Color Me Fall...

Monday, October 18th, was a preparation day to be away for three days. I took Papa out for a drive.

While I was away, Claude built the last two large flower beds at the crest of our hill. Our hope is that this will help with water running off the hill. We purchased the plants for these two beds the Friday previous, we put them on a cookie sheet and filled that with water so they would stay alive while we were away for three days. We were also able to move the completed milk can to the patio and put a plant on top. I think it turned out great. The last two pictures show the can as it was painted originally in orange and black, then the step where we put a base coat on it. Helps to see the transformation. Claude would purchase a nice square paving stone to put under the can. It has several coats of base coat, paint, then flat paint. All of that should keep it from rusting. If it does rust, it will now do that on the paving stone and not on the patio surface.

Tuesday, October 19th, we would hit the road. We were off to Elkins, West Virginia. My hubby knows and loves me. He drove out of his way to Bojangles so we could start out trip off with my favorite breakfast, a plain biscuit with a soda. Yum!! It takes a little over five hours to get to Elkins. We had a nice, safe ride. In the evening, we drove to Steer Steak for a nice steak dinner for Claude. I had fried shrimp with a baked sweet potato. Good meal. 

Wednesday, October 20th, we awoke to pictures of our first-born great grandmonster, Raelyn on her way to school. Look at what she is doing with her glasses. I do this all the time. I told Katelyn that Raelyn definitely has a great Gramma gene! Love this little nugget. She is a very confident young lady. 

The purpose of this trip was to find fall colors in the trees. I had been following a West Virginia website that sent me a weekly update on the fall colors. We picked Elkins because it was just south of the place noted for peak color the week before. We were happy with what we saw.

In the hotel lobby was a brochure titled Randolph County, WV Motorcycle Guide Mountains to Valleys. Since Claude and I have been and totally enjoyed motorcycling riding, I knew this might be a good way to find a nice ride through the area to look for fall colors. We picked up a brochure on our way to dinner. I read through it. There were six routes. I narrowed my search to three and gave the guide to Claude to pick from those three. He picked the Little Swiss Village Route. We were ready to rumble!!

This first set of pictures is of our drive from Elkins, West Virginia to Helvetia, West Virginia. This area has a lot, I mean, a LOT, of lumbering. The mountains never showed where trees had been stripped clean from the mountains. This lets me know it is done strategically. There is also coal mining. The fourth from the last picture of this group shows what appears to be a very low wire, like a telephone line. However, as we drove they were linked together in place and low on the trunks of trees. They were obviously a line to collect sap from the trees. We saw this in Vermont. The third to last picture shows you the danger of the work the men do back in these mountains. There was this beautiful clearing with fall colors in the trees all around it. It was clearly maintained with mowing. The sign let you know it was a place for helicopters to land to get people out for medical emergencies in this area. Another thing I love driving in these mountains in the eastern part of the United States is the little white churches in the tiny towns. They are postcard perfect every time. 

We arrived at Helvetia. This is a small Swiss Village. The brochure suggested, and we did, stop at The Hutte for a bite to eat. I ordered a fruit and cheese platter for us to share and Claude also ordered himself a brat sandwich. I am not a brat lover. Claude's sandwich came on thickly cut homemade bread. He said it was delicious. We shared our lunch with the resident wasp! Here are pictures taken in Helvetia.

Now we were in for a very interesting part of our drive. Our map showed us staying on Hwy. 250 to Hwy 20. Somewhere down there we would go around the outside of Holly River State Park. We found signs for Holly River State Park but no signs for Holly River Road. We took the signs for Holly River State Park. At first, the road was paved but very uneven. Almost like it was on a level for each lane of the road. It was well worn by big trucks going over it. Then the road changed to gravel and narrow. Four times we had men in their personal pick-up trucks zoom past us at break neck speed. We were very grateful we had chosen to drive the Jeep on this trip. Usually we take my Buick Envision. The Jeep was by far the right vehicle for these roads. Lots of places only one car could drive on the road. There were no signs except for private property on either side of the road. We are still not sure what road we took but it did get us across the mountains to Hwy 20. I felt like the Sheri Lewis song from her show with Lamp Chop (the puppet). She sang a song that went, "This is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on and on." and it keeps repeating that. I felt like "This is the road that never end. It just goes on and on and on!" Claude and I were not quite sure if we where where they might film something like the movie Deliverance. Beautiful colors. Bad road. We are absolutely sure no one in their right mind would recommend this on a drive for motorcyclists. 

