posts....

Do you ever visit state parks?  They're a great, free resource for family fun.  This weekend we visited Beartown State Park in Hillsboro, West Virginia. 

I left the perspective in this picture to show that most of the place is boardwalks.  Its at about 3000' elevation, in the trees, and very damp and cool.  What a nice change from the weather we've had lately!  There was no danger in letting the girls take the lead - except for the slippery wood in places - they couldn't get off the path!

Now, this is probably the most beautiful place we've been in weeks and weeks, and for the life of me, I couldn't get a decent picture of us or of the surroundings. There was so much moss, so many ferns and so much texture. I couldn't capture it all with the camera as I was too busy soaking it all in myself!

(Andy, do you want me to delete this picture?

Ignore the man in the picture...he's not pickin' anything - he's on the first day of a cold Abbo shared with us.  Perspective, again - they're looking down between the rocks - Hannah is telling us that this where Indians live....

Anyways, as we were leaving Beartown, a real live bear sauntered across the road heading into the woods!  As is the case with every other bear I've seen, it just melted into the woods so that by the time we made it to where he entered, he was nowhere to be found. 

A short drive up the road brought us to Droop Mountain State Park.  As a Virginian, I often forget that West Virginia was on the Union side during the Civil War, and that there were many battles fought in this area.  Droop Mountain was the site of the last major Civil War battle in West Virginia. 

We drove through the park, climbed the observation tower and let the girls get out some energy at the playground before the ride home.  Many thanks to that kid who seesawed with Hannah - there's rarely anyone around her size to play with her on the seesaw and she really appreciated it!

I just have to remind her, though, that she needs to give warning before getting off.  The boy got off, too, rubbing his back end.  No hard feelings, though - we'd seen him and his family at Beartown and told them about the bear.  He thought it was pretty cool and I heard him ask his parents if they'd take him back over there.....