Day One

Day one started out with lots of fog.  Sarah and I discussed movies that this reminded us of.  Sarah couldn't remember the title but knew that everyone died.  Facebook friends came up with The Mist, I do believe that was it!

 

We tried to make frequent stops for Benjamin.  He isn't used to long car rides. He had lots of opportunities to run around.

 

 

 

We stopped for a picnic lunch and the kids complained about the cold.  Higher elevation and cloudy, rainy day made it nice a cool.

 

 

 

There was a nice path to go and see the New River Bridge.  It is the world's longest single-arch steel span bridge. This part of the country is beautiful. 

 



In West Virginia we stopped and took a history tour of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

Construction on this building began in 1858 and it was closed in 1994.  There is a lot of history there.  Construction stopped during the civil war because troops were housed on the grounds and they burned the building materials.  One of the first VA hospital was also housed here.

 

 

The building is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America.  In the world, only the Kremlin is larger.

Irish masons placed faces on the exterior walls to ward off evil spirits.

 

 

I would recommend the history tour to anyone driving through the area.  They also have ghost tours.

 

 

Later we stopped and ate dinner, breakfast for some of the kids.  We spent the night in West Virginia. We found that Benjamin did well on the drive but didn't want to sleep in the hotel. His sleeping has long been an issue.  When he was a baby he didn't sleep well.  We had to hold him a lot.  Now the only place he likes to sleep is his crib.  I hope that by time we finish this trip he will learn to sleep in other places.

 

 

We also lost our Minion there.  I meant to take him off my van before we went into the hotel but forgot.  Someone took him and one of my flowers.  Sigh.......