Getting out of bed this morning was difficult. We were wrapped up warm in our cozy room, still toasty from the fire that had been on last night. The patter of drizzle and the low-hanging cloud outside our window didn't help.
Nonetheless, we had stuff to do today: a trip on the Cass Scenic Railroad had been booked for late afternoon, and we still wanted to visit the Green Bank Observatory beforehand.
Jumping in Fin, we headed through the gloom down the mountain and reached warmer and sunnier skies as we reached the historic town of Cass. We carried on through and soon reached the Green Bank Observatory, home to the iconic Green Bank Telescope and other facilities making up the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
We paid our 6 bucks each to get on one of the tours, which started with an introductory video and a short presentation from our guide Rebekah. We then hopped on a bus which took us around the facility to see the many radio telescopes on site. We were told that we had to turn off all electronic equipment, including phones, cameras and smart watches. Sam's FitBit - a primitive device that can't actually be turned off - had to be imprisoned in a Faraday Cage (a copper-lined box inside the bus) before we could proceed.
We got out of the bus at the jewel in the crown of the facility: the Robert C Byrd telescope. Being right at the base of the world's largest fully-steerable telescope was pretty impressive, but as it unexpectedly whirred into motion to track a different target, we all grinned ear-to-ear and marveled at this 17-million pound piece of engineering effortlessly gliding into position.
The bus dropped us back at the Visitor Centre and once Sam had liberated her watch, we headed inside for a lunchtime snack. The grilled cheese sandwich and homemade soup was just what we needed to warm us up and send us on our way into the Catching The Waves exhibit hall. This was a great little collection of informative and interactive exhibits. We probably had a bit too much fun in here, as before we knew it too much time had passed for us to hit any other local attractions before our train ride.
We opted for a quick snooze back at the room before heading back down the mountain to Cass, where a 2-hour round trip on a steam-powered train back up the mountain awaited us.
Despite the chilly air and the failing light, this ride was a lot of fun. Heading through the woods, spotting deer on the way, we negotiated two switchbacks whereby the train changed direction before hitting Whittaker station. We got off to stretch our legs and bladders before heading back down the mountain.
Fin deployed his heated seats and hot blowers and took us back up the mountain once again. Now hungry, we headed to our 'local' and grabbed the last two chairs at the bar for some food, drinks and banter. As ever, I couldn't resist the chicken wings, and Sam had a mighty fine half rack of ribs. Our bartender Sandy kept us hydrated with beers and cocktails.
After a couple of huge flashes of lightning, the snow - that had been forecast but we never believed would arrive - did. It was a little surreal being in a bar in mid-October watching the swirling snow outside. It made us both long for our forthcoming ski trip to Les Gets in January, but also made us fear our short walk back to our room in less-than-appropriate clothing.
Battling snow-laden gusts, we made it back to our room and immediately cranked up the fire, took off our wet clothes and slumped into our armchairs.
We spent the previous night in the Lynchburg / Blue Ridge Parkway KOA, a really lovely campsite a short drive off the Blue Ridge Parkway with lots of modern facilities including a pool, free wifi, a camp shop and a lake for fishing. Our stay was during one of the last weeks of the season with the camp hosts getting ready to close down for the winter. This did mean that the campsite was very quiet, even the RV section was quiet with many of the seasonal guests packed up and heading home. This was a good thing for us as the only downside to this campsite was the small number of tent only sites, there were only 5. These were all located around a stunning lake which when we first woke up, looked like it was steaming.
After a relaxing breakfast sat watching the mist eventually leave the lake and be replaced by perfect mirror image of the trees, we packed up and headed back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The drive along the parkway is slow, with speed limits stopping you from going over 40mph and therefore allowing you to really take in the scenery and just enjoy what's around you. For some, this might be frustrating but we had no reason to rush, we had no tent to put up tonight.
We had a couple of planned stops on the parkway that we wanted to try to make. The first was James River. Here there was a small visitors center so we could get another stamp for the passport but also learnt a little more about the parkway and the history of this area. We met a lovely National Parks Ranger in the visitors center who look an interest in our trip being a traveler herself. After a chat, she pointed us to a couple of easy trails that we should try out. The first one took us around Otter Creek where we got to walk through the trees, crossed stepping stones and had fun watching out for bears. The second trail was the James River Canal trail which look us across a meadow to the restored James River and Kanawha Canal Lock that was built between 1845-51. We learnt about the history this lock and how the railway came along and reduced the need for its use.