After making our way to Hwy 20, we drove around the edge of Holly River Stake Park and north to the West Virginia Wildlife Center. This was also suggested as a great stop to stretch your legs. So, we did. The guy was cute at the entry in suggesting we might qualify for the senior discount if we were over 65 years of age. We are assured him we qualified. 

These are pictures of the West Virginia Wildlife Center. It is a great stop. This is a fun place to take children. The elk and bison are viewed from one area. Then you walk 1.25 miles to view the other animals. All tree covered and nice asphalt paved walks. A little up and down hill, but a nice walk. 

Our visit started with the elk and the bison.

Then Claude parked the Jeep by the visitor's center and we walked the 1.25 miles to view the remainder of the animals. The first animal was a river otter. Claude fell in love with otters when we visited Alaska. He loved how they would lay on their back in the water and use their tummy for a plate to eat their food. This particular otter was very happy to find a pose so you could take her photo. This is my favorite animal photo of this trip. 

Claude and I paused at the frog pond. Didn't see any frogs but it is probably getting a bit cold for them. 

This cougar was pacing back and forth, back and forth. I'm thinking it was getting to their meal time and it was bit hungry. The cages are set up with chain link for most of the walls but every little bit they have a plexiglass window you can see through. 

Then we visited the deer and wolf.

We spent a little time with the eagles. These two bald eagles were having some kind of altercation as we approached their enclosure. The one on the left flew away to another perch. After we stood there a bit, it flew back. I changed my camera to video hoping to get a little movement from them. To my amazement the one on the left started to call out. I was surprised at their cry. I would expect a bald eagle to be a bass or a deep sound. Not so much. Pretty high and shrill. Happy I got that on video.

The Ring-necked Pheasant was hard to get a picture of. There was one male and at least three females. They too were moving back and forth in the enclosure very quickly. This is a really pretty bird.

Halloween decorations were put up randomly throughout this walk. I am a sucker for the witch that flies into the tree (or the house or the pole). Cracks me up every time.

We saw bobcats, an enclosure with a Red-tailed hawk (on the ground at the base of the tree on the left) and a Golden Eagle (on top of the tree trunk), a Great Horned Owl, and two Barred Owls.

The bears really put on a show. There were two cubs and a mother. The cubs were about as big as their mother. The mother was resting at the base of the tree. One cub wandered down from the back of their enclosure and, after scratching his face with his paw, poked a fist at the other cub. They tussled on the grass for a while. Then they stood and did their play fighting standing up. It reminded me of a picture our Andie has and loves of the Dancing Bears. I made sure to tag our Nissa with these pictures and video. She loves bears.

The last cage was a coyote. We saw lots of other animals and I took pictures but these are the best of the bunch of pictures. I would recommend this Wildlife Center to anyone. 

We left the West Virginia Wildlife Center and pointed the Jeep north on Hwy 119 to Philippi. In Philippi is the Philippi Covered Bridge. It is the oldest, longest covered bridge in West Virginia. It is two lanes and is still used by traffic. We stopped by the bridge to take pictures and read the signs. Then we drove across the bridge and turned around and came back through the other side. The last picture in this group is the sign describing the role this bridge played in the Civil War.

We made it back to Elkins after a very long period of time in a construction traffic jam. We decided to have dinner at C J Maggie's, a short walk from our hotel. It was hands down the best meal of our trip. This place one could sit in for hours and not see all the different items on the walls. The first thing that caught my attention was the pulpit like structure for the person who received you at the restaurant and then took you to your table. It was made out of yard sticks, levels and license plates. It was fascinating to see all the things they had for decorations in this place. Highly recommend C J Maggie's for a meal.

