This is a collection of videos from Hubby and my trip to Elkins, WV. During the 3 day excursion, we visited the West Virginia Wildlife Center, traveled around the Monongahela National Forest, explored our “cabin” and backyard river, visited Buckhannon, and rode on a train to see fall foliage.
We traveled there because it was the one year anniversary of my mom’s death. Buckhannon was her favorite place to visit, so this was a way of remembering her legacy she left for me. Her favorite time to visit was during the fall.
A year ago yesterday, we drove down to the New River Gorge area. Hubby, my sons, my niece and nephew, and a few of their friends were going white water rafting. I was just there because my niece was going.
I took over cooking for the group of kids. We had a small fridge, a microwave, toaster, and coffee maker. That’s it. No sink, so everything needed to be disposable if we had any dinner.
There was a sink in the bathroom of our cabin, but it was so small that it was hard to clean anything there.
I brought my Instant Pot to cook the dinners while my nephew brought something to cook pancakes on for one of the breakfasts.
So what did we eat during the 2.5 days we were there. I had 2 dinners and breakfast to consider. Lunch was on the river when they went white water rafting.
The two dinners we had were spaghetti and hot dogs with Mac and cheese.The hot dogs were frozen before we left for the trip. Even driving the 4 to 5 hours to New River Gorge did not defrost the hot dogs. They tried roasting them over the fire, but they remained cold inside. Ugh!
The favorite meal was the spaghetti. There was nothing left after the meal. I believe we had some sort of bread with it.
Breakfast was pancakes and cereal. They had milk and juice to go with their breakfast. We forgot to bring a spatula, so that was interesting using my wooden spoon to flip the pancakes.
We also had lots of snacks for the boys. Plus the boys brought their own food. One brought MREs to share with their friends.
Hubby and I were able to sneak away for a while. Since the teens we took were older teens except for Youngest, we didn’t need to watch them constantly. We went to Sheetz for coffee and their snack packs. We ate it while walking to the overlook.
After walking under the New River Gorge, we left. We needed to get food before leaving. Our original plan was to go to Sheetz for cheap eats. Instead we went to the Secret Sandwich Society for good burgers and pimento fries.
Five months after to visiting the Secret Sandwich Society, it burned to the ground.😭 I can just picture us sitting there on the patio waiting for the food. The teens just talking about whatever popped into their head. We were saddened to hear of it’s demise.
So why am I sharing this menu with you? This started a trend for me. I went on a few pandemic trips where I needed to plan out the meals for the trip. In a week and a half, I’m leaving once again for a trip. I planned out the food for that trip. I’ll share it with you once we get closer to the trip happening.
I’ll also share the menu from my Epic trip with my friend Molly last July and our menu from our beach trip last December. I can plan meals like nobody’s business but can’t keep a meal plan to save my life.
Menu:
Breakfasts: Cereal, French toast muffins, cheese, applesauce, or fruit cup – Juice and milk
Lunches: On the river and at Sandwich Society
Dinners: Hot dogs with Mac and cheese Spaghetti with Hawaiian rolls (favorite meal)
Dessert: S’Mores on the campfire
My coffee that I got at Sheetz on the way down to the campsite. Meals that were eaten on our trip.
We went to Charleston for Christmas week. While there, we visited downtown Charleston and walked around a little bit. One of the places we ended up was at the corner of Meeting and Tradd Street. I had to investigate and find out where the house was located.
I don’t know if this actually 55 Tradd Street because I couldn’t find the house address. It’s either 57 or 55 because on one side is 59 and on the other is 53. I’m going to say it is 55 Tradd Street.
Whether it is 55 Tradd Street or not, it was pretty cool to find a place you’ve read about in a book. It puts a picture in your mind while reading the book.
The coolest part of the whole tour of Fort George was seeing the demonstration on how they put together a musket together. Before the demonstration, they divided the crowds into 2 groups – those who spoke English and those who spoke French.
Then we went to visit the Blacksmith area.
Views from around the fort. As you can see, Youngest was not in the mood for photos. He was a new 14 year old and well he was in that don’t take my photo stage of life. Well, actually a year later, he is still in that phase.
These photos are from the officers’ quarters. As you can see, they had it much nicer than the soldiers’ barracks.
I’ll continue with my tour of Fort George in another post.
A year ago, I traveled to London, Ontario with Youngest. Then we visited Niagara on the Lake before spending time in Niagara Falls.
In Ontario, when you drive on the On-401, they have rest stop areas called On-Routes. The On-Routes are about an 100 km, I believe. When we traveled between Toronto and Detroit, we stopped at all of the On-Routes. So when I was planning the trip last year, I was hoping I would be able to stop at one of those On-Routes.
So what are On-Routes? It’s like the travel plazas on the different toll roads in the United States except it’s on the main highway. There is usually a Tim Hortons, Starbucks, and other food vendors. There is also a convenience store, bathrooms, and a gas station. Free WiFi is offered at the On-Routes.
Here are some of the photos from the On-Route I was able to get to last year. I apologize for the fuzzy photos. As you can see, there is also a microwave and massage chairs for travelers.
