Booker T. Washington was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1856, into the so-called Peculiar Institution of American slavery. At the tender age of 9, Booker and other slaves on the Burroughs family plantation were freed, and Booker began a journey that would make him a well-known and important figure during the Reconstruction Era.
Read MoreOn our final day staying in Watoga State Park in West Virginia, we checked out the Greenbrier River Trail and rode a chunk of the route on our bikes. The day started out a tad overcast so we headed from our rustic cabin to the trail head, a short distance away, cognizant that time was likely not on our side.
Read MoreAfter weighing the weather report for the day and the following day, the Cranberry Glades area won out. Everything we had read about the area sold us on this decision. The Cranberry Glades are a unique bog environment, not typically found so far south. A more common location of a bog is Canada or far northern areas in the United States, not a spot a 7+ hour drive south of there. A bog is a freshwater wetland area with an soft, spongy ground because it is filled with peat, partially decayed plant matter.
Read MoreAfter swinging by the main park building to access wifi from the parking lot to get driving directions on the phone, we drove the 25 minutes or so to Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. The route took us through the small area of Hillsboro, past the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace – a gorgeous, white house sitting along a rural thoroughfare. There were some steep altitude climbs and very windy roads, but it was overall an easy drive.
Read MoreFrom the moment we entered Monongahela National Forest and then Watoga State Park proper, it was clear that we had lucked upon a gorgeous spot.
What made us pick Watoga you might ask? Random chance and a few filters applied to the West Virginia Parks site. After over two and a half years of a travel hiatus due to covid, we decided we were ready to head out in the world . . . in a very low-key safe way. Our in-laws have visited a number of Virginia state parks in the last few years and stayed at cabins, and this option wasn’t really on our radar at all. We took a look at the parks in West Virginia, just over the border from our home, and searched for one with availability that also took dogs (many do not). And voila! Watoga State Park became our destination.
Read MoreWest Virginia is known as the Mountain State for a reason. While many states dip into the Appalachian region, West Virginia is the only state entirely within the Appalachian region. And because the Appalachian system of mountains is so vast - spanning from Georgia to Maine - it has sub-sections of mountains. West Virginia is home to the Valley and Ridge and Appalachian Plateau areas, the former of which is nestled against the Blue Ridge Mountains of our local area in Virginia.
Read MoreLeaving Munising, Michigan and Lake Superior in our rear view mirror, we drove about two hours to St. Ignace, one of two ports that offers ferries to Mackinac Island. The other port, on the southern side, is Mackinaw City. We caught the ferry ride through Star Line Ferry.
One highlight of the short ferry ride was the amusing sight of a UPS truck sitting astride another ferry on the route over. Package deliveries are extra tricky on a car-less island!
Read MoreApple Orchard Falls is located in the Buchanan area of Botetourt County, Virginia, about an hour-long drive from downtown Roanoke along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. Based on our reading, it appears the waterfalls are accessible from two locations: uphill and downhill from the falls. We personally accessed the trail from the higher elevation entry point along the Blue Ridge Parkway. That trailhead is easily visible from a scenic overlook spot, about 7 miles north from Peaks of Otter, a well-known spot in the area.
Read MoreThe route dropped us right into the middle of quaint Munising, a small town nestled on Lake Superior, home to under 2,000 people. While there, we quickly became acquainted with the fact that this part of Michigan, sitting atop Wisconsin, is known as the Upper Peninsula. Munising sits in a natural harbor within Lake Superior. Directly north of it, Grand Island sits out a few miles from shore and is accessible via a ferry, though we didn’t make it there during our 2-day stay.
Read MoreRead Mountain Preserve is a 243-acre forested area of land placed in a conservation easement to be enjoyed by the public. On our first visit, we hiked a 3.5 mile loop trail up to Buzzards Rock. On our return trip described in this post, we hiked a 4.6 mile loop. We've now hiked nearly all the paths in this park, except the green trail, which is a cutover between a couple of others.
Read MoreRead Mountain Preserve is a 243-acre forested area of land placed in a conservation easement to be enjoyed by the public. The Preserve is surprisingly tucked away in a subdivision in Roanoke, Virginia. Literally between two houses is a small county park sign with a paved road that looks little different from the neighboring driveways.
Read MoreWe are lucky to live in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountain city of Roanoke, Virginia, a valley with endless outdoor activities and amazing vistas. In this post, we capture many of the area hikes and waterfalls we have explored more in depth.
Read MoreIn the humid Virginia summer, we packed our bags, loaded up our trusty car, and prepared to set out on a nine-day road trip to four out of the five Great Lakes. The night before had seen strong thunderstorms and torrential rain, a relatively common summer phenomenon. But the amount of rain and devastation it caused were deemed a once in a one-thousand year flood.
Read MoreThe Great Lakes are a unique and - in our minds - an underappreciated feature of the United States. Left behind from glacier craters and meltwater after the end of the last ice age, the immense fresh water lakes are the largest source of surface freshwater in the world when their area is combined and hold 21% of the globe’s fresh water.
Read MoreRocky shorelines topped with stately evergreens. The zebra striped lighthouses situated on outcrops. Water that just looks cold, teaming with fish and lobster, many of which will have a second life in the seafood industry. New England style homes that look prepared to weather winter’s winds and equally designed to open all their windows to soak up the northern summer sun. Whatever else it is, Maine is a sensory experience.
Read MoreAs we looked up at the heights of the mesa, we could see teeny tiny people atop it and, while it was hard to envision how it would happen, it was clear we had just chosen to scale it. Yikes!
Read MoreWe drove for about two and a half hours to reach Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. The first twenty minutes or so of the drive, down from the heights of Lincoln National Forest, were pretty and filled with trees. For the next two hours, our route took us along the east and then north sides of the Tularosa Basin, home of the White Sands Missile Range. The route was, in a word, desolate. Driving for two hours with basically nothing in any direction left me feeling isolated, as if our car’s interior was the entire world.
Read MoreWe spent the fifth day of our trip exploring spots very near to our accommodation in Cloudcroft, nestled in the Lincoln National Forest. In fact, one of our destinations was even walkable from our B&B! You would think that our elevation in Cloudcroft - about 8,600 feet - was plenty high enough but no, we headed further up into the mountains, a far cry from the prior day’s visit to the low elevation of the desert!
Read MoreWe have both had multiple opportunities as children and adults to view various petroglyphs around the United States and still find them fascinating and mesmerizing. For those less familiar, a petroglyph is a general term for any (human-made) rock carving, typically noteworthy for those from the pre-historic era. Petroglyphs, often referred to as “carvings” outside of the United States, were often made by using a chisel and hammerstone (or similar objects) to carve away the surface of the rock-face, leaving behind the lighter-colored rock underneath, thus illuminating the image.
Read MoreFor those readers unfamiliar with Roswell, it holds a place in popular imagination for some or as practically a holy mecca for others. What is certain is that in 1947, something crashed to the earth and a cattle rancher discovered it in his field, located about 75 miles outside of the city of Roswell.
Read More
