Almost heaven, West Virginia

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Appalachian Mountains, New River Gorge,
Life is good on the road, driving past the trees
Good up on the mountains, good down in the valleys,
On country roads, we feel at home,
Joy is the place, we belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Joy is our home, on country roads...

With all those hills and valleys,
I'm not sure Joy thinks it's 'almost heaven'

The West Virginia Visitor Bureau is milking that line from John Denver’s song for all it’s worth and I can see why: It’s a beautiful state; driving on the winding roads through the green hills of West Virginia, it’s hard not to hum that song. The scenery is almost heaven, but we haven’t found a town yet where we would want to live. Actually, for the first 10 days in West Virginia, we didn’t see any sizable town at all. Or like our friend Kelly used to say: “There’s nothing to see but scenery!”

78.5% of West Virginia is covered with trees

We left Virginia via the Shenandoah National Park with a short hike on the famous “Appalachian Trail”. Since we will probably never hike the whole thing at once, we are a special kind of “sectional AT hikers”, we hike the 2200 miles in sections. We completed over 3 miles on this trip, so we should be done by 2723. 

Silly sectional hiker on the AT

The Skyline Caverns was our last highlight in “East Virginia”. The caves are not as spectacular as the nearby and very popular Luray Caverns, but getting a private tour made up for the difference in ornamentation. 

Skyline Cavern

And they do have the best examples of anthodites in the world. Now if you ask yourself “What are anthodites and how do they form?”, then you are in very good company. Apparently the leading scientists and speleologists of the world are wondering the same thing. The signs at Skyline Caverns, our tour guide and information I find online all contradicts each other: Anthodites might form only in vacuum sealed caves or not. There might be one, three or a dozen places where they were found. The Skyline Caverns might or might not be the place where they were first discovered. But at least everybody seems to agree: Anthodites are very rare and very pretty.

The rare and mysterious Anthodites

And then we came to West Virginia….

Now be honest: Do you think of West Virginia as a backwards hinterland, left behind by modern developments? How about this: On our first day, we did not have ANY cell phone reception. They did not even have any radio stations. It gets weirder: They have a rule in that area that you can’t even have wifi or a microwave oven!

But there is a very good reason for all that: This is a “Radio Quiet Zone”  because this part of West Virginia is home of the Green Bank Observatory. They are the opposite of backwards…they are on the cutting edge science. Radio astronomy science to be precise. They have the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world. The National Science Foundation operates a museum and gives tours. We got to stand right under the Green Bank Telescope. But taking a picture from close up with a digital camera (even a phone in airplane mode!) would interfere with their observations of galaxies thousands of lightyears away. So we had to settle with a picture from a distance. Luckily the telescope is 485 feet tall, so you can probably still spot it:

Two football fields would fit inside the dish
of the Green Bay Telescope.

West Virginia has one thing in common with Kauai: It’s pretty and it’s green almost anywhere you look. Every few miles there’s something to see: A pretty waterfall, wild lilies and mountain laurels, a bog with carnivorous plants or an observation tower to get above the trees so you can see all the other trees. Green hills for as far as you can see, just no beaches and no Na Pali coast.

Cathedral Falls, WV

One night we spent at a very low key golf course. We got to pay for the round of golf, but it was the second time that strangers insisted on paying for our meals. Not sure whether it was because they were intrigued how two Germans from Hawaii ended up at their little country club in the remote hills of West Virginia or whether they just felt sorry for us because they saw us golf.

This shot cost me par,
but it might have won us a free lunch

I have come to find out:
I'm better at floating down a river
than hitting a golf ball

The New River Gorge was called the New River Gorge long before they knew that the New River is actually one of the oldest rivers in the world. But it’s still a very appropriate name because it is now “America’s Newest National Park”!

The grand view from Grandview

The New River Gorge claims to be the “Grand Canyon of the East”, but so do at least five other places. None of them look anything like the real Grand Canyon or are anywhere as big. But the New River Gorge is gorgeous, has some cool rock formations, grand views, a very impressive bridge and an interesting history. 

The National Park ranger insisted
not to call Thurmond a ghost town,
six people still leave here.

