Family Umbras

Pictures from the last couple of days.

We ended our trip trying to visit the Grafton Monster Museum, but it was closed. The story started in 1964, when a local newspaper reporter said he saw a huge, pale creature near the Tygart Valley River. He described it as seven to nine feet tall, with slick, seal-like skin and no obvious head. Naturally, people went out looking for it, and it eventually became one of West Virginia’s cryptids, along with Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster. Obviously, we also had to see the birthplace of the Big Mac. For Ronald.

We toured one of the original Arthurdale Homestead houses. It was nice by today's standards too!

I loved the gardens here too. I think I am old.

Arthurdale was the nation’s first New Deal homestead community. It was created by Eleanor Roosevelt during the Great Depression to give unemployed families homes, land, and work. We visited the museum buildings, including the original blacksmith’s forge, the community hall, and exhibits about farming and daily life in the settlement. Eleanor visited the community often. #teachervacations

We also stopped at Our Lady of the Pines, a tiny Catholic church near Eglon, West Virginia, that calls itself the smallest church in the 48 states. It has only six pews and seats about 12 people. Behind it is an equally tiny mailing office that claims to be the world’s smallest. I especially loved the gardens.

Dolly Sods didn't exactly go as planned....

We also stopped at Cool Springs Park, a very strange little gas station and roadside attraction near Rowlesburg, West Virginia. Behind the store were rusting trains, old farm equipment, mining carts, antique cars, a caboose, some chickens, and, inexplicably, a peacock. It was one of the most hilarious and unexpected places we visited. Inside, they had everything from specialty jams and buckets of nails to personalized license plates, taxidermy, and bread.

My friend Angie and I went to Prickett’s Fort, near Fairmont, West Virginia. It was built around 1774 by Jacob Prickett and other local settlers as a safe place during conflicts on the frontier. Apparently, forts built by citizens usually put the family name first, like Prickett’s Fort, while forts built by the government usually put Fort first, like Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne, Fort Necessity, etc.

The scariest day of the year.

On our last day, we hit up Augie’s and drove on home to @gumbras !

Here is Solomon (and Leo) almost colliding with the pirate ship and Solomon almost colliding with the Ferris wheel.