I Met the Metro Valley, pt 2 (the other stuff)
The Blanche Devereaux: chicken and waffles with spiced peached and candied pecans.
While the main purpose of my recent getaway was to hike and meditate, the rest of the trip was full of fun (and some not-so-fun) things worth mentioning. So, let’s get into it:
As recently stated, my first two nights were spent camping in the Kanawha State Forest. Now the Forest is massive with lots of hiking trails, biking trails, horse trails, shooting ranges for archery, picnic shelters, you name it. If you’re looking for a bit of an “unplugged” experience, WiFi is hard to come by unless you hike the top of a hill and can snag it for a few minutes.
My campground space was fine, in front of a little creek with plenty of trees providing shade. The map of the campground shows two bathhouses, one near my tent site and one a bit of a walk further. I arrived to learn that the bathhouse close to my tent was actually demolished and being rebuilt. A bulldozer sat by in the space where it should have been. Slightly miffed, but what can one do?
The next day I struggled to find a place to refill all my water-carrying containers. There was a bottle refill machine near the main office that did nothing when you pressed the button. There was nothing near the campground’s bathhouse, just a dump station with a sign warning you not to drink the water. By the time my hiking was done I had drunk up all my water and was quite miffed there were no refills in sight. And no, this was not a “boil the water from the creek” kind of camping trip, thank you very much.
Pizza from Pies and Pints.
What I really enjoyed was the close proximity to the state capital, Charleston WV. Just about 20 mins from the campground, I went in the first night for dinner at Pies & Pints, because I enjoyed the Fayetteville location and figured I would enjoy the Charleston location too (I was right). I returned the following morning for brunch at Black Sheep, where I got a chicken and waffles dish called Blanche Devereaux (it had peaches on it, it was heavenly). I wanted to try their burritos for lunch on a different day, but unfortunately it was not in the cards for me this trip.
After brunch I went over to Taylor Books because I can’t resist a bookstore and made a few purchases despite the large stack of “to read” books waiting at home in my study. They had a “gently used” section; how can I resist a six-dollar book? They also had a coffee bar there and if I hadn’t chugged a dangerous amount of drip at brunch I would have indulged. Nothing like an indie bookstore, is there? (I’ll talk more about indie bookstores in my email blast this week.)
Sunday night I showered up at the campsite and went into town to see Mountain Stage! Mountain Stage is a live concert where five bands/musicians record a two-hour radio show. It’s a staple of West Virginia broadcasting and I’d only ever seen a few of their shows in Morgantown years ago. But like hell was I going to miss a show in their homebase at the Culture Center in Charleston. The show was fantastic, host Kathy Mattea ran the show wonderfully, and I discovered wonderful new music from the likes of John R. Miller, Jeffrey Martin, and Margo Cilker.
Mountain Stage
In the morning, I left Kanawha State Forest eagerly in search of water, which I ended up buying at a Sheetz en route to my next location. I also stopped at a West Virginia staple, Tudor’s Biscuit World, for a nice breakfast sandwich (the Northern Panhandle has a frustrating lack of Tudor’s for some reason). My one-night stay at Beech Fork State Park was a much nicer setup; they had WiFi and WATER in the fountains (what a concept!). Despite the insane heat wave, I had a nice time hiking and finishing up the book I was reading.
I thought the heat would get better after the sun went down. At first, it felt alright, like the end of a war movie where everyone is exhausted, sweaty, but somewhat relieved. Then it came time to sleep in my tent and I was drenched the whole time. My 3-month-old nephew probably slept drier than I did that night.
Biscuit World!!
Come the next morning I packed up straight away and decided it was going to be too hot do any sightseeing, so I hit the road. I made a few stops: first at Butter It Up in Huntington for a breakfast sammy and a big coffee. Second a quick pitstop in Point Pleasant to see Mothman again (having previously seen him last November to finish writing my book). Third was a stop in Sardis, Ohio at a Dairy Bar for a chili dog and a peanut butter shake. It’s all about food with me.
I’m happy I took this little the trip the week leading up to West Virginia Day, as there are plenty of wonderful towns and cities and places to explore in this state, but we tend to get bogged down just existing where we live (no disrespect meant to my usual haunts). Hopefully I’ll do at least one more WV trip this summer, or I could spend the next three months telling myself “You should paint the living room,” only to not do it. Ideally, I’ll do both.
So I’ll borrow and adjust the catchphrase from Mountain Stage: Go out and listen to some live music (and eat some good food) wherever you are, just as soon as you can.