This idyllic national park once was the site of the most prolific coal mines in the country. What appears like ghost towns now were bustling boom towns. The coal trains still run through the valley, but otherwise nature is restoring the idyllic beauty.

New River Gorge Bridge,
taller than the Golden Gate Bridge and
the longest single span bridge in America 

On the Rock Cliff Trail
in the New River Gorge

There used to be thousands of coal mines in West Virginia. Only about 50 are still active today. One coal mine in Beckley is re-opened as an exhibition mine. It is humbling to learn how hard the work of a miner was. We feel like wimps in comparison. The fact that people took these jobs, despite the dangers, hardships and the fact that they often got paid in ‘fake’ money that could only be used in the company store means that people back then were a lot tougher and much more desperate than we all are today. We love history, but we are sure glad we live today.

The West Virginia State Capitol 

Charleston is the capital of West Virginia. With only about 50,000 residents, it is one of those small town capitals, even though in this case it’s still the largest town in the state. Of course our first stop was the capitol building. It’s very impressive: Taller than the Capitol in Washington DC and easier to find RV parking close by. Surprisingly they stayed under budget when they built it almost 100 years ago, despite using lots of gold and marble and installing ridiculously fancy chandeliers.

The little white dot in the dome is a chandelier,
8 feet across and weighing 4000 pounds 

To me, visiting state capitols is every little bit as impressive as visiting the huge cathedrals in Europe. The architecture is awe inspiring and the free tours usually include a quick civics and history lesson of the state. As an extra bonus, Charleston has the free State History Museum right next door. I wish all West Virginians would take advantage of that. Maybe those West Virginians who still fly confederate flags could learn that their state was literally formed for the purpose of leaving the confederacy. Maybe those people are the reason why John Denver said that West Virginia is only "almost heaven". But if it weren't for those roadside reminders, you wouldn’t know: Every single person we talked to in West Virginia was very friendly.

The golden dome of the capitol
in Charleston, WV

Charleston seems to have it all: One of the best capitol buildings, great museums, a riverfront, a large market and beautiful surroundings. We even happened to be there during their FestivALL celebration, with lots of free music and food. They are really trying, but it still has the feeling of a town in decline with abandoned buildings even in downtown. 

Every fun festival has to have a balloon artist

On our way out of West Virginia we came through St. Albans. It is the kind of small town where if you don't  pay attention, you might think you are still in Charleston. But we stopped because they offer three RV camping spots right along the river for free. At that price, it was not surprising that the three sites were already taken. But campers are nice people and Kiwis are nice people so it’s not surprising that campers from New Zealand are extra nice. They let us pull up next to them and soon we were sitting there with our new friends and neighbors talking late into the night. Then this truck drives up. At first I thought we might get chased away since we were not really in an official spot. But this guy just wanted to tell us about the kayak and music festival they had in town. Turns out he was the mayor of St. Albans and rather than chase us away, he convinced us into staying for the weekend in St. Albans. 

We can't be with Ronja on her road trip in New Zealand,
but we can be with New Zealand road trippers.

We only saw a few of the 2,000 kayakers on the “Tour de Coal”, but we listened to plenty of the music at the “Yak Fest”. What a fun street party. It’s the kind of event where everybody seems to fit in, no matter who you are or what you wear. Really fun atmosphere, cheap beer and good music. We are glad the mayor went out of his way, even late at night, promoting his hometown festival.

Buck Covington has performed in every
state except Hawaii and we don't watch
American Idol, so we HAD to come here
to see him.

Yak Fest 2023 in St. Albans, WV

Backstage at the Yak

I feel a little guilty for not putting Charleston or St. Albans on the list of places we’d want to move to when the volcano blows, even though they organized all these fun things for us and we enjoyed our time here so much. But now we are actually leaving West Virginia. We are spending just one more night at the Beech Fork State Park tomorrow, then we will be in Kentucky …unless the governor stops by the state park and organizes another festival for us.

And that’s the news from Lake West Virginia, where all the festivals are fun, all the hills are good looking and where two Germans from Hawaii definitely stand out more than average.

Aloha from Almost Heaven,

Chris & Sandra