Hard to believe how many flowers were blooming in early March.

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Of course it’s all gone now, but there was some very pretty snow along the river while we were at Pittsburgh.

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One of the other things we did in Pittsburgh was take the Duquesne Incline.

What, you may ask is the Incline?

Well, it’s the Incline. It’s goes up. And it goes down.
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That’s right, we were in Pittsburgh, home of Mister Rogers.

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My 2012 Denali Wildlife calendar.

Addendum the First: I emailed them, and they’re going to send me stickers to fix the numbers. Too bad I already messed it up by writing in the correct dates. :(

And that birthday party?

Totally fun.

We had a stealth trip to Cincinnati this weekend, for a surprise 40th birthday party for my friend Andrew.

There are a couple things that are mandatory during Cincinnati trips. The first is Graeter’s ice cream:

The second is a trip to Jungle Jim’s, where we find many strange and wonderful things:

As a bonus, we found this tableau in our hotel drawer.

I also gave my point-and-shoot to Andrew’s daughter for awhile, so you can also browse what happens when you give your camera to a five year-old.

Saturday we were in Charleston for our niece’s birthday, but since the “kid’s party” was in the early afternoon, we spent time with Michael’s mother, and wandered around a bit beforehand. Michael’s mom lives quite near the Coal River, so we went to the Big Falls area for a bit, and then to the Little Falls area.

So the endpoint for our travel was Berkley Springs.

The center of Berkeley Springs are the springs that bubble up from the ground. The became a spa that was visited regularly by George Washington. In fact, there’s a little stone tub labeled “George Washington’s Bath”.

We again had beautiful weather, and since the Eastern Panhandle is slightly warmer than us, there was still plenty of leaf color.

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Our last stop on our trip was to the C&O Canal in Hancock MD.

I spent a lot of time in this area when I was growing up, as it is not only the halfway point between Morgantown and Baltimore, but because my aunt & uncle lived in nearby Warfordsburd PA. Except, of course, that was just their mailing address. Where they lived, we’d talk brief walks over the state line to Maryland, and church and grocery shopping were in Hancock MD.

And of course, walking and biking along the C & O Canal.

Tow path along the canal.

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This weekend’s travels took us into Maryland, because that was the easiest way to get where we wanted to go in West Virginia.

But since these trips are supposed to be the journey as much as the destination, we decided to take part of our drive along Route 40.

When I was little, Route 40 was the only road that took us from Morgantown to Baltimore. Eventually, they built 48 which became I68, but first there was Route 40.

I don’t remember much of the oldest parts of Route 40, probably because I wasn’t tall enough to much out the windows. But there were parts I do remember, specifically, the long way around Sidling Hill before they put in The Cut. Oddly, it seemed far shorter than I remembered. Probably because we weren’t caught behind a semi (or five).

If you look, you can see the cut (if you click through to the Flick set, I marked it so you can find it easier.) You can also see (again, I marked it on Flickr) where Route 40 crosses the top of the mountain.

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Prickett Fort Cemetery is a private cemetery located in Prickett’s Fort State Park. It was established in the late 1700s, and contains markers that in some cases are nothing more than simple stones.

There were “newer” stones that had obviously replaced older worn stones, but even many of the stones from the early 1900s are wearing and will soon be illegible.

Very humbling to think that even the stone markers we leave as our memorials eventually return to nothing more than stone, with our passing and history erased.

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Barrackville Covered Bridge

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Route 19 passes by/through Summersville, which perhaps best known for being the biggest speed trap in the state.

The bridge over Summersville Lake actually has a pedestrian walk, and is an amazing view.

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