Hot Springs and our Return Trip Home

 We visited Hot Springs on a Sunday, consequently the town seemed very quiet and many places of interest were closed.  John and I did walk along bathhouse row, which encompasses nine buildings that once were places to "take the waters", meaning to bathe in the thermal springs piped in from the hillsides surrounding the town.  Pictured below is the only bathhouse left which has baths and spas for  public use.  One of the buildings is now the Fordyce Bathhouse Museum, the others are restaurants and art galleries.

                                                                             

The Buckstaff, as well as the other 8 historic bathhouses, are now part of the Hot Springs National Park.  An interpretive sign located in this area notes that the National Park Service "preserves Bathhouse Row as a significant national landmark in the culture of leisure".    The bathhouses were built around the 1920s.  Yes, it does not seem like much of a national park in the way of any real big pristine beauty, yet besides the thermal springs there are mountain views, interesting geology, forested hikes and many creeks in the middle of town.

                                            

At one of the springs we saw a man sitting on a park bench, covering his head and feet with towels soaked in the thermal waters.  At another spring faucets are available for filling up jugs of the water.  A local man informed me that he regularly comes back to fill up his empty milk bottles because the water makes very good coffee.  We did happen to have an empty bottle in our car to fill up, which we did and brought back home with us.  It did not seem to improve my hot tea, but I happily drank it thinking that perhaps it did have some good health benefits!

                                           

Pictured above is the Arlington Hotel, built in 1924.  Over the years sports figures as Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio, actress Marilyn Monroe and 4 presidents have resided here- that is to name only a few of the many celebrities.  In this place the thermal waters are piped into the tubs and spas.  We stayed at this hotel about 20 years ago (on New Years eve) and I have a wonderful memory of being in the hotel's outside pool at midnight.  The water was warm, and we had a great view of the lights of the town.
                                            

After leaving bathhouse row we continued to walk through the town.  It did not have the nice limestone walls as Eureka Springs, but rugged rock walls surrounding parts of the town.  I was very much intrigued by the building pictured above, which seemed to be at least 100 years old and balanced precariously on a rock!
Maybe if I could have seen the building closer at the top my impression of it would be different.

                                            

We took two days driving home following a route mentioned in a book titled The Most Scenic Drives in America (published by Reader's Digest).  It has been on John's bucket list and called the Talimena Scenic Byway.  The drive traverses through the Oachita National Forest of western Arkansas.  We were supposed to see "thick forests.., steep-sided mountains and compact valleys".  Also an "abundance of lovely scenery and varied attractions".  We saw absolutely nothing, and when there was a break in the clouds I took the above picture.  We had left Hot Springs in a heavy rain storm, and this scenic byway was socked in with fog.  We very quickly turned off it and took another road into Oklahoma.  Slowly then the rain let up and we had a wonderful drive through eastern Oklahoma. We found here forests of oak and hickory as well as green rolling hills of pastureland.  A lot of that land is on Native American reservations.  We passed by The Cherokee National Heritage Center, another day we want to visit that.  We also drove by Tahlequah where marchers of the Trail of Tears ended their journey.  Our route home also took us along a meandering channel of the Illinois River.  There is much to explore in eastern Oklahoma, but time did not permit that.  It remains a trip for us on another day!
                                          

Eureka Springs, Ark

 This small town in Arkansas, founded in July 1879, is known as the "city that water built".    Native Americans, as well as early pioneers to our country, discovered that the area had numerous springs (over 66) which seemed to have healing properties.   Not only was healing to be found in this beautiful spot set in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas, but also a certain feeling of beauty and peace.  It was most fortunate that in 1886 some of the area was protected by an act of congress.   On our first day in this town we took the Northern Arkansas scenic train for a brief trip into the Ozark hillside outside of town, and received a very thorough history of the town courtesy of our conductor.

                                                        

The train we rode was one of the originals which brought tourists from Seligmann, Mo. to Eureka starting 1883.  It still has the old wood burning stove in the train car which we rode in.  In the late 1800s this was a prime spot to visit away from the big cities.  Currently Eureka has 14 properties which are on the National Registry of historic places- many Victorian styled homes can be found here.  Also miles of hand stacked limestone walls line the town, and while driving through the narrow winding streets of Eureka I got the feeling that I had been transported to a small town in Europe.

