Monday, July 31, 2017

I-79 Technology Park in WV

When we were still living overseas, we often  get the question of where we  are from Virginia.  We  would always  tell them that we  are from West Virginia and not from Virginia.  Apparently, some people think that Virginia and  West Virginia is just one state.  For those who are still confused, here's a map.  Virginia is a lot larger than our small state.
not my photo
Anyway, I want to share this place  that we saw during our  recent  road trip to New River Gorge.  
The place is called I-79 Technology Park. It is located within the heart of the I-79 High Technology Corridor just south of Fairmont, West Virginia. The location of the I-79 Technology Park places is within one day’s drive of 60% of the U.S. population and some of the Nation’s largest cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.
The I-79 Technology Park is a home to over 30 businesses which includes FirstEnergy Corp., Lockheed Martin, Time Warner Cable, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) just to name a few. It would be neat to tour this huge facility.
My children were amazed of the humongous technology infrastructure that you can see from the road. It must be nice to really see what it's like inside the facility.
 I didn't   know   about this  until we did our  road trip.  Traveling is really a pleasure and  at the same time educational.
 The visitor and Tourism Centers in West Virginia all looks like this one.
 If you ever want to  enjoy  some nature adventure, come visit the Mountain State.  West Virginia has a lot of beautiful parks  that would sure satisfy your  experience.
We still have a lot of exploring to do in our own state.  I told my husband that I would like to visit every parks we have here.  I know that  when we talk about vacation, our tendency is to visit  places  from other  state but for me,  exploring our own is also fun.  I'll  show some more places we drove through  during our fun road trip.  

Monday, July 17, 2017

New River Gorge, West Virginia

My husband was born and raised here in West Virginia but he went away when he joined  the military.  He spent most of his 20 years of service  overseas so he never really got the chance to see much of his home state.  When we came back here in the US and settled down for good after he retired from the Navy, I wanted to explore the  beautiful mountain state. 

 The New River Gorge is one of the many attractions here in WV but we have never been there because it is a 4 hour drive from our city.  In fact my husband  have never seen it  even though he was  born here.  But as a treat to our daughter's  12th birthday, we finally went and see it last Sunday.  I can tell my husband was dreading the  long hours of drive but he was glad we did it when he saw how beautiful it was down state.  It was worth it.
To be able to see the New River Gorge Bridge, we went to Hawks Nest State Park.  They offer jet boats ride  tour in the river.   We rode  a tram going down and there was a one hour wait  before the next  jet boat ride  so we had the chance to  explore the place.  Nature has always been my favorite spot of relaxation so it was a treat for me.  There was so many butterflies  in that place.  
I love  the set up of the state park.  If you want the jet boat tour, you have to  ride the tram also so it was kind of a package.  However, you can go down and see the  river without riding the tram, you can  walk down the Lovers Leap trail which I wanted to do but we had limited time so we didn't get to do that.
Hawks Nest State Park is located in Ansted West Virginia.  We drove 320 miles from our place and back.
We had a great time riding the  jet boat as the captain was very funny.  He was an older witty man who told us a lot of jokes
The captain took us upstream  to see the famous New River Gorge bridge.  The ride is 6 miles long and it takes approximately 25-30 minutes.  
It was a very relaxing  tour, my husband was all smiles.  We all enjoyed the  ride especially  with a captain that made the  ride very entertaining.
According to the captain of the boat, the New River Gorge bridge was completed  in 1977.  It is the longest  single span steel arch  bridge in the Western Hemisphere.   Spanning the  picturesque New River at 876 feet high.  The bridge is a spectacular site  and has become a nationally recognized  icon for Southern West Virginia.  
 Locals   just calls it "The Bridge" according to the captain.  We couldn't advanced the boat due to the  rough water flowing through.  This is the place where  they do  white water rafting.  We passed by  a lot of folks that does that.  I want to do white water rafting, maybe when the kids are old enough to do that, we will come back there and do it.
So after a 30 minute minute of relaxing tour, it's time to head up and ride the tram again.
Folks downstate are so friendly.   They make  every visitor feel so welcome.  The old lady that was  receiving the tickets  before the jet boat ride was originally from England.  My husband talked to her and we  just love hearing her talk because of her English accent.
If you want to connect with nature and have an invigorating  experience of natural beauty, West Virginia has it.  Take a deep breath and head downstate, you'll find national and state parks  that offers some of the most breath taking  natural settings in the world.  
Southern West Virginia is blessed  with ten spectacular state parks that offers breath taking scenery.  There's a lot of historical sites, fabulous golf, hunting and fishing, resort style lodges, and  wonderful camping sites.
My husband  wants to return there  where we can  stay for a couple of days and  fully explore the  place.  I told him we can  go back  and celebrate our wedding anniversary there, that would be romantic.  There's nothing  like bonding with nature.  At least for me because I love  outdoors.  There's more  pics to come in the  next  post or two so tune in.
Here's some clips of the tour.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Road Trip to Indiana PA, The Christmas Tree Capital of the World

