Posted on

The Dolly Sods

Hubby suggested we go for a car ride yesterday. Since we’re at the WV place (we haven’t hung out here for a few weeks), I seized the opportunity to say, “Okay, but I want to go to The Dolly Sods.”

The Dolly Sods is a wilderness area that sits at an elevation of about 4,000 feet atop the Allegheny Plateau. It is one of many areas of interest in the Monongahela National Forest. The Dolly Sods is significant because of its elevation and what that means to the flora and fauna.

I’ve wanted to visit for YEARS. Ever since 2005 when we started our “little” WV project. During what little down time we had, I read a lot about the area. And I liked what I read. 🙂

While all of West Virginia is pretty mountainous, the mountains aren’t very high. The highest peak, in fact, is only 4,863 feet. It’s not far at all from The Dolly Sods. It’s been said that many areas of the Dolly Sods are like high-alpine regions in Canada. The snowshoe hare can even be found there.

Hubby's GPS tracked the elevation changes.

We’ve ridden our motorcycles near The Dolly Sods many, many times, but never ventured into the actual wilderness area because it is known for its rough, dirt and gravel roads. It is a wilderness, after all, and they want to keep it that way. In fact, descriptions of the route into The Sods said something to the effect of “the road climbs the Allegheny Front.” If you look at this terrain map of the area, you’ll see what I mean. In short, the road went up, and up, and up before we finally reached the top of the Allegheny Plateau. Hubby’s GPS software plotted a graph showing our elevations at various points on the trip down and back, which clearly shows the extreme elevation change entering and leaving The Dolly Sods.

Climbing the Allegheny Front (Think 6 miles of washboard-rutted road; I am NOT exaggerating.)
Some of the scenery on the way up, below the tree line.
More scenery on the way up.
Welcome to the high alpine world. (Pronunciation = Ma-non-ga-heel-ah)

The foliage at this altitude peaked some time ago and is mostly gone.
The view from the top.
It was quite rocky. There were large bolders strewn wide and far.
The winds on the plateau are virtually constant.
The boulders were covered with lichen.
There were blueberries galore (the short, red plants).
Blueberries! (Dolly Sods is a popular place in July and August.)
More blueberries.
The further north you go, the more it starts looking like the Alaskan tundra.
You can see the "tundra" off in the distance.
Bear Rocks (what this particular area is called)
I was digging all the boulders. Those are people way out in the center of the frame.
Looking out over the valley from atop the Eastern Continental Divide.
A closer look at the tundra.
Another close-up of the tundra.
The road down. It was a rough ride, but well worth it, if you ask me.

I’m not sure Hubby enjoyed the ride through the Sods. It really was rutted and full of potholes. But it was really picturesque. I could spend an entire day just walking around taking pictures. These are all just snapshots. I hate making Hubby wait around while I do the photography thing.

He’ll probably read this and think, “Wait a minute, isn’t that what you were doing?” The answer? Nope. If I were doing the photography thing, I would’ve had my tripod. And more lenses. The wide angle one would have been nice to have.

I’d love to do some hiking there, too. There are a lot of trails through the Sods, but they are rugged and not recommended for novice hikers. So I’ll need to take that orienteering class first (how to use a compass and topographical map to get around).

I hope you enjoyed your virtual journey with us through the Dolly Sods!

Posted on

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Today is Hubby’s birthday.

All loaded-up and ready to go.

I wish I could say there’s a fabulous day of riding ahead of us. I mean we ARE in one of the most beautiful parts of West Virginia. And we DID ride in on a fabulous road.

Unfortunately, it’s 48 degrees and cloudy. And there’s a 60% chance of rain.

Considering the fact that we rode about 6 hours in the cold rain yesterday (scattered showers), neither of us are real anxious to mount-up again today.

I’ll write more later. It’s time to go get breakfast!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The Ride – Day 1

We left the WV place around 9:30 on Sunday. That’s relatively early in the day, so we had high hopes that the temperature, which was hovering around 60, would get warmer and the clouds would go away.

With our leather on, we were warm enough. Unfortunately, though, the clouds did not go away. Instead, they thickened and condensed. The next thing you know, we were stopped beside the road near Thomas, WV (very close to Blackwater Falls State Park) pulling on our rain gear. Truth be told, I was happy to be wearing an extra layer. As it turns out, 60 degrees was to be the warmest temperature we experienced all day.

It didn’t rain continuously, but it did rain a lot. The roads were wet pretty much all day. And that’s a real shame. Because just south of Buckhannon, we got on WV-20, which is one of the best roads we’ve ever ridden. Very little time was spent in an upright position. There was curve after curve after curve as we went up and back down numerous mountains.

It was easy to tell when we neared the top of a mountain. That’s when the fog got REALLY thick. I’m sure we missed some spectacular scenery. What little we could’ve seen was missed because we had to remain 100 percent focused on the road. Riding a motorcycle, which takes a good bit of concentration on a clear day, becomes a bit more challenging in the rain.