                                                     

  My daughter Melissa, Susan (a family friend) and I took one afternoon (sans the grandchildren) and did a walking tour of  the town- visiting the many small parks and springs as well as stepping into the small shops which just happened to pop up in front of us.  In the picture below Melissa and Susan are standing in front of Sweet Springs, a springs which derived its name from early townspeople who thought the springs had a pleasant,sweet taste.  In the picture you can get an idea of the limestone walls which line the town.  Adding to the beauty of the parks and springs were ivy covered walls and a variety of blooming flowers.

                                                    

On another day John and I wandered around the Crescent Hotel and spa, built in 1886.  She is also known as the "Grand old lady of the Ozarks".  This hotel was the idea of a group of railroad tycoons who wanted to sell more seats on their trains to bring tourists to this wonderful town of healing waters and green hills.  This hotel has so many interesting features that tours are given- which we did not have the time to do, certainly some day I would like to see more of it!  

                                                    

Behind the hotel is a very long staircase which led us down to the church of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church.  It is the only church I know where access to it is through its steeple.

                                          

The rotunda was built in 1904, the famous bell tower in 1909 and the sanctuary in 1910.  Beautiful garden and stations of the cross surround this edifice.                                                                           
Another interesting town with springs in Arkansas is Hot Springs, which John and I visited on our one week car tour of Arkansas and Oklahoma.  Stay tuned to my now infrequent postings- but hey, they are still happening!  We may not have our rv, but now that the pandemic has lessened we have plans to take a few trips this year! 

Two Covered Bridges Located in Missouri

On our return trip home from Marseline we searched out two covered bridges which we had yet to see (in the past we visited 4 out of the total of six which can be found in Missouri).  The first one we visited on this trip was the Locust Covered Bridge, located midway between Laclede and Meadville.  Built in 1868, it is the longest bridge in Missouri at 151 feet long.  The river once flowing under it now is located a distance away and the bridge is spanning a dry creek bed.

                                                  
The next bridge is located 8 miles southwest of Paris, Missouri.  Part of our fun searching out these covered bridges was driving over many country back roads.  We certainly saw many farm fields and cattle!   This covered bridge is called the Union Covered Bridge, built in 1871 and named after a local church.  The interpretive sign noted that it has survived a "flood, fire and neglect".  Seems to me it has done fairly well, considering that it carried traffic until 1970 when an overloaded truck broke one of its supporting beams.  After that the bridge was only open to pedestrian traffic.  It needed reconstruction in 1967 and 1987.  This one has a stream flowing under it.

                                                     

A unique feature of this bridge is that it has a doubled Burr arch truss.  Its siding is also unusual in that it is horizontal and not vertical as most bridges.  This information probably would only excite architectural buffs only for sure!.  But if you are curious as to what I am talking about, look closely at the picture below.

                                    

Interpretive signs at this bridge provided plenty of information regarding Missouri's bridges, as well as covered bridges in general.  An explanation was given why covered bridges were even needed: that the barn like structure helped farm animals about to cross over the bridge, that the roofed structure provided shelter during inclement weather, and covering the bridge added strength to it.  And, on a more humorous note, "bridges were covered for the same reason women wear petticoats- to protect their underpinnings".   Just in general, back in our history when bridges were a necessary part of our transportation system, the covered bridge lasted longer and proved to be stronger than those uncovered.  I am very happy that Missouri considers it important to preserve this piece of our history!

A Magical Boyhood

In 1999 Ruth Disney, the only sister Walt had, selected Marceline to show case the family memorabilia.  She also reached out to collectors encouraging them to display their Disney treasures in the museum.  Ruth also was a journal keeper and avid saver of letters and articles.  Many of those items are in the museum.

  I especially enjoyed hearing a recording of Walt Disney interviewing his parents on their 50th wedding anniversary.  He had offered to take them anywhere for that occasion and they chose Marceline.  Also on display are Disney autographed lithographs, as well as small models of buildings in his theme parks,

 Another item in the museum is a piece of Disney's "Dreaming Tree", as well as a large scale drawing of the tree by 'Arcy'.

Pictured above is a piece of a large cottonwood tree under which Disney did his dreaming and drawing.  The tree,once located by a spring on the family farm, was unfortunately struck down by lightening in 2008.  Under this tree Disney would do his dreaming and drawing (his Aunt Margret would keep him supplied with a Big Chief writing pad and pencils).  Here he did what he called some "belly botany".  He would observe the nature which surrounded him- as the animals, birds and even the wind blowing through the leaves of the tree.  From these memories he would draw his cartoons for Mickey Mouse and "Silly Symphony".  As an adult Disney would put aside time to sit and reflect under this tree on his return trips to Marceline.  

