Ski Timberline

We have been smashing it this ski season. I never want it to stop. But last weekend (March 7-8), it was 70-degrees... Sadly it had seemed like our winter came to an early end... All the Western PA mountains closed early. But, temperatures dipped late in the week and when I was online I saw that Timberline Mountain in West Virginia was still going strong--Still making snow with a majority of their trails open! I hadn't ever been to this mountain, so I was eager to check it out. Plus, it's in one of my favorite parts of the whole world--Canaan Valley--so the bonus was that we got to add on a little extra exploring, too.

When we were visiting Canaan Valley this past fall, we were going to do this short walk on Freeland Boardwalk Trail through the wildlife refuge. It was a five-minute drive from our hotel. But, we stopped here at the end of the day after a long drive back from Cass, WV (90-minutes away) and right as we were about to park and get out of the car, Julian had an accident and we never got to check it out. So, I made a point this time to make this quick stop. It's a short loop--Probably only half a mile. You can do it at a slow pace in 15-20 minutes. It is so serene and beautiful. I love it here.

Of course we had to finish the day with ice cream. We had passed through this little town, Thomas, WV, on the way down, and it looked like just the place that would have an ice cream parlor--all quaint with interesting storefronts overlooking the North Fork Blackwater River.

We stumbled into the Purple Fiddle. What a find! Not only did they have ice cream, but it turns out they host concerts here--Artists who tour nationally, too. I was looking at some of the posters and it looks like S.G. Goodman played here last summer. That's a pretty big name (or at least she seems like a big name to me given all the air time she's been getting on WYEP over the past year or two). I definitely want to come back here. It's so small, intimate, and funky inside, I bet it would make for a great show.

We drove right past this railroad museum. It was closed, but of course we had to stop for the train man so he could check out the locomotive that they have on display outside.