Wanna know what it’s like? Picture yourself going about 50 mph in your car during one of those niggling, misty rains. Your windows are down, of course. And you don’t have any windshield wipers. Oh yeah, and we can’t forget the cold.

Except for our hands (neither of us have weatherproof gloves), we were dry. But it was quite chilly. It’s hard to relax and enjoy riding when you’re stiff with cold. But we made the best of it. And we actually lasted five and a half hours before stopping to thaw out.

We were very happy when we did stop. It was nice to get warm and eat.

Shortly after lunch, we rode through a town with a bank that had a digital thermometer built into its sign. I was amazed to see that it read 40 degrees. Yes, 40. No wonder we felt cold!

Lucky for us, the place we’re staying is warm. There’s even a fireplace in the lobby. It was really nice to get here and warm up.

We’re in far southern West Virginia at Pipestem Resort State Park. If you follow that link, you’ll see they have a web cam, which means you’ll be able to see for yourself just how dreary the day looks. As long as it doesn’t rain, we’ll be happy. There’s lots here to see.

Maybe I’ll even have some pics to share with you tomorrow.

Posted on

You Capture – Signs

One of the cool things about participating in Beth’s You Capture meme is seeing how differently everyone interprets the week’s assignment.

I mean, people DO think differently you know. (Trust me. I am married to an engineer.)

The assignment for this week was SIGNS.

I wonder how many folks will go with the literal interpretation?

Stopping is not an option.

Imagine the town council discussions around this one. I mean, when does STOP not mean one has to stop. Is that clarification really necessary? And why not use “YOU” on the sign instead of “U”? (This is an actual sign at an intersection in Romney, West Virginia.)

Would anyone really consider crossing this "bridge" during a flood?

I like the odd road signs approach, but I like my “signs that Fall is coming” take on it, too. Better, actually. Because that’s one thing I like to do each year, watch as the trees slowly start to turn.

Signs of Fall
Signs of Fall
Signs of Fall (look closely to see the very early signs here)
Signs of Fall
Signs of Fall

What about the other signs in nature? You know, signs that there are critters afoot?

Snakeskin = sign that a large snake is living in our woodpile.
Poop on stump = sign that a fox is living in or very close to our yard.

That scat (aka animal crap) is not an isolated incident. Foxes leave droppings to mark their territory. This particular fox (maybe there are more than one?) has left lots of this kind of sign on and around our property.

And we can’t forget signs from a higher power. They come in many forms. The sign I am referring to occurred on Tuesday night. The very first night in my new office (more on the office thing later).

Tree frog on the window of my new office.

This room used to be Hubby’s office. All the years Hubby was using this room (since 1998), I never saw one of these. Like three seconds after I noticed the little guy, who was only an inch long if that, I saw him eat a bug. How cool is that?

When your name is ToadMama, it’s very cool.

A sign that this office move was a good one? Perhaps. I guess time will tell on that one.

To find out how other people interpreted the You Capture SIGNS assignment, head over to Beth’s blog and follow some of the links.

Posted on

Can Things Be Any More Exciting?

Our little corner of the world was hit with some way freaky storms last night. Check out this BRIEF video…

I was at Petsmart when the storm hit. It may have been short-lived, but it packed a very powerful punch. Trees were down all over the place. There were quite a few evergreens that simply had the tops snapped cleanly off. The drive home was like a slalom course thanks to all the trees and downed limbs scattered in the roadways. One unfortunate family had a massive tree with a 12-foot root base fall across their lawn onto one of their cars. Power was out from about 8:30 Tuesday evening until just before 1:00 PM today.

I had to work, so I went to McDonald’s to use their free WiFi. I got about 15 minutes in before their power went out, too, killing the Internet connection. I then managed to find a Panera store, which was better because they, unlike McDonald’s, have power outlets at many of their tables. I kept losing my connection, though, so I finally gave up and came home. That’s when I discovered our power had been restored.

Donovan Scores!

Just after leaving Panera, I heard on the news that the US Men’s Soccer Team had just beat Algeria with like three minutes to go in overtime. Three minutes!

I was happy yes, but also sad that I had missed what was probably THE most exciting moment in US men’s football in decades. Seriously. The video in this news story says it all. If we hadn’t won, our 2010 World Cup run would have been over. Done.

But we’re still alive, baby!

While searching for an image to post here, I came across some shots of Landon Donovan that most of my heterosexual male readers might find distasteful, but which my female fans may enjoy.

Boy, how I would’ve loved to see that game live. Even on TV. Although sitting in front of this big screen in a square in the middle of Gent, Belgium would’ve been way cooler.

On the square in front of the Belfort at Gent, Belgium.

I would probably have made a fool of myself there though…

Posted on

Seeing is Still Believing

Quite a while ago, I saw something in our backyard that I thought was pretty amazing. I can’t remember how long ago, but it may have been before we got our fence, which was in late-December 2008.

I was washing dishes when movement in the backyard caught my eye. I looked closer and, to my amazement, I saw a coyote walking through the yard. Hubby wasn’t home at the time, of course, but I did tell him about it. He didn’t say, “yeah, right” to me at the time. But I know he was thinking just that. Before I even thought about saying “I saw a coyote,” I did some research to confirm that is what I had seen.