After a disappointing car hunting trip but later  turned to a fun road trip to Columbiana Ohio, we headed to Indiana, PA the next day.  Driving  to Pennsylvania, I feel so  different whenever we drive  to Ohio.  For some reason, I feel relax with our  road trips in Ohio than PA.  I think it has something to do with  the roads we  take.  In Ohio, we usually  go on  mostly farm area roads while when we go to PA,  it is always on the highway.  I think it all depends on the places we go but that is just how I feel.  I still enjoy  any road trips though.
 We left  around 11 in the morning, right  after my daughter's piano lesson.  I had the time to prepare some fruit snack.  I  scooped  some watermelon balls and brought  some trail mix to nibble on our way.  It took us almost 2 hours to reach our destination driving 94.2 miles from our city.
Although there are farm lands in PA, I still favored  going on road trips in Ohio side, I just love the relaxing  scenery there compared to PA.  Again, that's just my personal opinion.
Anyway, here are some of the photos I took during the trip.
According to Wikipedia, "Indiana is a borough and the principal city of the Indiana, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area.  The borough and the region as a whole promotes itself as the "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" because the national Christmas Tree Grower's Association was founded there. There are still a large number of Christmas tree farms in the area." We have seen  some  Pine tree farms  on our way there and hubby and I wondered if  they grow it to sell on Christmas or  what.  That's why  searched on it online when we arrived home.
We didn't really have time to explore  because there was a time crunch but we enjoyed the ride.
Indiana is another  quaint  city.  It seems like   people there are so friendly.  We ate at their Eat 'n Park restaurant and everybody  greet you with a smile.  I opened a door for an old woman and she  gave me the sweetest smile and thank me for  being "kind".
We passed by this big  ranch or mansion  and the kids were inspired.  They dream of  getting a good job when they grow up and getting them a big house.  I told them that  a big house is not really necessary  that they should focus on having a comfortable life and healthy lifestyle and not bury themselves in debt just to have nice things.  They got the point but they still  dream of  having a mansion lol.  Well, it is good to have dreams so I will let them dream about stuff.  I also told them that if they put their mind to  becoming successful, anything can happen and  anything is possible.  That's one good thing about road trips too, the conversation you make with your family is  precious.
The kids  got excited when we  drove by Punxsutawney, they remembered the  famous ground hog, Punxsutawney Phil.  Ground hog is one of their favorite  wild animals.  We  are always on the look out for them  when we  drive as they are  fun to watch when they eat and do their stuff.
I am not sure what kind of industrial  establishment is this but they are huge.
Seeing farm animals along the way is always a great bonus for us.
When we do road trips, I feel bad for my husband because we all  get tired and wants to fall asleep but he can't take a rest because he  is the  official driver.  He doesn't complain at all, he loves being on the road, in fact almost every time, he wants to go constantly.  For me, I am good  staying at home or  go somewhere, I am a good sports as long as I won't drive lol.

While the guys inspect and ponder upon whether or not  they get the this Saturn Sky or not, my daughter and I spent our time having fun outside enjoying the view and  taking pictures. 
  The reason why my husband wants this sports car  because  he said it can be a collectible someday since they stopped  making it.  I can see how in-love he  is on this car so I gave him the go to  get it.
 Oh did I tell you that my son is as obsessed as his Dad with this car is?  Yep, they do share the same passion on cars,.  The way they  describe  car sometimes, you would think they are talking about a hot lady model.   I could care less of how car looks like, as long as  it takes you from Point A to Point B without problem, that's what matters.  For men, it's a different  case lol.

Sugarcreek Roadtrips

It's been a while since we last visited Sugarcreek.  We used to go there almost every weekend just so we can drive around and see other ...

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