Blackwater Falls State Park
Day 15:
In the morning we all showered and hung our things out to dry as best we could. We wrapped some things up in the topper knowing they would just have to make it home wet and left behind a table cloth. We drove to the trailhead for Blackwater Falls and made the hike out. It really was a beautiful falls and running strong. The amber color due to the plants dumping tannins into the water made an interesting sight. We took our time allowing ourselves to take in the morning in the forest and beauty of the place. There was even a swing to swing on while looking down on the falls. We met some people taking their 85 year old parents from Germany on the hike and asking whether it would be ok. We said we thought so with all the platforms and benches along the way for breaks and leveling off, it could be an easy and restful walk.
We took a second hike to Pendleton Point Overlook. There is only enough parking at this trailhead for about 5 cars. It was a very swampy trail at the time we were there and we hopped and jumped our way through it. We leapt from tree branch to rock the whole way and still came out pretty caked with mud. It was one of our messier hikes. We were just ill-prepared for the circumstances. The views were pretty spectacular, rolling mountains for miles and miles. Sam and I stopped for a bit and and took it in. Ben wasn’t feeling the greatest so he and Jeff headed back ahead. Sam and I caught up and we all went down to the lodge. Once back at the restroom we decided it was time to clean up a little and head out.
Our time in West Virginia wasn’t great. The landscape was beautiful. The people we met were kind of rude. There were an inordinate amount of riding lawn mowers, most of them driven by pasty men with no shirts. There were a lot of extreme right wing political signs, some wildly offensive. There was spotty cell service, so much so that sometimes we lost our gps map, when we asked if there was an atlas at gas stations, the attendants didn’t know what we were talking about. The drive out of West Virginia felt long. When we got into Ohio we all felt relieved, especially as we inched closer to Columbus. I am holding here an understanding that I both have a bit of white privilege interwoven in the statements above and that I am speaking with authenticity. I am trying to move away from being ultra-positive, everything is perfect so people will like me, giving up parts of my authentic self, and balance that with an understanding that those opinions sometimes can be offensive and come from a place of privilege. But the truth is, I didn’t love it in West Virginia.
We arrived in Dublin Ohio. The hotel we stayed in appeared to be brand new and built in a newly developed area – which possibly accounted for the great price we got on the room, it appears they are trying to attract people to the area. There wasn’t a pool. Sam was expecting one, so we let him choose what kind of dinner we were having that night – Mexican he said, and there happened to be a highly rated Mexican restaurant, Local Cantina, just feet from our hotel so we walked down, put our name in and took a walk around while we waited. A Palestinian cultural walk and informational festival was happening riverside. There was 1/4 mile picturesque pedestrian bridge over the river which we traversed and watched the kayakers slowly wend their way downstream. Across the river there were waterside taverns and restaurants with people enjoying food and drinks on patios as the sun began to set. We headed back to our table and had chips and salsa, the boys enjoyed burritos and fajitas, I had tacos. We ended the night at yet another ice cream shop. I got the raspberry sorbet – it was wonderful.
