6/2/24 (Sunday)

RN: Sunday morning before we left Morgantown, we went on a wonderful walk in a botanical garden that is right in front of Marty and Nicole’s house.  What a treat to have something so nice within a short walking distance of your house! 

We said “Good-bye” to Marty and his wonderful family and hit the road headed south.  We stopped to charge our Tesla and found that most of the spaces were taken up by large trucks, a UHaul and an SUV.  Ours was the only Tesla there.  Hmmm…

In the afternoon we arrived at the Locust Hill Inn, Cabin and Pub in Marlinton WV, which is owned by Joseph and Vanessa (see photos). Our hosts made our stay special.  They are so warm and friendly and terrific chefs.  We learned too late that we should have made a reservation for dinner, but breakfast was impressive! We highly recommend staying here!

Since we missed dinner at the Inn, we wandered over to the Greenbrier River nearby and had dinner while sitting on the deck overlooking the river. There were lots of ducks hanging around, mostly Mallards and weird hybrids. Strangely enough, virtually all of the ducks were male. We guessed that the lady ducks were probably sitting on their nests while the guys tried to jockey for a handoff from the folks eating at the restaurant. It was also interesting that I didn’t get a single mosquito bite. If this were the Cape, I would have had hundreds if I were sitting by a lazy river… Maybe there is something to this stuff about West Virginia being “almost heaven!”

FE. In the Botanical Garden I walked with Marty and Mira, the two-year old, and Mira suddenly realized that she could grab my hand and Marty’s hand so she could walk and jump along the path.  She was giggling and so happy!  She also learned my name so she ran after me all the time calling “Felix!  Felix!” which was a moment of sheer joy.  I may have passed the grandpa test….

In the Locust Hill Inn we also met CT, a through hiker on the Allegheny trail, and a fun conversation ranging from the logistics of such hikes to the features of a Tesla was had. Joseph picked CT up when he arrived in Marlinton and also took him back to the trail. Only the best of Inns foster such encounters!