We hit the road again to the Peaks of Otter recreational area located just 20 minutes further down the road. There was another visitor center here and yet another stamp for our National Parks Passport. There is also a lodge, picnic area and restored farm. We looked out for otters but sadly we didn't see any.
We continued along the parkway until we reached the highest point. The view was spectacular of the valley below and the photos we took in no way do it justice.
We left the parkway and headed west into West Virginia and towards our stop for the night in the town of Snowshoe. Driving the through the countryside, we continued to be surprised by the lack of fall colours, we must be just that little be too early but we loved the old barns and farms which reminded us of the America you see on the TV.
One thing we kept seeing on the side of the barns were the quilt coloured patterns. You'll see one example in our video.
After some Googling whilst on the road to try to work out why barns in West Virginia had these patterns, we found out that in 2001, a woman from a rural farming community in Southern Ohio honored her mother who was a noted quilter by painting a square in a pattern of quilt and hanging it on the side of her family barn. Local farmers followed her lead and within a couple of years, over 20 barns in her county had 'barn quilts' attached to them.
The original barns were called a “clothesline of quilts” and promoted tourism in the farming regions of Southern Ohio. Since then, the 'quilt barns' have expanded cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and West Virginia, and has now grown into a national phenomenon.
For those who read our plans for West Virginia, you would have noticed that we never intended to stay in Snowshoe. Our original plan was to stay in a B&B just outside the Greenbank Observatory but unfortunately, due to personal circumstances the reservation was cancelled whilst we were on the road. We searched around for alternative accommodation and found Snowshoe, a backwards ski resort with the resort being at the top of the mountain. The ski resort was closed with the summer season finished but the winter season not quite started. The accommodation was cheap but we knew there was a risk that very little was going to be open in this town.
The road up to Snowshoe was long and winding, with lots of hairpin bends and stunning views of the valley below. We both wondered just how people in the winter season managed to make it up to the resort with snow on the roads, it must be a white knuckle ride!
We arrived in Snowshoe and the town was very quiet, there were virtually no cars on the road and everything looked closed. The hotel had emailed us instructions to check in which involved driving to another hotel to pick up a key as the hotel we were staying in had no reception desk open at this time of the year. As we checked in, we found signs of life. This must have been the only hotel open in the entire resort but at least there were like-minded people either looking for cheap accommodation or a getaway in a closed ski resort between seasons. As we checked in we were reminded just a couple of times that the entire resource was closed, there were no shops open, no where to eat and drink (unless you wanted to drive 20 minutes down the mountain to a gas station and Subway) and definitely no skiing. We confirmed again that we were fine with this and just needed a room for the night to explore the local area.
We drove around to the hotel, parked up and headed into our room which was accessible without needing to go through the hotel, a good thing since it was all closed.
The room was stunning! We had a gas fire, a comfortable bed, a living area and a modern bathroom. The room looked out onto a ski run and opposite the hotel was one of the ski lifts. Had we visited in winter, this place would have been perfect for skiing.
Assuming that nothing was open, we cracked open the coolbox and hunted down the left over lasagna and salad from Hershey to heat up in the microwave for dinner. It was almost just as good as when we had it the first time around.
We both felt full and uncomfortable after dinner so we decided that we needed to go on walk around Snowshoe to explore the town and walk off some of those calories. We headed for the main highstreet and as we were warned when we checked in, all the shops were closed with signs explaining they would open again in a couple of weeks time when the winter seasons started. Then we hit a bar and it was a lively bar that was both open and packed full of people. We headed inside and sat at the bar. It turns out that not everything is closed during shoulder season and this bar stays open. We also found out about other areas of town that were still open including the convenience store and another bar / restaurant. After befriending the barman and questioning him about our warnings at check in, we realised that the bar was privately owned yet the resort was owned by a managing company, politics meant that the managing company who ran our hotel may not be entirely honest about what is / isn't open. Seems like you get inter company politics no matter what the industry!
After a few drinks and some apple crumble for desert (all that walking and talking had made us hungry again!), we headed back to our hotel room for a comfortable and restful nights sleep.
