We went to Green Bank Saturday, which is home of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

It was an awesome place to geek out.

But one thing especially struck me, and that was the number of old cars and trucks still in use.

That license plate is new, and expires in 2020. So these are not just junked vehicles that died in place. These are vehicles that are in regular use.

If anyone tries to tell you that scientists are “wasting money” they are completely full of shit.

Saturday we drove down to Blackwater Falls. We were feeling pretty lazy, so we mostly went to see the various views of the various falls. We skipped the canyon, as there was a wedding going on in the clearing.

Elakala Falls

Blackwater Falls

More pictures if you click through to Flickr.

Saturday we drove down to Blackwater Falls, and of course stopped in Thomas for lunch, and stopped TWICE in Davis for ice cream.

We went to the Flying Pig for lunch, and I think we both liked what we got. They served breakfast all day, so Michael got french toast. Since I was saving room for ice cream, I just got the cheese quesadilla. Inexpensive and plenty of food.

Meant to go back to Thomas and get a picture of my favorite building after the light hit it, but my ankle was hurting, so we skipped it.

Much of Thomas is slowly being renovated and rehabilitated, but it’s a slow process.

Here’s the Cheat River along Route 50.

And this is why we preferred to be home before dark. Most of this section of Route 50/92 is like this.

There was a car show at the Jackson’s Mill Jubilee, and much to Michael’s chagrin, I was drawn to the old cars.

I don’t know what it is, but I love the shape and look of old cars. They make modern cars seem cheap and tawdry in comparison.

Check out the bed of this truck and toolbox:

Here’s a dashboard:

A slightly more modern dashboard, with AM radio!

Look at that shape! Isn’t there something regal about it?

This was NOT in the car show, but was fascinating never-the-less:

Sunday, we went down to Weston for the Jackson’s Mill Jubilee. It’s part craft fair, part Civil War reenactments, and part trying to entice people to come back to Lewis County.

Aside from, once again, recognizing how happy I am to live in the future and not in the past, the best part was going through the mill.

It’s a working mill, and unlike other mill’s we’ve seen, you can wander through the entire building–there is just a rope to keep you from getting to close to the whirling gears, which could certainly do some damage.

Here is the pond, and the apparatus that allows them to control the flow of water into the mill. Yes, it’s simply a board that lifts up, controlled by a lever from inside the mill.

Looking out from the mill, towards the pond, you can see the water flowing down the chute into the mill. Along the left side of the chute, you can see the rope that controls the water flow.

Here are the gears in motion, when water was moving through the mill (and they were grinding corn above)

Here are the same gears at rest:

You can see that the wheel is spinning freely–the gears/mechanism it would be connected into is pulled away. In the picture below of the grinding stone, this is beneath the grind stone that has been flipped over to display it’s grinding surface. To turn the stone, the two wheels would be meshed together.

Here, water is flowing down–the light area in the back is where the water is going. In the foreground you can see the gear whirring.

And here it is at rest.

Here is a grind stone that is not in use–it’s upside down so you can see the grinding face.

Here you see that the mill could have had three stones grinding at once, but only one is in use.

And here’s the mill from the outside. I was standing beside the pond when I took the picture.

There are, of course, more pictures if you click through to Flickr.

Lots and lots of stuff there that fascinated me.

Saturday we wandered over to the stadium to visit with Michael’s family.

Much to my surprise, the stairs going up to the Law Center are done. And parking at the law school was open, even though there’s still a lot of construction going on.

The game wasn’t sold out–kinda low attendance for a season opener. Then again, we weren’t playing Marshall.

As usual, we listened to the game. The major change with the broadcast rights (Why yes, I WAS in fact delighted to see Rease lose the contract. And all the money that goes along with it.) was that the commercials seemed to me a LOT less irritating than the commercials that aired on WVAQ.

Which I certainly am not complaining about.

Yesterday we biked along the Mon River Rail Trail from Star City North to Pennsylvania. We made it as far as the Lock & Dam before the trail became complete mud, and we turned around. (The tires on our bikes are not good enough for riding in mud.)

This section of the trail has lots of interesting man made structures falling into disrepair and decay. (All of these pictures are marked on the map–I grabbed a picture at each of these places with the GPS.)

At this point, you can quite clearly see the stacks of Fort Martin. The rest of the ride past you’re viewing it through the trees. It’s also surprisingly loud, and you can hear it quite a distance off.

We also stopped at the strange cement hut that must have been something for the railroad (there’s a similar hut south of Morgantown on the trail) but I don’t know what.

Regardless of it’s intended purpose, it fascinates me.

Here’s where we turned around (after wandering down to the lock). You can see the road, wandering off in the top right corner, complete mud and puddles.

And we scrambled down to the lock. I’m thinking my investment in a collapsible walking stick was one of the smartest purchases I made in the past several months. It made me comfortable scrambling down paths that I wouldn’t otherwise be sure my ankle was up for.

And we saw a little hut, in the back corner of a field. Michael refused to climb down, claiming it was because he wasn’t interested, but really it’s because he’s Lawful Good.

A couple things about Decker’s Creek.

When I was younger, Decker’s Creek was in terrible shape. I mean, really terrible. It was bright orange from mine runoff/acid mine drainage, and there wasn’t much life in there, and what was there, you expected to mutated.

After a LOT of work, the Decker’s Creek watershed is now thriving, and the rail trail along Decker’s Creek is (with the exception of the bit through Sabraton) gorgeous.

Pictures are marked with the GPS coordinates of where I stopped to take the pictures. Assuming all the GPS photos aren’t completely blurry and unrecognizable.

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This was actually a couple weekends ago, but, I forgot to post the pictures.

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When we were at Wheeling, we wandered into the glass museum (against my better wishes, I might add, since Michelle + Breakable Stuff = Trouble Found. There, I saw Fenton Glass Beads.

I usually pick jewelry because I find it interesting or amusing, but these I liked just because they are pretty.

When we were at the Ripley Craft Fair, Fenton had a table that was staffed by two of the women who paint the beads.

I made Michael buy me some.

This was the bead that pushed me over the edge.

Of course, I had to get the sesquicentennial bead:

I couldn’t get just two, now could I?

So I now have five hand-painted Fenton glass beads, and want more, because they’re gorgeous, and they’re made here in West (by God) Virginia.

Gotta support the state economy, right?

Friday we took the day off to visit my family who were spending the week in Blackwater Falls. The skies were grey, and it was rainy, but we were there to see my family, so that didn’t much matter.

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It was grey and rainy, but we still got a short hike.

Lindley Point

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It was strange to go out to the Cheat Lake Park, to see a place that used to be a secret, exist as a public park with a playground and a public boat launch.

I can’t say I have much desire to go back any time soon. The rail trail is relatively short and blocked at both ends.

But it was pretty.

Cheat Lake is the “expensive” area of Morgantown, where the doctors and lawyers and other well-to-do live. The trail runs along the access these wealthy home owners have to Cheat Lake.

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We took another ride along the Rail Trail this afternoon. This time we took the trail north to the Pennsylvania state line.

There are lots of day lilies along the trail.

I don’t know what this is, but it must be from when this was a rail line. (There are a few other pictures of the structure if you click through to Flickr.)

W. Looks to be the same age as the above structure.

There are abandoned power/telephone lines alongside the trail. They’re not visible the entire time, but are visible for long stretches.

Tips of the stacks of the Fort Martin Power Plant.

Your greeting at the PA state line.