An Appalachian Hipcamp Road Trip: Atop a WV Mountain, Rain or Shine

Next we went to a campsite above the Greenbrier State Forest.

We met our host Joshua at the bottom and followed him up the nerve wracking drive to the top.

You can tell I was focusing intently as I forced my little Honda Insight up the steep incline.

We survived. Although the weather was misty and a little chilly.

We took the short walk up to our campsite to set up camp.

Meadow doesn't always like wearing backpacks, but I love when she's willing to hike in with her sleeping bag.

We'd picked up some take out Mexican in a town on the road in. Yuengling and some Mexican classics. It just seemed right.

After dinner we explored the area. The camp host, Joshua mentioned there were old logging trails we could take along the property.

This site is called Mountaintop Solitude. We really did feel all alone up here atop West Virginia.

We saw these bug nests on a lot of the trees.

One of the paths brought us down to a creek.

She insisted on pulling me along.

When we found the creek Meadow was happy to play hockey scotch again

This area reminded me of High Cliff in Wisconsin.

Spring was just starting up here.

The sun didn't peak out again, but that was just fine with us.

Joshua gave us some recommendations for shops in town, but the drive up the mountain kept us in place.

We retired to our tent early and read books and other things.

Lewisburg From Atop Greenbrier State Forest

Before bed I saw that nearby Lewisburg was glowing off in the distance.

Day 5

The ride back down the mountain was easier than going up.

You could say it was kind of fun.

While we were waiting for Joshua and his family I explored the hiking trails in the state forest. I like that there were signs of suggested exercises.

We then decided to have our breakfast in the picnic area.

Meadow helped with the pancakes until she realized there was a playground.

After breakfast I wanted to stop in nearby Sulfur Springs to see the Greenbrier Resort. It's been here since 1778! I would have loved to go inside, but we were a little muddy from our stay in the mountain.

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The 8th Installment of a Thing We Call Northwoods New Year's Eve

Thursday I took a half day at work so we could make it up north before it got super late. When we arrived we brought in our stuff, turned on the heat and headed back into town to get groceries. We had hoped to get another rotisserie chicken, but they were out. I chose a pastie for my meal. Meadow and I went for the classic, off-brand, box mac and cheese. We made too much and shared it with Brooke. I went right to work making my ice molds. She's always making luminaries if it's freezing outside and we're at the cottage.

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special. Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show. I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

To Chippewa Falls for the Northern Wisconsin State Fair

I saw that the Northern Wisconsin State Fair was happening and we didn't have anything else planned. We booked a campsite at Lake Wissota State Park and we were on our way. We hadn't been to a county fair yet and this seemed like it might be even better. We set up camp first in case we would be back late. This was a good excuse for a quick camping trip. Plus we'd never been to Lake Wissota State Park before or Chippewa Falls, really. Since 1897 Chippewa Falls has been hosting the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. More of a super-regional county fair, Wisconsin’s other state fair started as a way for folks up north to avoid the grueling, long haul down to Milwaukee County. Our first stop was to fill up our big jug of lemonade. I think this is the 4th year of this big jug. Brooke brings a couple of our old lemonade jugs with just in case. Then you get the refill price.

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