| West Virginia Travel - For more information on the United States, visit http://www.willgoto.com/266/1/categories.aspx |
| West Virginia |
| West Virginia is a land locked state that is known for its great outdoors and for its small population. The entire state's population is under 2 million, which is extremely small considering there are many cities in the United States that have several million. Originally West Virginia was combined with Virginia as a single state, but after the civil war the states separated and are quite different from each other. |
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| West Virginia Links |
| On the right is the state capitol building in downtown Charleston. Originally Richmond was the capital since this state was combined with Virginia. When West Virginia broke away after the civil war, Charleston became its capital. Charleston was chosen as the capital because of its relatively strong economy and large population. West Virginia's economy is based on various industries, but mostly coal mining. Above is a industrial building just outside of Charleston. |
| The capital of West Virginia is Charleston, and even though it has a population of only 50,000 people it is also West Virginia's largest city. The entire surrounding area of Charleston has a population of 300,000, so there are plenty of places to find hotels and nice restaurants. Above is a boat cruising down the Kanawha River which runs straight through Charleston. On the left is the Charleston town center mall which was actually the largest mall east of the Mississippi river when it first opened in the early 1980s. To me the mall seemed about average in size, maybe above average at best, but it definitely didn't give me the impression that it was once the east coast's largest. |
| Most people travel to West Virginia to enjoy their outdoor sports or see its abundant wildlife. A popular resort town known as Snowshoe is built on a mountain top and has plenty of activities all year around. In the winter it is a major ski resort, while in the summer many come here to enjoy the fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities. Snowshoe has several nice hotels, outdoor shops and restaurants to enjoy. On the upper left is a picture of people walking around the center of the resort after an event. On the upper right is the end of a dirt bike race. |
| Most of West Virginia is made up of very small towns and tiny communities. The houses on the left belong to one of these communities found all over the state. Many of these towns also had livestock such as the goat seen to the right. |
| On the left is a common style restaurant seen all over West Virginia. Many people in West Virginia also seem to enjoy sitting out on their porches or in front of other buildings. On the right are two more West Virginian's enjoying a smoke in front of a gas station. |
| I was very surprised to stumble upon the huge hotel known as the Greenbrier that is located in the town of White Sulphur Springs. This five star hotel has hundreds of fancy rooms, an indoor swimming pool, a bowling alley and much more. This hotel looks and functions normally, but it actually had a big secret that was only known to a few government employees who held a top secret clearance. On the left is a picture of the outside of the Greenbrier hotel. On the lower left is a picture of one of their nice hallways which leaves a restaurant and passes by their indoor swimming pool, directly below is one of their spas. The Greenbrier hotel also has many shops on its lowest floor, so everything you need is in the hotel. |
| The Greenbrier hotel's big secret is its bunker that was created during the cold war. The bunker is designed to be able to survive a nuclear blast and was created to be a back up location for the US government to continue to operate. If Washington DC was ever under a nuclear attack, the US government planned to move all their personnel to the Greenbrier hotel and operate from the secret bunker. Guests who stayed at the hotel over the decades had no idea that this bunker even existed. On the left is one of the nuclear blast doors leading into the bunker. On the lower left is the restaurant and below are two conference rooms. One has a capacity for 474, (House of Representatives) and the room on the right has a capacity of 124, (US Senate). |
| The two pictures above are the top of Spruce Knob, West Virginia's highest mountain at only 4,863 feet. |
| These pictures were taken from different places in West Virginia. The butterfly and the rabbit above were from the center of the state. On the right is a lake in Watoga state park. Watoga state park is West Virginia's largest, and has many activities such as hiking, mountain biking, canoing, horseback riding and more. There are also plenty of places to sleep, such as camping, RV locations and many log cabins for rent. Below is a picture of the forest in Watoga, and on the right is a colorful mushroom. I saw dozens of deer and some other large birds but wasn't able to get any decent pictures of them! |
| If you're not into outdoors you probably won't have much to do in West Virginia. This state is one of the best for hiking and camping out in the open wilderness with no one around for dozens of miles. The upper left picture is of Seneca Rocks. On the right are some clouds settled in New River Gorge. |
| I went hiking with a friend through the mountains on the eastern part of the state. This part of West Virginia is bear country, but unfortunately we didn't come across any. Above are two snakes that we found on the trail, the upper left is a ring neck, and on the right is a ribbon snake, both are harmless. |
| Here are some creepy crawlers from West Virginia. On the left is a huge spider, to the right is some type of centipede. I'm not sure the exact species of the centipede, but I believe the spider to be a wolf spider. |
| Another popular destination in West Virginia is the historic town of Harpers Ferry. The town has maintained its tiny population of only 300 people, but has been the site of several major historic events. The first president, George Washington, designated Harpers Ferry as a good location to build weapons because mills could be constructed along the rivers. Over a hundred years later, an American who did not believe in slavery took a team of over 20 people to take over the armory at Harpers Ferry in an attempt to start a slave rebellion. Later when the civil war started, Harpers Ferry was switched back and forth between the Union and the Confederates over 8 times. Above are two photos from the town, one showing an old wagon with an ammo box on the left, and on the right is the town itself. |
| These two photos above are also from Harpers Ferry. Aside from the history many people come here to go tubing or kayaking in the rivers or hiking in the nearby mountains. The nearby mountains have some pretty good hiking trails and what I believe to be some of the best views on the eastern part of the country! |
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