Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with westvirginia

Road trip suggestions?

obliquicity — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:46:48 -0800

Road trip! My mom and I are driving from Eastern Long Island to Stillwater, OK, via (tentatively) Harrisburg PA, Charleston WV, Mammoth Cave State Park KY, St Louis MO, and Bartlesville OK. I'd like suggestions of things we might do along the way, as this breaks down to only about 5 hours of driving per day, so we have some touristy time! So at the moment we have a night at the Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK, set in stone -- but apart from that, our itinerary is mostly flexible. The current list of stops is based on searching through AskMe archives for road trip suggestions, and then dividing the distances without recommended stops into 5-hour chunks to fill our time before arriving in Bartlesville. To give you an idea of what we like, when I googled Harrisburg and Charleston I made notes of the following intriguing-sounding tourist attractions:

Harrisburg: National Civil War Museum, Sunken Gardens at Riverfront Park
Charleston: Beckley exhibition coal mine, Craik-Patton house, South Charleston Indian Mound, New River Gorge National River

As I said, apart from Price Tower, nothing, including our route, is set in stone -- we've never driven through these parts of the country before, so we're open to all suggestions.

Oh, and bonus (for me!) if you have vegan dining suggestions along that route...

Writing retreat for East-coast cheapskates?

metajc — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:14:15 -0800

We've a gallon of Rebel Yell, a tupperware of pesto pasta, and 200 pages to go. But where to? Where in the DC area can we get away from people on Memorial Day weekend for cheap? My buddy and I have been talking for years about holing up somewhere to polish off some writing. We finally have time this Memorial Day Weekend but, then again, it's Memorial Day Weekend and, worse, we live in the DC-Baltimore area (plagues of humans).

We have a plan -- we'd like to try for a camping spot or a cheap cabin and, if that fails, wait till the last second for a super deal on Hotwire.

Help us narrow down West Virginia or Virginia or Maryland or where. We'd like to go somewhere cheap but somewhere cool, comfortable. Activities not required. A view would be nice as would electricity.

I once stayed in a bayou cabin in Louisiana overlooking gator-infested swamp for $30/night. The place was quiet with fishermen, had a mini-fridge and outlets. Something like that would be perfect.

Other options (including city options) are welcome. Sketchy hotels? Hotwire hotels with views of Baltimore? Maybe we could watch your penthouse while you're out? We'll be awake for 72 hours straight but we promise not to play with fire this time.

Take Me Home, Country Roads?

chocolate_butch — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:03:38 -0800

Help me decide if I should pick-up and move from Anne Arundel County, Maryland to Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Details inside. Here’s the deal:

1. My wife and I own a home in a Leave-It-To-Beaver-esque neighborhood in an idyllic suburban setting in Maryland. If we sell the house, we stand to make a healthy chunk of change and be able to bank a large portion for investment, as well as reduce our mortgage payment significantly.

2. We’d be moving from one of the top school districts in the nation (we have just-about-to-enter-elementary-school-aged kids) to one that is just … OK. However, we’re a bit house poor and we’ll have a hard time saving the money necessary to pay for college if we stay where we are.

3. Our current house is on a street of septugenarians, so there are no kids for our kids to play with. The “new” neighborhood is chocked full of kids, most of whom are the same ages as ours.

4. We’d be moving from a 40-year-old house to a brand-new house during a real estate market in which there’s a real opportunity to take advantage of a builder and make him say, “Who’s your daddy?”

5. Where we live now, there is no possible mass transit option for my commute to work. Where we’d be moving, there’s a train that would take me almost directly to my office. Both commutes are approximately 1.5 hours.

6. We’d be leaving world-class medical care and going to … ???

7. We’d be leaving one of the wealthier counties in the nation (I mean, come on ... Pat Sajak lives here, for Pete's sake) and moving to the poorest state in the union.

8. We have family in both locales.

9. Asking our parents for advice is making our heads swim. My wife’s parents say, “Yee-haw!” while mine say, “What?? Have you gone meshuga?!?”

So, hive mind, I turn to you. Should I stay where I am and just suck it up, or should I sell and take my mountain mama (and our kids) home to the country roads of West Virginia?

