The Midland Trail

71°f this morning,  21.7°C; clear, a pretty day but hot, low 90s, again.

Firepit at the motel. Nice!

Home again from the Lewisburg Literary Festival! We had a great time; nice crowd, a good reading, enjoyable dinner with friends afterwards,  and then a bottle of wine by the firepit at our motel. I forgot to take photos at the event because I was busy visiting with friends.

I did think to take a few photos of downtown Lewisburg after dinner. This is one of our state's oldest towns, and a few years ago it was named America's Coolest Small Town by Frommer's Budget Travel, as well as one of the best arts towns by another publication. It's a pretty upscale place, filled with cute shops where I can't afford to buy anything, and interesting restaurants.  

We chose a place called The Humble Tomato for dinner, which serves Italian-style cuisine in a quirky historic log cabin. There are a lot of steps to get inside, although there must surely have been a handicapped access somewhere. Once in, there are gorgeous old wide-plank wood floors and a large fireplace with a bright red mantel. It was cute, but the service was pretty awful. We had to ask for our drinks after waiting 20 minutes, then they forgot to bring Larry's dinner, etc, etc. The poor waitress had to do it all, taking orders,  bringing food and drinks,  bussing the tables, and at one point the harried girl dropped a big tray of dishes. Crash! Quite a mess. The food was okay, not great, and pricey for what there was. But the company made up for all of that!

Downtown, late evening:

We decided to take the old road back to Charleston and pick up the interstate there for the rest of the drive home. Route 60 follows the old James and Kanawha Turnpike, which once ran from Richmond Virginia, I think, to Huntington on the Ohio River. A historic route that saw many a pioneer family travel its length, the turnpike played an important role in Civil War. Today the road sees mostly local traffic and a few curious tourists. It winds through Greenbrier county's gently rolling countryside before climbing into the steep mountains along the New River.

We made an all too brief stop at Babcock State Park, home to the most photogenic grist mill, old CCC-built stone buildings, and stunning views.

The Clifftop Appalachian String Band Festival was happening just a couple miles from the park, and we knew many of our musician friends would be there,  but it was so hot, and we would have had to walk a good ways and bring our own chairs so we regretfully decided against stopping.

Next stop instead was at Hawk's Nest State Park, with its high overlook over the winding New River below. In 2021 we actually rode a jet boat down there on that very stretch of river. The water was much higher then--the drought has caused low water in all our state's waterways.

These little ones were using the telescope as a merry-go-round. 

A bit further down the road:

Passing through coal country

And finally, back to Charleston and the last 50 miles of the road home.

If you would like to see more photos and read more about this part of West Virginia, I have written several blogs in the past when we traveled that area. Here are a few of them:

Hawk's Nest, the Mystery Hole and New River Gorge Bridge

Babcock State Park

Lewisburg

The Greenbrier Ghost

Cathedral Falls

The Salt Works