Gus™

While she was here, we stayed with my sister in the Summersville, WV area and I showed her the New River Gorge Bridge, Babcock State Park, the lower Summersville Lake, and the Gauley River.

We had a bit of snow and ice, so our hikes were limited.

We enjoyed time at the iconic Babcock State Park reconstructed grist mill. I like to think about where it was when it was functional. I know it’s located in a more aesthetic spot off to the side, but its old spot is still visible downstream.

The Babcock State Park is a good place to practice longer exposure waterfall shots, especially on an overcast day.

The drained lake is interesting because the boulders on the edge are not exposed in the Summer time.

As evening approached the night before she went back to Oklahoma, we took some photos of our LEGO minifigs by the water.

I experimented with the lighting to show the minifigs.

We started our trip by getting food at the Snowshoe Resort.

An interesting thing about Snowshoe is that it is built along the crest of a mountain. The views of this place are gorgeous all around. No matter the window, it is stunning.

Many buildings were designed with “Mountain rustic” aesthetic loosely inspired by Scandinavian towns and old Canadian towns.

In the restaurant, our view spanned over the western side with beautiful sunsets for later guests.

There was a heavy snow in the mountain area the night before we were there, but the ski resort also had their own snowmaking machine.

After we ate, we ventured to the town of Cass for the “Polar Express” themed train ride. Notice the snow levels were much less at this elevation.

In its early days, Cass was surrounded by ancient forests so, logically, the town started as a train-based timber town. That being said, this fact that this factory was also a paper mill came as a surprise for me. I didn’t get a chance to check the mill out for a few more years.

We boarded our train and my niece loved the idea of visiting the “North Pole”

After our train ride, we stopped at the general store. I loved the windows along the wall. It is very tourist driven now, but I like to think about the original general store. I’m sure it had groceries and medicines along with household items and even jewelry and furniture. It served as an emporium of sorts for local artisans.