Walt's task on the farm was to watch his younger sister Ruth.  Pictured above is a replica of the barn where they spent many happy hours.  Walt had some wild hog rides on his pet runt of a pig he called "Skinny".  Also in this barn he constructed a circus tent with burlap bags and attempted to put on a show for neighborhood kids using some disinterested cats to perform tricks. 

Walt's recollection of his first view of his farm home in Marceline was that of a whitewashed house with a very fine front lawn.  The house has been altered quite a bit, with an addition added to it.  The house has owners currently, but we were able to checkout the barn and the site of the cottonwood tree, which now has a sapling of the original planted in its place (placed by Disney's grandson).  In 1906 Walt's dad purchased the farm house from a Civil War veteran, it sat on 45 acres of land on which grew an apple orchard.  While growing up in Marceline Walt had many other wonderful recollections to share, which I found in a Tour Guide of the town.  He had a neighbor who taught him to fish, another would play the fiddle for him, and a doctor in town would take him on buggy rides - this man also encouraged him to draw and gave him little presents for his efforts.  Walt's deep love for trains also started in this town- his uncle was an engineer on a train running from Fort Madison, Iowa to Marceline.  He would pick Walt up just outside of town and give him a ride into the train depot.  There is another Disney museum in California, but we were quite pleased with the one in Marceline.  And everything else we found in the town of Marceline gave us an understanding of Disney's childhood and the influence it had on his successful career in animation, and film production- as well as how he came to build the theme parks which we know as Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.

A Trip to Marceline, Missouri

 One of these days we may run out of places to go and things to do in Missouri, but just not yet!  So what is in Marceline?  A man once said that he was just a farm boy from Missouri who hid behind a mouse and a duck.  I will give you another clue; this man, born in 1901, was the animator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.  He was a creator of other cartoon characters as well as a film producer.  Of course you know him, especially if you are at least over 40 or so.  Yes, many young ones are familiar with Disney World and Disneyland- but probably not so much the entrepreneur who started those places.  His name was Walt Disney.  He lived in Marceline from 1906 until 1911, from the formative years of about 4years until age 11.    I have much to write about about those years, but will save that for my next posting.

The picture is not the greatest, but it is a scale model of main street Marceline, which we found in the Marceline museum.  It is what Disney remembers of the town when he was a young child, and what he aimed to duplicate in the Disney theme parks.  John and I had to stretch our imaginations a bit when we drove down the main street.  I never even took a picture of that stretch of the town- well I did, but there was nothing remarkable about that picture, it could have been any downtown in any small town of the United States.  By the way, back in the day the population was about 3,000- now is 2,233.  Which brings me to some of the history of the town.  In 1913 the Santa Fe railroad built a train station in the town; coal and water were available commodities in the town which made it a perfect choice.  Until about the 1970s it offered both passenger and freight service.  Walt Disney and wife Lillian returned to the town several times, starting in 1946, via the train.  The Walt Disney Hometown Museum is now located in what once was the rebuilt train station.  The trains still roar constantly through the town, now they just carry freight.  They provided quite a bit of background noise while we toured the museum.

Before I tell you about the museum, I do wish to show some pictures of the murals we found on the the town's older buildings.

I am sure you remember when coke was 5 cents a glass!  The Coca-Cola building at Disneyland is modeled after the Zurcher building in Marceline.  Zurchers were jewelers from 1903 to 1973.  One of the memories Walt Disney had of this town was the Cola sign pictured above. 

Another mural we found in the town advertised that Marceline was "Main Street, USA".  The quote from Disney on the building was this:  "To tell the truth, more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened to me since, or are likely to in the future".  Disney returned to the town in 1946 when he photographed the length of the main street as a reference for Disneyland.  In 1956 he came to Marceline to dedicate the town's new swimming pool, named for him.  On the same day he had a  premiere showing of his movie "The Great Locomotive Chase" starring Fess Parker in the Uptown Theater- a theater he had visited as a youth.  He and his brother Roy greeted each child at the door.  Over the years he and a citizen of the town, Rush Johnson, worked on plans for a Disney farm to be located in Marceline-  a farm which would look similar to what he had experience when he was a young boy at the beginning of the century.  Unfortunately those plans never came to fruition.  Walt's next visit took place in 1960 when he dedicated the Walt Disney Elementary School.  He was to return to the town in 1966 when the first ride from the Magic Kingdom arrived-  a set of 10 small cars called "Midget Autopia" which were installed in the city park.  Unfortunately that was the year Disney suddenly took ill with cancer and died.  Pictured below is a photo of Disney by Ryan 'Arcy' Christenson.

