10/26-10/27: West Virginia

Neither of us had any idea what to expect when we went to West Virginia as we had gotten mixed reviews from various people! We only had one night in the state, so we wanted to make the most of it.  Our first stop was Harper's Ferry where the town was protected by the National Park Service. The town was adorable and the surrounding area was breath-taking. We enjoyed wandering around the historic town. We considered going through a wax museum but decided that $8 for 15 minutes of our time wasn't worth it and opted to look for postcards instead! At one point 3 major trails, including the Appalachian trail, intersect. We walked across the bridge closest to the intersection...and saw both beautiful scenery and hardcore hikers! There is a lot of history in that location too, including Thomas Jefferson visiting and John Brown's raid. If you want to know more specifics, I'd recommend looking up the town name for more history since I cannot keep all of the facts straight! All in all we really enjoyed this little treasure of a town. (Our last minute plan additions were usually the best!)

*From the bridge where 3 trails met!

Our next stop was to the town of Wheeling. We really had no idea what to expect with this town, but the description of it sounded full of history and cute. It was to our surprise that we found a rather rundown, slight sketchy town when we arrived. After finding parking we walked to the visitor center where we found a kind lady who tried to give us the various options around town, but kept focusing on the casino that we really had little intention of visiting! Our first stop was lunch. The visitor center lady did give us a suggestion for lunch. It was at a fish sandwich shop that had been around for over 100 years. The fish was ok...but the onion rings were FANTASTIC. Yup, we found our favorite onion rings at a random market in Wheeling, West Virginia and will forever be craving them...

Outside of this Centre Market with the delicious onion rings, there were beautifully and whimsically painted parking meters! We took pictures of a few of them ;)

Then after a little trial and error we found an amazing museum with history about the founding of West Virginia in the time leading up to the Civil War when some of the people in Virginia did not want to succeed from the union. They ultimately formed their own state: West Virginia. We got the chance to see the location where the documents that brought this idea into reality happened. In the same museum was an exhibit about the importance of flags. It was a treasure in an unexpected town!

*The room where West Virginia became a state!