Vacation Day 1: Weston, West Virginia

Sunday, September 17, 2017

It's finally HEEERRRREEEE!!!!  To say that I was excited...really come on, you know that I don't just get excited, I don't sleep for at least two days prior to vacation and I constantly talk about it and flip back and forth through the travel binder...to make a long story short I'm annoyingly excited!  When vacation day 1 arrived the car was packed and I was on the road before 6:30a.  I enjoy starting my day really early because I like to get every minute of enjoyment out of the day not to mention that it's just great to see the sunrise!  Traffic was a little hectic getting out of Columbia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Virginia due to individuals who had evacuated Florida due to Hurricane Irma.  My rental car had Florida tags so needless to say I received many waves from individuals from Florida.  I kinda of felt bad at first seeing as obviously I'm from South Carolina not Florida but then I just started giving a wave & a smile because let's face it we all just needed some encouragement and kindness to make it regardless of our current situation.

I decided on this trip to bring along a bag just for my brochures.  Probably one of my best Vacation2017 ideas, because going through 7 states in 8 days, I was bound to rack up on some awesome brochures.  I spend many hours researching places to visit so a brochure is a wealth of fast information about a particular site.  I did find that I love maps.  Do not get me wrong, I have Clara the II (my GPS) that travels with me but it was nice to actually look at the map and decide the route I was going to take instead of Clara the II telling me to stay on Interstate 77 for 6965856956 miles.  (Side note:  The naming of the GPS.  Of course it had to be named so my original GPS was named Clara after Clara Barton.  After several years with Clara, she passed away a few months ago which led to the purchase of a new GPS appropriately named Clara the II.)

Ok enough rambling on to the trip, charge! (It felt right, right?  Like Teddy Roosevelt Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace yelling "Charge" then racing up the steps...)  I made my way to Weston, West Virginia.  Weston was a very welcomed break from being in the car for hours on end.  Weston is a beautiful city/town and my first tour stop was to the Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum.  To some touring an asylum may seem unusual but I dig (yep, I said dig) the unusual!  So let's begin the tour!  Construction of the asylum began in 1858.  The majority of the building was constructed with hand cut stone from the area.  The tour guide mentioned that this building is second to the Kremlin in regards to being the largest building constructed of hand cut stone.  The building is massive!  Many individuals, young and old, have lived at the asylum.  There are several day/night time tours that may be taken and yes you do have to sign a waver before taking any tour.  Due to time limits, I was only able to take the first floor tour but they offer a 4 floor tour, Cemetery & Farm Tour, The Criminally Insane Tour, Daytime Paranormal Tour, VIP Tour, Photography Tour, Ghost Hunts, Paranormal Tours, and Private Ghost Hunts.  I would have loved to have been at the asylum at night to take one of the ghost tours (we all know how much I love a ghost tour)!  So enough talking about it, here's the pictures!
 Trunks left behind by patients.



There would have been beds lining both sides of the room.



Before continuing on my drive (destination for night 1 was Uniontown, PA) was to visit Jackson's Mill.  Jackson's Mill was the boyhood home of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.  I adore Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson so of course I had to visit while I was in Weston.  Jackson's Mill is owned by West Virginia University and is now a 4H Camp.  Jackson and his sister Laura, after the deaths of their parents, lived here with an Uncle.  Upon arrival there were what seemed to be hundreds of boy scouts all over the grounds, I finally found the location of the information building.  However, due to the boy scouts event, I didn't stay long but did get to visit a couple of 'Jackson' places.



Needless to say, it was a great adventure day!  Stay tuned for vacation day 2 as I explored underground and visited a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright houses.

Happy Travels,
Amber





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