Time to Travel (Parkersburg, Elkins, Kingwood: real estate, rentals, vacation home)

[David Kennedy]

It's time for the Fall pilgrimage...

Leaves are changing and the woodland critters are getting ready for the winter chill. Friday will be a nice time to travel to Parsons and have a good old West Virginia country breakfast. Homefries grown from potatoes from the local farms near Terra Alta...omlette with everything but the kitchen sink and a little ham gravy on those potatoes, please...
I'll stop along Rt 50 at Cool Springs and say hello to the Castles..Harlan will be out back at the cider press where the old guys get together on those cold mornings. (All the proceeds are donated to the Kingwood Hospice...nice gesture)...but that cider, If you let is Set a day or two...It gets just an edge on it that makes you so happy.
That little girl who lives with me, will be surprised when she returns Tuesday from Portland, Oregon and sees the food stock replenished. Just the necessities...200 lbs of home grown potatoes and about 15 jugs of that delicious apple brew...That's one of the things this hillbilly reallly likes and if you can make the trip..its worth it. I'll have to take the van on this one, but I would suggest taking a bike if the weather is warm...a Harley-Davidson with your best little chickee layin' back on the sissy bar is the only way to negotiate those tight West Virginia mountain curves...
For those of you who can't make it...take a day off...life is too short!

[snorpus]

DK's got it right... if there's ever a month to visit West Virginia, October is it.

I think this is Forest Festival week in Elkins, with the big parade on Saturday. The trains from Durbin and Cass are running practically every day, the foliage should be magnificent for the next couple of weeks. If you ride the Cass train to Bald Knob, be sure to bring gloves and your winter jacket. There's still time to drive along the ridge of Dolly Sods, or along the Highlands Scenic Highway, before they're closed by snow for the winter.

A student of mine wanted to visit Blackwater and Cass during October, but waited too long to make reservations. Only weekend she and her hubby could get a Friday and Saturday night at the Lodge in Blackwater was the last weekend of the month... full up till then.

A couple of links: West Virginia Family Vacations and West Virginia - Wild and Wonderful - West Virginia Travel, Recreation, Whitewater, Real Estate, Lodging, State Parks.

Snorpus

[confusedTee]

Ya'll are singing my tune..............LUV THIS TIME

[BJC]

tell your friend she should check out ..VRBO® is Vacation Rentals by Owner® Vacation Homes Rentals by Owner lots of places to rent in that area on that site.

[David Kennedy]

The biggest thing in West Virginia and the east coast of America: Bridge Day this coming weekend.
The crowd attending will be at least 100,000 thousand.
News coverage should be incredible beause of the death last year.
Our mountains at New River should be gorgeous with the fall leaves turning color.
With the late warm fall weather, this is the time to enjoy a great extended weekend.
Sadly, we will be working and will miss it.
I'll make up for it though..a quiet lunch later at Tamarac and a walk at the overlook in a few weeks...
Have a great time! Ya'll. Hoping CT and M~A will give a recap of the event.

[Ceezer]

I know it's last minute but I was talking to my mom last night and she mentioned the Fall Foliage Tour, which I think is today. It's in Washington County, OH (across the river from Parkersburg) but it's a great opportunity to get out and see some of the covered bridges and beauty of WasCo. Sweetapple Farms usually has stuff set up for kids, too, like hay rides and such.

Fall also usually means the Buckwheat Festival. Has that already passed?

[David Kennedy]

Last weekend in September...

Buckwheat cakes if anyone is wondering, is the actual modern day replica of manna given to the Israelites in the days of Moses. They are that good!

It is best eaten before noon with a smothering of homemade Maple Syrup. A side of home grown sasuage or cured fried ham does'nt spile the appitite either...
Locally grown, pressed cane mollasses can substitute for the Maple syrup and is considered by 'purists' as more authentic, as this food item goes back several hundred years.
To me, Sorghum is a little strong but its part of our heritage and I'll sample it for medicinal reasons once in a while...with biled fresh dug sassafras root.
I see it growing as an ornamental in yards...It looks like a grassy corn with a fuzzy top.
I wonder if people know that it could be a part of their food groups...almost all the local resturants in the Preston, Tucker County region have Buckwheats on the menu.
Also the Castleman Inn in Grantsville, MD. serve a great buckwheat cake with all the amish trimings.
Something to surely be savored and enjoyed...

[Ceezer]

I like molasses, especially with buckwheat, but my grampa makes his own maple syrup. Since he's the one I usually eat buckwheat with I just use that (it's good, anyway). 82 years and he still does it all himself. Heck, he even shows up to building sites (iron worker) hoping there'll be something he can do.

My old man has taken to sugar maples recently, too, now that he's at an age and point where he's starting to take a little more time for himself. He's also an iron worker and spent the summer constructing this huge iron smoker that is totally amazing, so he's been putting out a lot of sausage and stuff.

Another regional festival I'll mention, though I think it's in the Spring, is the ramp festival. I've not been to it but I sure do like ramps.

[millersangel]

I have to work this weekend too. So it's up to CT to let us know how Bridge Day went.

[snorpus]

Ramp festivals are held in the Spring.

The most famous one I know of is in Richwood, which grew big because of the promotions of Jim Comstock, editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly.

There are others around the state (I think there's one in Helvetia or thereabouts), in the late March to early May time frame. Often you can get ramps and maple syrup festivals on the same weekend.

Snorpus