After stopping there for my breakfast, I continued on my way to Niagara on the Lake, so we could meet my friend. We were combining 2 trips into one. It was Youngest’s 14th birthday trip and also my EPIC trip with my friend. We only see each other once a year.
We decided to meet up at Fort George which is located just outside Niagara on the Lake.
A difference between attractions like that and ones in the United States is that everything was both in English and French. They had a demonstration on how to use a rifle from the 1700s in both English and French which was interesting.
Once you pay with either Canadian money or American money, you are given a token that you give to the gate master (don’t know the real name of the guy). We waited for my friend because she had trouble getting across the border. Some border patrol people give you the 10th degree while others just ask you the basic questions and then allow you to continue on your journey.
This is in the gift shop. Youngest had fun looking at all of the souvenirs.
I don’t recall what he had in his hand.
Beginning our tour – Fort George was a British fort that protected Canada from the Americans during the War of 1812. There are different buildings that were in the fort when it was in operation. People dress in period clothing which add to the experience.
Widow Campbell’s House
British Flag
Inside the soldier’s barracks:
I’ll continue with my tour of Fort George in another post.
My husband made plans to go white water rafting for a few of his boys that he took down to Key West a year ago. It was sort of a “family” reunion because the BOYZZZZ (I can’t remember the number of z’s) were back together minus one of them. He also made plans to take Youngest also.
As he was finalizing the plans, my niece decided she also wanted to go. Since she was going, I decided I would go along also. It was going to be my first time away from home since before my mom died in October.
We were supposed to go back to Louisville in March but then the whole quarantine happened so that was a no go. Anyway, I think this was more fitting because Mom loved West Virginia. She had family there that she would go and visit with her family. Then she went to college there. So she would visit there a lot. She was not a big traveler so she either went to Kentucky to visit her friend or West Virginia when she got older.
It was decided I was not going to go white water rafting for 2 reasons. One is that I have done it and had no desire to do it again. Also, we had 8 people which was going to be 2 rafts full. They would need a third raft to fit us all.
My husband and I stayed in a cabin while the BOYZZZZ and Youngest camped out. (My niece slept in our cabin one night and outside the next night.)
The first day consisted of us traveling down to West Virginia and then just hanging out at the camp site. While they gathered around the fire, I took a walk and got some photos of the sunset and some of the beautiful foliage and scenery. Our campsite had these huge rocks just randomly placed around the area. They were pretty rocks, so I needed some photos of them.
Here is a video of our trip down and the first day we were in West Virginia.
Back in 2000, Hubby and I went on our honeymoon. We had been married for a year.
Where do you think we went?
Well, Disney of course. While there, I turned 25 years old.
It was my first time there since my College Program. I was so excited to show Hubby around the World since it had been 15 or so years since he had been there.
I was also excited because I was going to be able to finally step foot in the Animal Kingdom because I watched it being built while I was on my College Program.
The first few days of the Honeymoon was great. We enjoyed spending time in Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom.
Then the worse possible thing happened while down in Walt Disney World. I ended up with food poisoning. I spent all day Wednesday of my honeymoon stuck in our Mighty Ducks hotel room. All day long, I was worshiping the white porcelain God.
It was either the Key Lime Pie at the Rainforest Cafe or from drinking at the water fountains. I can eat Key Lime pie now but ever since then I don’t drink at water fountains.
The next day I was able to get out of our hotel room. We went to EPCOT and had breakfast or lunch at the Garden Grill. They gave us a free cake since it was our honeymoon. I don’t think I was able to eat any of it because my stomach was still upset.
We left on Friday of that week. I only wished I hadn’t gotten sick. The flight home was interesting but that is a story for another day.
The next year, we drove down to Walt Disney World in order to have a second honeymoon.
Never get sick in Disney. And not on your honeymoon. That’s the moral of my story.
Before the boys were born, I went white water rafting twice. Both times, we camped out with the Scouts Venturing post.
Imagine a camping site located in a valley.
Then there was a torrential rainstorm.
So what do you think happened?
The water pooled into my tent.
Oh, I forgot to give you one piece of key information. One of our friends and my father-in-law had traveled with us down to West Virginia.
So the water was pooling in my tent. Hubby, our friend, and my father-in-law were no where to be found. Cell phones were not as popular as they are now plus there would be no service.
I was freaking out and getting wetter.
One of the other people camping out with us had a camping trailer with them. So they invited me in the trailer so I wouldn’t get sick.
Finally they show back up.
They had been driving around looking for a hotel/ motel for me. A hamvention type of event was going on in the area so there was limited hotel/ motel rooms available. Or should I say, they found only one room.
It was a honeymoon type of room. There was one bed and a whirlpool tub. All 4 of us were sharing this room.
Hubby and I shared the bed. My father-in-law got the couch in the room. Our friend got the floor. The whirlpool tub was not used. 😥
The few photos I have of this camping trip.
There was video made of the trip. They included this song by Green Day. Whenever I hear this song, I am reminded of this camping trip.
The boys are getting older so there wasn’t very many day trips. Let’s take that back – We’ve done day trip. I’ve done some road trips with each of them individually.
The Memorial Day tornadoes change the dynamics of my summer. Even though it didn’t directly affect me, it affected the area I teach in so that made me upset.
Believe in the Magic Traci Diary 