Road Trip: Charlotte, NC
Day 2: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - Travel to Roanoke, VA, via New River Gorge, WV
Day's statistics:
Weather: upper mid-60s, showers
Steps: Steve 6,701; Linda 4,374
Travel: 495 miles
We awoke, had breakfast, showered, saw the kids off to school, and then headed out ourselves.
Our original trip plans had us returning to Shenandoah NP because last year it was rainy, and we didn't get to see
too much of it.
But we aren't campers or hikers, and we probably wouldn't have spent that much more time there anyway. We DID get our
NP stamp last time, so we didn't
even need that. So we changed the plan and decided to visit the US's newest NP (at the time of this writing): New River Gorge NP.
Admittedly it was out of the way a little - about 100 miles each way, or an hour and a half each way - but we thought that we
would probably never be in this area again, so let's just go. So we did.
Sidebar: as I start the chronicle, I gather pictures from both our cellphones, and the camera. I then go through the timing of each
to see what pictures were taken, when, and then write the story suplimented with our notes and memories. The cellphones sync to the
local network, so those are right 99.9% of the time. The camera, with the setting and equipment I have, has to be set manually. My
packing list has a "set camera clock" item on it. However, when we return home, I have to remember to set it back again. And when we
went to Europe last fall on our Viking Cruise, I set the camera time, but
didn't set it when we got back. So now my 500+ pictures are off by five hours... greeeeeeat.
This area of western VA was rather mountainous too.
Back to the story: on the way, we needed to refer to a map to make sure we were going the right direction and we weren't accidentally
in upstate NY...
We decided to take a break, and randomly stopped in a town called New Market, VA. We found what we thought would be an "olde time"
sort of store. And we were sort of right. They had a collection of homemade jams, jellies, salsas, and hot sauces, and they also had
some old candies such as Blackjack Gun, Necco wafers, and Junket Ice Cream mixes.
We walked around the store for fifteen to twenty minutes or so minutes, and then got back on the road again.
Less than an hour later we exited the main highway and passed through the town of Lexington (not KY, but VA). According to the Subway
app, Lexington was the last town / city that we could get a sub before we got to the park - we were planning on a picnic in the park.
The signs along the route would beg to differ, though. Anyway, we passed through Lexington.
We had a light snack of some nuts when we parked because we intended on eating lunch in the NP.
We picked up our sandwich, and chips, and returned to the highway.
About an hour later, we crossed a state line (yes, yesterday we crossed DE to MD, and MD to VA but since we cross
those almost monthly, we didn't consider those significant enough to capture as part of the beginning of the trip)
This isn't the only large timber mill we came across.
As we approached the park, the weather started turning for the worser (worser?!!?).
We eventually had continuous showers, the fourth of the latest five NPs we have visited that had showers.
After we missed the entrance into the park, we had to cross over the New River Gorge bridge. At the far end of the bridge was a cross over,
but there was a no U-turn sign. We we exited to the right, did a u-turn at the top of that road, paused at the stop sign, and got back
on the roadway back toward the park, crossing over the bridge again.
On the return, we noticed an interesting look-out platform that appeared to be part of the park (it was).
We entered the grounds, parked, and made our way into the Visitor's Center (VC).
After getting inside, we got our stamp - it looked like, based on the print, it was a little damage at the top.
There was a balcony with an overlook of the gorge at the back of the VC, so we took a selfie.
We took a few other shots too, at slightly different angles.
I could only gather that there was an extreme temperature difference between that water that fell and where it fell that cause this
interesting misty steam smoke sort of effect. Or it was somnething completely different.
Due to the rain, and after the few photos, I ran to the car to grab the Subway sandwich we picked up in Lexington. We at in a covered
picnic like area attached to the VC. There is no photo of this because, well, it was a Subway sandwich...
We threw our trash out and headed to the other overlook as the rain had let up a little.
We started down the path.
We got to the first overlook platform.
In the second image above, there is additional walkway visible. This path went to another lower platform.
Someone had the great idea to go to the next platform down, while Linda, I mean the other decided to go back.