The Second Day of Our Trip along the Ozark National Scenic Riverways

 The natural sights we sought out on our second day in the beautiful rolling hills of the Ozarks continued to take us again over winding roads, some of which again were gravel.  By the way, Salem Missouri Tourism Committee has written a brochure detailing directions to most of the sights which I have been writing about in this post and the previous one.  It would be helpful to have that in hand, given our experiences with searching out these areas- one particular place, which I will mention next, even had its sign fallen off!    

                                                      
Pictured above is Rocky Falls, the day we were there it had quite an awesome flow of water due to the recent rains.  The interpretive sign here notes that the abundance of rock here, called rhyolite porphyry, was " formed as molten rock deep within the earth and flowed onto the surface about 1.5 billion years ago".  A better picture of the black rock formations is seen in the picture below.  I did some climbing over the rocks until a fine mist of the falls fell on my face.  That was refreshing as it was a rather warm day!

                                                      
Our nest stop of the day was Blue Springs.  Native Americans once called the place the "spring of the summer sky".  It is Missouri's deepest as well as most beautiful at 310 feet deep, and is usually a vivid deep blue color due to dissolved minerals present in it.  We could not see that deep blue the day we were there because of recent rainfall.   Actually,  I must say I saw some  of that pretty blue more in the pictures I took of the spring!

                                                      
One other note here before I end this posting.  My readers are well aware for my penchant for identifying birds and flowers.  Hiking around in the Ozarks i saw a very pretty white flower with 8 petals and yellow stamens in the middle.  It is called bloodroot, according to my Missouri Wildflower book.  It was used by Native Americans as an insect repellent, dye, ceremonial pigment, and for a variety of medicines.  Extracts of the plant are used in toothpaste.  Other spring flowers which we found were the Dutchman britches and Virginia bluebells.  It was so good to see those first signs of spring!

                                                       

Our anniversary trip to the Ozarks

Hard to believe that we have had forty-five years of wedded bliss.  Well, it has not always gone smoothly, but through all of the ups and downs we have found that our love for each other has only grown stronger.  The pandemic certainly limited our choices as to how we might spend our anniversary.  John wanted to return to Echo Bluff State Park.  We visited the park in 2018, however we could not spend a night in its lodge because we had not made reservations.  This time we planned ahead and were able to spend two nights in the lodge.

Staying at the lodge gave us two days to roam the curvy and hilly two lane roads along the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.  On our first day we explored springs and streams of the Current River.  Our first stop was Devils Well, an open sinkhole that formed when the ceilings of an underground cavern collapsed.  If  you plan to visit this area be aware that it is not easy to find.  The mile or so road off the main one is gravel and pothole ridden, with rivulets of water running across it.  In the past few days there had been heavy rains, I was concerned that we would encounter deep water across the road.  There were no other cars in sight as we bumped our way down this questionable road, and I felt some relief once we arrived at the parking lot of Devils Den and found several cars there.  We were not the only insane people to search out this spot!  

We took a long wooden stairway down into the sinkhole.  There was a natural overhang of soil and rock, under which John is bending in the picture above.  And in the picture below he is behind a waterfall  peering into a lake measuring 400 feet long and 100 feet wide.  He said he could only see about five feet into the lake instead of the actual 100 feet because of the recent heavy rains.

                                            

The sinkhole was discovered in 1954 by the Wallace brothers.  It is the largest underground lake in Missouri.  

                                         

Pictured above is Welch Spring, also found along the Current River and the fifth largest spring in Missouri.  The building in the background is what is left of a sanatorium built in 1913 by  Doctor Diehl for patients suffering from various respiratory diseases. The building was erected over the entrance of a  a cave, the thought being that the moist air would be beneficial for the patients. A resort was added to the hospital.  The good doctor died in1940 and the family chose not to continue the hospital or resort. It was a good idea, but the road down to them was rough and the area remote from civilization. 

                                        

"Round as a silver dollar" is the next sinkhole we explored, consequently the springs here are called Round Springs.  It is notable for the variety of birds who visit the area, however there was not much activity the day we were there.

                                         
It is interesting that in the Ozark area we were visiting there are four separate herds of wild horses, one of which we were lucky to see.  We met up with a couple who said that they live in the area and track the herds rather frequently.  In the herd pictured above the horse in the foreground is the stallion.  The rest of the the group were either females or young ones, who are brown colored until they get older.

