Monday, November 30, 2015

What a view!

The View in Grandview State Park is amazing. 
I just wish we had went during fall. 
I can only imagine the colors.




Appliation Mountains

She is OBSESSED with swings at the moment.
We had a great time at this park.
I just wish it was closer to my home so we would be able to spend more time exploring.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Alligator Rock

I took Emma and Bolo for a semi quick hike to a rock formation when the leaves were just beginning to fall. 
It was so peaceful. 
West Virginia is the Wild and Wonderful state. It has tons of rolling mountains and rivers/streams EVERYWHERE. I thought for sure that there would be tons of people to connect with. People that enjoyed being outside and seeing beautiful things, but I have yet to find anyone interested in that. Out of all the hikes/waterfalls I have explored in the past 5 months that I have lived here, I maybe have seen a total of 3 people on any of the trails. I am not talking 3 people on EACH trail, I am talking all together. People just don't seem to get out like I thought it was going to be. Its not going to discourage me from getting out there but it would be really nice to have someone as company other then my favorite baby and fur baby.
Enough about that, lets get back to the hike. 
 Besides the rustling leaves under Bolo and my feet, it was as quiet as can be. 
 Alligator Rock 
 We hug out for a little while explored.
 After this hike poor Bolo had a total of 3 ticks.
I usually check him right when we get home to make sure he is clear. This hike they were really loving him. I pulled those nasty things off him and put his flea and tick medication on. It definitely must be the season.

Another great day in the woods. 

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Fall = Season and Water

We haven't been to southern West Virginia yet so we headed that direction a few weeks ago. It was when the leaves were still beautiful but starting to fall. 
The plan was to check out 3 waterfalls in the area. 
I wish it would have rained recently because all of these waterfalls are pretty wide with a big flow,
but what we saw was still really beautiful.

First stop was Brush Creek Falls. 
This was the one that I actually wasn't that sure we should go to. 
We had to drive a little further out of the way from the other two and I hadn't seen to many pictures so I didn't know much about it. 
I am so glad we went!
It was my favorite one of the day.

 It was nice to let Emma get out and walk being it was a longer drive to get out here. 

 I hope I am able to come back here during the rainy season. 
I can only imagine how amazing these falls could get. 

Next, we headed over to Camp Creek State Park
The park has two waterfalls there. 
The first we saw was Mash Fork Falls
It was a smaller falls that once again would be a lot wider if it had been raining. 
Still very pretty!
 I thought this stairway was pretty neat. 


The last falls that we saw was the more popular falls at the state park.
Campbell Falls 
I once again have seen these falls in photos when it had been raining and this time when we went it was so so tiny.  




 We had a great day playing outside looking at both waterFALLS and the FALL leaves. 

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Picnic at the Lake

Plum Orchard Lake is such a beautiful place. 
I could not have asked for a better day. The trees were so colorful, the air was warm and the water was still. There was also hardly anyone at the lake either. Overall I only saw two other people and they were both in boats fishing from afar. 
 I took Emma and Bolo to have a picnic and explore the area a little.  


 I wish I could build a house right here!
 After our picnic, we drove around the lake to the playground. 
Emma didn't want to play to much because the shooting range was close and someone was practicing....Bolo wanted to get out of there too. 
This place was so amazing. 
I know I will be back!

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Nuttleburg - mining ghost town

West Virginia is a huge coal mining state.
Nuttleburg was a mining town built in 1870s.
The production lasted in till 1958. 
All that is left is empty buildings and structure-less foundations. 
The coal would be loaded from the mountain above and brought down to trains that were waiting to load.
A train would pull under and the coal would dump into the cars.



 There was about 10-15 smokers that lined the trail.

 This used to be the "store" for the town.

There were lots of other structures in the area but we stuck to just this section.
It was a really interesting place that I am sure I will be back to to explore more. 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Pumpkin House 2015

There is a home in West Virginia that carves over 3,000 pumpkins and displays them around their home a couple days before Halloween. 
I had seen this home on Pintrest and it was so absolutely beautiful! 
I had to go! 
This year I had heard that the home was only doing it the weekend of the big day, so there wasn't much time to see it before it would be gone. 
I had planned on going the Friday before the 31st. 
It was a pretty stressful day so I decided that Emma needed to stay home with daddy and stick to her normal nighttime routine. 
I hopped in the car a little later then I had wanted to being the small town was a hour away from where I live. 
Let me just tell you. The traffic getting off the freeway was a absolute nightmare. 
I somehow found a place to park quickly and walked the 15 minutes to the house. 

This is where I feel like a total IDIOT! 
I had my flash on my camera.... WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! 

All on my photos there is no pumpkin glow. All bright light. 

 All of these people are looking at a wall of pumpkins lighting up with the rhythm of music. 


This is the only semi glowing photo I have and its blurry.  :( 

  There were so many people!  I wonder that the neighbors think. 

On the walk to and from my car there were other homes that participated in the spirit that were nice to look at also.
 Next year I might make it back here. I will remember to turn off my flash though, but then again I might just come in the daylight. There is way less people and you can actually look at some of the carvings. I would definitely bring Emma with me too.