A weekend getaway to see the New River Gorge
Saturday, May 18 – I-75 took us south through Kentucky to Lexington where we caught I-64 eastbound to West Virginia. Driving was uneventful although the kids were impressed by the odors when we crossed “Stink Bridge” at Nitro. We saw a circus train sitting on a siding in Charleston.
The Mossy exit on I-64 took us on a narrow, twisting road to Oak Hill. From there we took route 19 to Fayetteville and booked a room at the Comfort Inn. It was cloudy and gray all day. We drove across the New River Gorge bridge but the visitor center/scenic overlook was closed and there wasn’t much of a view from the bridge itself.
Although it was cloudy and cool the kids still went for a swim at the motel. We ate dinner at the buffet at the motel. After swimming we rented a VCR and “Back to the Future II” at the motel office and watched it in our room.
This was Scott and Michelle’s first visit to West Virginia.
Sunday, May 19 – From Fayetteville we took route 16 to route 60 (the Midland Trail). We had read in the guide book about the scenery along 60 including the piers of a bridge burned during the Civil War in Gauley Bridge. We quickly discovered that 60 is a road Lynne and Jim had driven on when they had taken a trip to Chesapeake Bay before the kids came along.
We drove to Gauley Bridge and saw the piers, then backtracked to Hawk’s Nest State Park. We took in the view of the gorge and rode a tram to the riverbank. Again it was a cloudy day so we couldn’t do much more than look around at the park. We took 60 back to Charleston and to I-64, stopping for lunch in Dunbar. At Huntington we crossed the Ohio and took U.S. 52 to Ripley where we crossed the river again and took the AA Highway back to Cincinnati.
Milestones on this trip: Scott and Michelle’s first visit to West Virginia.
States and provinces we visited: Kentucky and West Virginia.
Capital cities we saw: Charleston