Knowing coyotes have expanded across the US (I read all kinds of stuff and remember lots of useless facts), I assumed they might be in Maryland, but I had to make sure. Maryland and Delaware were the last two states to have been colonized by coyotes. The first sightings were reported in 1972 in Western Maryland. They’ve been moving slowly eastward and, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, while the coyote population remains densest in the western part of the state, sightings now occur statewide.

Some time after I’d first seen the canine trot through the yard, I saw it across the street from our house. I told Hubby again. I can’t remember if he said anything, but I knew he still didn’t believe me. I didn’t capture any images, of course. I still haven’t managed to get any shots and, honestly, I haven’t given it much thought.

Until yesterday.

Around 8:00 a.m. yesterday, all three of the dogs were at the front door barking like crazy. Belle always barks at stuff. K and Meg will join in, in that order, if the mood strikes. You can tell by the tone and urgency of each dog’s bark if they’re barking to play, to say they saw/heard something or other, or to say “INTRUDER ALERT.”

As I said, they were all barking. Meg was saying “someone’s coming” and K was doing the crazy howl/yip she does that signaled an intruder.

Hubby went to see why they were barking.

“What’s out there?” I asked.

“A coyote,” he replied.

“Not inside the house,” I replied, thinking he was being a smart-ass (K’s crazy howl/yip does sound quite coyote-like). “Outside.”

“A coyote,” he said again. “I just saw it walking across the street.”

I was thrilled and told him as much, saying, “I’m so glad you saw it. I knew you didn’t believe me.”

He didn’t respond to that comment, but did say he’d thought it was a fox at first, until he saw the odd coloring.

Like I said, I still don’t have any pictures, but I do have a new mission. 🙂

Posted on

Profane? Yep. Funny? Damn right!

As most of my readers know, I try to keep the language here pretty clean. It’s a respect thing. My moms read this Blog, you know.

Now, I’m not saying they don’t ever use foul language. But they’re from a generation where certain words just weren’t spoken in public. They weren’t used or even alluded to on TV. Unlike today, when even on network TV you’ll hear stuff like “no frickin’ (or maybe friggin) way.” It’s sort of interesting, really, to think about the progression of permission with such language in our society…

This is not a boring evolution-of-the-English-language post, I swear. That was just my way of leading into this warning…

IF OBSCENITY OFFENDS YOU, STOP READING NOW.

Now don’t say I didn’t warn you, okay?

These aren’t my words that follow. They are the words of Adam, aka Sleep Talkin’ Man, a mild-mannered British guy who lives quite a colorful existence in his sleep. His wife used to just scribble down his nighttime rants to share with friends. Then she started sharing them via Blog. It wasn’t long before people, media people, took notice. Their popularity grew. So did the number of people who swear she is making all of this stuff up. So they decided to post audio snippets. Their Blog has become wildly popular. They even have a line of Sleep Talkin’ Man merchandise. Some have suggested they post video clips, to better prove that it’s all real. But that would just be way too personal, too weird. Karen (the wife) and Adam are of the opinion that if you don’t believe their stuff is real, don’t read it.

They’re right, too. Besides, this stuff is WAY too funny, and weird, to have been fabricated. In my opinion. It’s just dry British humour at its best, if you ask me.

To avoid the coarseness, you might want to stop reading this post NOW, if you haven’t already. And don’t even think about visiting their Blog. Just know, however, that you’ll miss out on stuff like this (all of the following were borrowed as examples from the Sleep Talkin’ Man blog)…

“Your blue sky thinking is blighted with dark clouds of piss-poor ideas.”

“They’re not love handles. No. I’ve got love impact protection barriers.”

“You wanted to be WHAT when you grow up? Boy, you must be SO disappointed the way your life turned out. So sad.”

“What the fuck’s wrong with your face?! Christ on a bike, next time you’re smiling, warn me.”

“Your face reminds me of a roadkill’s arsehole. Certainly not on my list of things to kiss.”

“Going to husband school. Yeah. Always having to do better. The teacher’s a bitch and there’s no chance of graduating.”

“When it comes to being told what to do, I tell, you do. Got that, dickhead? Nice.”

“You really are life’s wet patch. An embarrassing little stain that no one wants to admit to…. or sleep on.”

“Your job is to be ignored. Nobody’s to acknowledge you whatsoever. You should be good at that.”

“Ugh. Today couldn’t have got any worse. And then you come skipping into frame. A son of a bitch. Arsehole.”

“It’s growling. Shhh, it’s growling closer… It’s an angry thing, a big angry thing. It likes cabbage, though… I can’t stop it growling! Shhh… You’re not much fucking help.”

Anyway… I could keep posting because this stuff just cracks me up. Perhaps I am warped, too.

If any of these sayings offended you, you DEFINITELY don’t want to visit the STM Blog. If, however, you just like words and are completely impressed by the creative ways they are sometimes strung together, go there now and bookmark it.