Thursday, October 21st, it was time to pack up and head back to Georgetown. But Claude indulged me one more time. I read something about a Graffiti Alley. Again, if I had my bearings the night before, we could have walked another couple of blocks and found this the night before. So, Thursday morning before we left, Claude drove by Graffiti Alley for me to get a quick picture. 

Our drive home went very well. We had a little bit of rain but nothing bad at all. It was good to get home, unpack, and enjoy being in our home again. I told Claude I was trying to think on the way home of a way to give my home a hug. I do love this little house.

Friday, October 22nd, we were treated to a picture of our youngest great grandmonster. He is a lumberjack dinosaur. Not sure what he thinks of the situation. But he is a cutie nonetheless!

Friday I would take Papa for a ride. He is always so appreciative of this time out and about.

In the evening we had our Trunk-or-Treat and Chili Cook-off for the Ward (congregation). Claude went to get something he forgot after we got to the Church. The Jeep would not start. This is one of those times we were very grateful we basically live across the street from the Church. Claude walked home and got my car and drove it over to the Church parking lot. After everything was done and we helped a little with clean-up, we went outside and used my car to jump-start Claude's Jeep. The battery on the Jeep was officially a goner. So happy this didn't happen when we were in West Virginia. 

Saturday, October 23rd, Claude called Dan Cummins first thing in the morning to see if he could get the Jeep in to get a new battery. They said he could bring the Jeep in and leave it and they would call him when it was done. Now...my plan for this Saturday was to stay home, read in my Lord of the Rings book, work on my pictures and Blog, maybe bake some bread. I was really looking forward to a quiet day at home. Now, we left quickly to get the Jeep to the dealership. I drove behind Claude so we could go do things in my car.

We got a biscuit for breakfast. Then to Lowe's we went to get the dirt needed to complete filling the new large flower beds so we could plant those flowers. While there, we looked at ivy and determined we would plant Baltic English Ivy. There were 13 cartons with six plants in each carton. We bought out what was in the store. Home we sped and unloaded the car. Claude poured the dirt into the flower beds and I leveled it out. Claude received a call from the dealer that his Jeep was ready. Back we sped to the dealership and picked up Claude's Jeep. I went directly home to plant the flowers. Claude went to the Church. You see, somewhere the night before in working to start the Jeep, Claude lost his pocket knife. Sure enough, he found it laying on the sidewalk by where the Jeep was parked. Hallelujah!!

My quiet day turned into a yard work day. We would plant 77 ivy plants (One box was missing one plant). Claude would lay the plants on the ground, then dig a hole for them to go into. I would sit on the ground with my little hand shovel and make sure the holes was the right size, put some good soil in the hole, break up and mix in good soil with the soil that came out of the hole, then plant the plant and cover it with good the soil mix. We managed to get that all done. Then laid the stepping stones we have purchased in their places. Claude actually worked with me to install about six of them to be sure how it would work. Some will be actual steps up through the ivy on the hill to the top of the hill. Some will lay on the ground on the top of the hill between the shed, the grandmonster bench and the Adirondack chairs. Those on top will have to have a place dug out for them, place them in, covered the steppingstone back up with dirt pack that down around the edges, then sweep the tops. There are three cast iron turtle steppingstones that will be mixed in with the stone ones. After getting everything where we wanted it, we each pulled a watering hose from one of the sides of the house to the back yard and watered everything. We finished about 5pm. Here are pictures of our efforts for Saturday.

Sunday, October 24th, has been a good Sabbath Day. I held the Primary pianist baby, Franklin, for the hour of Primary. He is one solid little guy. As I was walking in the hall with Franklin, Claude was waiting to go into his class. He looked at me and simply said, "Put him back!!" You see, when your baby is 46, you really aren't interested in raising children again. 

Franklin did the cutest thing. At the end of the hour he was getting really sleepy. Usually he would nurse and fall asleep. I am not equipped for that process. So I walked him down the hall. On one wall is a picture of the Savior healing someone. As we approached the picture, Franklin looked up and seemed to recognize the Savior. He reached out his little chubby hand and waved at Jesus. My heart melted. Franklin is only 4 months old. Not too long ago he would have been with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Just a very sweet moment. 

We successfully did fall colors and made great progress on our back yard. A good week. Now, I really want that day to ready and bake!!