What goes down, must go back up...
Our brief visit to the platforms was over and we decided to take the drive into the gorge that the ranger told us about -
the road weaves into the gorge, across the river, and up the other side.
Though the ranger indicated "take this road and bear right at the fork". Well, that fork wasn't marked very well. We didn't
even see a spoon or any other cutlery.
We passed it and soon realized the error, and went back. Finally found the route, and made our way onward. It was a slow, narrow,
oneway, winding road that passed under the bridge three times, and crossed the river. We were able to capture some interesting
sights along the way, including of the bridge, rock formations, the river, and more.
After crossing under the bridge for the last time, and on our final leg out of the gorge, we spied this... whatever it is on the far /
other side of the wall of the gorge. It might be the remnants of a smelt, a mine, the rock formation, or something else entirely.
At the end of the driving path, we happen to be back at the intersection where we turned around in the previous hour.
We went BACK to the VC to use the facilities and seek out a pen and or a postcard souvenier. On the third trip across this
bridge we noticed this mist formation, perhaps an extension of the formation we saw earlier.
Our visit to the NP was over, and we departed. We left going over the bridge for the fourth time, and, for the third time, were
at the intersection we first turned around at earlier in the day. We passed right through and continued on toward Roanoke.
At some point we cross the WV / VA state line - but we didn't see it. It wasn't that we took a picture of it and it was blurry, or that
it was washed out in the sunlight. We didn't see it. It must have been really small. Or it didn't exist at all (rhyme not intended).
This was a region - Western VA - we were in before, and there were some sights and landmarks that we saw, or saw signs for, before.
One of those sights was the Tamarack Market
that we stopped at back in 2017.
Somewhere else in the mountains we came across some more mountain mist.
Not sure if this mountain top is the result of strip mining or something else.
This vehicle passed us. It isn't everyday one sees an RV towing a pick-up truck carrying a golf cart.
Mill Mountain Star
A little after 7:00 PM we were on approach to Roanoke.
We saw the Basilica of Saint Andrew, and the Star in Mill Mountain Park.
We found the hotel - Sleep Inn - but didn't check in right away. Instead we made our way to a supermarket for a light dinner / snack.
We found a Kroger almost across the street. We went in and purchased a couple salads and a package of Peppridge Farm Milano cookies - all on
sale. With a Kroger shopper membership. Which we didn't have. But I tried to enter my phone number anyway. To, obviously, no avail. So I said
to the clerk "Does this work interstate? We have a membership in Delaware but it isn't taking my number." Yes, I may have used deception -
please forgive me (though we NOW have a valid membership). "I can enter the store's ID if you'd like?" the clerk responded. "OK, thanks."
We paid, and drove over to the hotel to check in. Linda waited in the car while I took care of the formalities.
There were two people on line ahead of me, one walked in essentially ahead of me while the other was already there when we arrived. The first
woman was having an issue, but I was too far away to hear what was going on. I stood holding up the wall by the door, mostly because there
was a strong fragrance in the lobby area. After literally nearly twenty minutes, the first woman was done. After she went to her room, the
smell disipated - I could only guess that the first woman had on an overabundance of perfume.
Now I had to wait for the second woman. This woman also had a challenge checking in. I was able to hear that she was paying cash. However, the
hotel required an additional night's stay expense as a deposit to cover incidentals. She was short. The clerk had to call someone, there was
some back and forth, and after another twenty or so minutes, she was done too.
Finally, it was my turn. I provided my ID and credit card used to reserve the room, signed and initialled a couple things, and in less than five
minutes was walking out with two key cards to the car. We took our luggage and headed to our room.
Our room was the second on the right. As we passed the first on the right, we heard an alarm clock beeping coming from the room. After
dropping off the luggage, I went back to the desk to let the clerk know about the alarm in case there was no one in there as we didn't
want to have to hear the beeping for however long it was going to beep for. Supposedly there was someone staying in there, and the clerk
said she would call the room to see what was going on. Great.
We ate our salads (no picture), each had a cookie, relaxed a bit, washed up, and went to sleep.