St.Louis Aquarium

Nothing much has been going on with us the past few months, as you can tell from the absence of my postings.  Now both John and I have been vaccinated, and we certainly will be out and about more now.  Last week our grandson Nathan had his spring break, and we had to find something to do with him to make that week somewhat special, so we chose a visit to our new aquarium in St. Louis.  Granted, it is a bit costly, but we found out that the money we put out was worth it.  Nathan enjoyed every moment of his visit there, and after we exited the aquarium he begged to go back in!

The aquarium had some information and exhibits regarding climate change and what we can do to make a difference in a world that is experiencing weather extremes and coastal flooding.  Upon entering the aquarium, we were surrounded by many hanging plastic bottles.  Very pretty, but it is a sad reminder of how many of them have been pitched out only to end up in land fills or or other places.  Only 8% gets recycled, and a new plastic bottle cannot be made from the old one without adding more chemicals to it.  The plastic debris which ends up in our environment ensnares animals and fish.  And, according to the exhibit, "plastic is found in the the seafood we eat and water we drink".   By 2050 "scientists expect there will be more plastic by weight than fish in our oceans if we do not reduce our use of plastic".

 The aquarium has some unusual fish which I have not seen before, such as the archerfish.  Nathan,our grandson, is holding a stick with fish food at the end of it.  When the fish sees that hanging above him, he spits out a stream of water which causes the food to fall down for him to snatch up and it.  We did see that stream of spit come up and knock off the food.  Nature is very fascinating; it seems to me that many species of plants and animals have a particular uniqueness which is common to only them. 

Pictured above is Lord Stanley, a blue lobster.  Only one in approximately 2 million lobsters are blue instead of the usual red color.  

The aquarium has tide pools where it is possible to touch star fish, and other creatures found in those shallow pools.  There were also the other usual exhibits of sea horses ( I am always fascinated by those creatures and the various members of that species).   There are also interesting displays of a variety of jelly fish, pictured above.  Nathan enjoys touching sting rays, which he was able to do at the aquarium.  For young children this aquarium has a lot to offer, and I must say we adults enjoyed it too!

Meramec Caverns

 What does one do with a six year-old boy who has been enduring virtual classes for the past two months, and then has a misfortune to have his fall break occur on a week that is cool and wet?  Take him to a cave, of course!  And under the current weather conditions, the cave is warmer than the outside air.  That makes it all even better and a sure choice for a day's activities for our grandson Nathan.  We were also fortunate that it Meramec Caverns is commercially owned- had it been state operated it would have been closed because of the coronal virus.  And to be clear, our tour group in the cave was small and most wore masks.  It was possible to keep our distance from the other small family group.  We also noticed staff sanitizing the hand rails through out the cave.

The above tableau is what we saw shortly after we entered the cave with our guide.  History has it that Jesse James knew this cave fairly well.  During the Civil War he was part of a Confederate guerrilla group who blew up a Federal powder mill in in the cavern.  Later he used the cave for a hideout for his men and horses to conduct their nefarious activities.  In 1933 Lester Dill discovered the five upper levels of the cave.  Further explorations revealed 26 miles of underground passages.  By the way, the Meramec River runs through the first floor.

Using colored lights certainly creates some special awesome effects on the cave formations.  The above picture was taken in the Echo Room, located on the third floor of the cave.  The colorful formations are reflected in a crystal clear pool.  

The above picture was taken in the Theater Room, and again colorful lights are used to show off "deep stone" draperies which are 70 feet tall, 60 feet across, and 35 feet thick.  This was at the end of the tour when we could sit in the seating provided and view a dramatic light and musical presentation.

 Unlike other caves we have toured, Meramec Caverns is a fairly easy place to tour what with wide walkways and easy inclines- except for the walk up a stairway of fifty some steps to the Wine Room.  Pictured above is a wine table propped up with a long brace.  It has a couple of wine bottles sitting atop it.  According to our guide, it is the "only completely natural three-legged onyx table known"  The room also has one of the two largest ragonites in the world.  Ragonites are a carbonate mineral formed under water.  This area of the caverns was a natural cavity filling with water over millions of years which also produced the necessary chemistry for the formation of stalagmites that resemble clusters of grapes.  Our grandson seemed to enjoy the tour, the hour and half walk burned up some of his energy and he had the opportunity to chatter with another young child on the tour.  Attending school virtually has given him very little opportunity to connect socially with other children his age.

