Today is not a very exciting blog, but we had a great day. We left Parkersburg at 9:30 and headed east across the NW corner of West Virginia before heading north into Pennsylvania – State number 13.

We stopped to find a few geocaches. The first was at the French Creek Boat Ramp. While John signed the log I wandered down the ramp and took a couple of photos.

The road we drove in WV was very, very winding with steep grades and sharp curves. I am sure John was wishing he was on his motorcycle for the majority of the morning. There were not very many caches along the route probably because there would be no safe place to pull off the road.

There was a cache hidden near the First Presbyterian Church in Sisterville.

This old building was across the street from the church. I liked the slate-roofed turret. The rest of the roof looks like it could use some work though.

The church had several raised beds that had tomatoes and peppers growing in them. There was another that had sage, cilantro, basil, and a few other herbs. And further back on the lot they had this garden plot. We have some folks at our church at home that tend a vegetables garden for one of the local food banks. It is a really good community service and a better used of ground than a lot of mown grass. I liked seeing this quite extensive and varied garden.

Since we were driving back roads there was no “Welcome to Pennslvania” sign. We did drive through some nice farm country.

I had realized the other day that we were going to be driving far enough north in Pennsylvania that we might be close to where my cousin Karen lives in the Pittsburg area. Every time she had come home to BC to visit famiy in the last many years, we have been away so I have not seen her in ages and ages. Probably 20 years or more.

She and Tim have a get-away condo at Hidden Valley ski resort that is only about a 45-minute further drive than we had planned to go today. They live about an hour away from the condo but said we were welcome to spend the night there. They gave us the address and drove over, arriving about 15 minutes after we did. We used the short wait to go over to the pool area and find a geocache.

After a couple of hours visit we drove back down the mountain to a restaurant a few miles away and had dinner. Then Karen and Tim headed home and we went back to their condo for the night. It was wonderful to see her and meet Tim.

They not only graciously gave us accomodation for the night, Karen brought cookies and breakfast fixings. And she gave me presents! She does lovely craft work.

The evening view out the back door is pretty nice as well.

Tomorrow we head to Gettysburg where we will spend two nights.