Overnight road trip stop, Columbus OH area to Philly.

ladydisdain — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:17:47 -0800

We're taking a road trip with our 10 month old from Philly to western Ohio (Coldwater, NW of Columbus) via the PA Turnpike and 70W. Where should we stop overnight on the way back? There's no way she'll make the whole trip without going insane, so we're stopping on the way out probably at some sort of depressing PA Turnpike rest stop and then in Zanesville, OH for the night. We'll also be making a detour into Columbus for the North Market and Half Price Books. On the way back we'd like to stay overnight somewhere else. Maybe somewhere in WV? Wheeling, maybe? Morgantown? Washington, PA? Our requirements: a decent hotel, somewhere to eat that doesn't suck, and hopefully something local to see before we get back on the road.

Also, if anyone has any must-see or must-eat suggestions that are baby-friendly (she's not a terror) anywhere along that route, we'd love to hear them - we have some extra time.

What to visit in or near western Virginia?

putzface_dickman — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:43:25 -0800

What can 3 generations of my family spend the day doing within 100 miles of I-74/77 between Beckley, WV and Greensboro, NC on August 24? My 60-year-old parents, pregnant sister-in-law, 3 kids (ages 4 to 9) plus 3 more of us adults are driving back to Columbus OH from North Myrtle Beach SC. We're looking for someplace roughly halfway to stop and spend the day. Suggestions in WV, VA & NC are welcome.

Country Roads?

kjars — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 07:12:13 -0800

Can anyone recommend any cabin rentals in West Virginia? I'm looking for a weekend cabin rental in West Virginia in late September/early October. I'll need approximately 8 beds. It's for a bachelor party, but we're pretty low-key guys and just want a place in the pseudo-woods to have some beers, cook steaks, and chill.

Harpers Ferry Weekend Honeymoon for the Carless

brownpau — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:49:23 -0800

Newlyweds in DC planning a quick weekend honeymoon up in Harper's Ferry, WV. Difficulty: carless. We're thinking of taking Amtrak or MARC up there on a Friday afternoon, checking into a local B&B near the train station, spending Saturday and Sunday wandering around the Lower Town, checking out Jefferson Rock and the John Brown museum, doing some easy trails, then taking Amtrak back Sunday night or MARC early Monday morning.

Is this doable without an auto? How walkable are the B&Bs and hotels nearest the train station for a pair of scrawny out-of-shape geeks with backpacks? (B&Bs preferred because neither of the hotels in the Lower Town area get very good reviews on the internets; but if anyone's stayed at Hilltop House Hotel, do let me know.) Will there be enough to do in the Lower Town to fill up two days? Does the place get crowded during summer weekends, and should we reserve rooms far in advance? Are the trains back to DC reliable?

Any other tips on Harpers Ferry welcome; I've only been there once and spent hardly any time in the town itself.

Midwest - East Coast Roadtrip

Zosia Blue — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:23:49 -0800

We've figured out the route for our upcoming road trip, so now I have a few questions, involving hotels in the Indianapolis area and must-sees in IL, OH and WV. 1) Our overnight point is going to be Indianapolis, IN. We'd ideally like to find a midscale hotel (not horribly expensive, but not a Motel 8, either) just outside of the city. Inside the city will do in a pinch, but we're looking to avoid city noise. (We live across from a police station and an army of jackhammers at the moment.) Any suggestions on this?

2) Our route will have us stopping in the Rockford and Bloomington areas of IL, Colombus, OH and Charleston, WV. Our trip has turned into less of a sight-seeing vacation and more of a get-there situation, so our time is limited, but does anyone have any must-sees for those areas?

Thanks for your answers on my previous question, and any you have for this one!

Roadside attractions along I-77?

Tallguy — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 11:41:35 -0800

WestVirginiaTravelFilter: Looking for a good road-side attraction along I-77 [mi] Over the holidays my family will be traveling from Michigan to North Carolina with a 12 month old. The trip takes 12 hours without a baby, and so we are considering trying to break the trip into 2 days. The logical place to stop is somewhere like Charleston or Beckley (or somewhere close), but Parkersburg and Wytheville, VA are also possibilities. Does anyone have a recommendation for a fun baby-friendly stop that takes just a few hours in the afternoon along I-77? The Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley looks interesting, but it is closed in December.

Good/cheap rental cabins in West Virginia? Related activities?

kscottz — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:09:18 -0800

West Virginia Filter: Any suggestions on where to find good/cheap rental cabins in West Virginia? What about activities? [MI]