Cass Scenic Railroad State Park

 Cass use to be a logging town where its citizens mostly worked either at the saw mill or on the railroad during the early 1900s.  We did not do our homework in planning our visit to this park, but with only 3 days to see the sights of this part of West Virginia, we were not very upset in missing all that Cass had to offer us.  As we always tell each other, we will cover that when we come back to West Virginia.

In the background of the picture is the town's lumber warehouse.  It is now a theater with a film on the town as well as a diorama depicting the the town of Cass when it was a booming logging community.  The film was just starting to run and we thought we would go in to see it, but the man welcoming us into the building was not wearing his mask.  We chose to not enter the building.  This park has an authentic operating museum of lumber railroading.  It moved in 7 steam-driven locomotives from around the states which were all made in the early 1900s to move heavy freight as coal and lumber.  They were also built for going over steep grades and sharp curves.  The park offers an 11 mile train ride from the station in Cass- unfortunately there is only one train leaving per day and reservations need to be made ahead of time.  That left us out.

There are guided tours of the town, as we came into Cass the last tour was occurring, so we missed out on that too.  However, there were interpretive signs in front of some of the structures which gave us a bit of an idea of its citizenry when the town the was a bustling lumbering town.  The home above was "Piney" William's home, he and his wife lived there from 1902-1942.  They wife raised 6 children in that house.  Piney had the reputation of taking more logs off Black Mountain than any other engineer on the logging railroad.

 

Part of the company store is now a museum of the town's history and artifacts.  Cass park was rife with tourists while we were there so we did not linger long inside any buildings.  Gift shops had large bottles of hand sanitizer available to be used by everyone coming inside; shopkeepers watched that very closely, also they saw to it that masks were on.  Apparently West Virginia has seen an increase of coronal virus cases recently.  Anxious to be away from crowds we hiked on a trail which ran alongside the railroad.  A man coming off the trail informed us that he had seen a bear cub crossing the trail ahead of him. We never saw the bear, but did espy this beautiful wildflower, a closed gentian which blooms during the late summer and early fall.  This ends my postings on West Virginia, it was a joy to share it with you our readers!

 

Whispers and Waterfalls

 As I have written previously, this trip to West Virginia was one of pure beauty, not only up high in the sky, but also down low on the ground.  I just have to show you one more picture of the colorful world of moss, this one we found on the Whispering Spruce Trail on Spruce Knob.

This is a good segue into learning about whispers of the universe.  We visited Green Bank Observatory, where the sign on the science center there proclaims: "the universe is whispering to us".  In 1937 Grote Reber built the parabolic telescope pictured below.  Roughly parabolic telescope means one which reflects signals that go back to a receiver.  Using this telescope Reber found radio emissions from the Milky Way and sun- in 1941 he created the first radio map of the sky.  After the Second World War radio astronomy took off due to new receiver technology.   

It was a cloudy wet day when we visited the observatory.  Unfortunately the Science center and other buildings were closed, but we found many interpretive signs explaining radio astronomy and its advancement through the years.  We also picked up a brochure which gave us a self-guided tour and site map of the many telescopes scattered over the grounds.  By the way, this is a government agency and one area was clearly marked that no one should enter past a certain point.  Also, all electronic devices were expected to be turned off.

There is an observation deck available, and from there we could view the Green Bank Telescope which is 485 feet high and has a feeder arm rising above the dish to support sensitive receivers.  It is the world's largest steerable telescope.

Sorry if that is a bit hazy, I had to zoom my camera a good bit to take it.  There is another telescope on the grounds built by the Navy which was built to measure highly accurate time, continental drift, and the Earth's wobble.  Another older telescope was built to search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but no signals were found.  In 1974 a mobile telescope aided in the discovery of the black hole in the center of our galaxy (called Sagittarius A).  All important scientific advancements of which I had no clue was  taking place until we stopped at Green Bank, reading that sort of material is more of John's interest than mine.

Now we are back down to earth again, at Blackwater Falls State Park.  This park lies just west of the Allegheny Front- a high escarpment that acts as a drainage divide between the Ohio and Potomac River systems.  The Blackwater River plunges 57 feet down and then flows through the Blackwater Canyon into the Ohio River, joining the Mississippi and the the Gulf of Mexico.  It was difficult to hike into any area near the falls, and walking any trails the day we were there was not advisable because of the wet weather.  One last picture here, and that is of Canaan Valley, an area through which the Blackwater River flows.  Again, this picture demonstrates the awesome beauty of the fall colors which seemed to be at their peak while we visited West Virginia.  Mist over the mountains clouded them a bit the day I took that picture.  Still, it was all quite beautiful!