Magical Time in the Mountains

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time and it didn't disappoint!  Several months ago when we went to the West Virginia State Fair we learned of scenic train rides that they have through the Mountains in the Monagahela Forest of West Virginia.  We wanted to go on a dinner train and the only one that worked for us was this weekend which just happend to be the last ride of the season (except a special Christmas one) and it was also a "Murder Mystery" ride.  We had a beautiful 3 hour ride through the mountains and along the way we stopped at several different places.  As we crossed the mountains we were on what was an old turnpike.  We stopped where the old toll booth used to be and looked at the gorgeous view:

A Family used to live on the property and collected tolls and that is how they made their living .  People would pass this way on their way to Bath County where the hot mineral springs are. (thus the name Bath)

 We, of course, read all historical markers along the way.  This one represented another sad aspect of the civil war-brother against brother.

 I thought this one was interesting because I had never heard of this problem in the Congo before.

 Directly across from these markers were the Jefferson Pools. These bath houses have been in use for over 200 years.

This wooden structure was built in 1761 and has a pool inside that is 120 ft in circumference and holds $40,000 gallons of constantly flowing, crystal clear mineral spring water.  There is a "ducking chair" inside that was used to help invalids into the pool.  It was used by Mrs Robert E Lee before and during the civil war to help with her rheumatioid arthritis.It is considered the oldest spa in America and  Thomsas Jefferson used the pools in 1818 at the age of 75 for his arthritis.  He would come and stay for 3 weeks at a time to "take the waters".

After soaking in the pools they would drink the water from this pool

some interesting information on the contents of the pool:

You can still come and soak in the pools for $17 an hour and we are planning on going back to give it a try sometime.  We think we'll do the family time when bathing suits are NOT OPTIONAL!  They have a ladies pool and a men's pool but during family time you can be in the same one!

We then traveled to our destination of Elkins West Virginia where we boarded the Mountain Explorer train.

Here is the crowd with the conductor:

Here is our table and some pictures along the way.We got to choose between Salmon, Prime Rib and Pork with apples. It was all very good!

 We sat with a nice couple from Harrisonburg VA, the Hams.  They work with at risk children and have had many foster children in their home and are getting ready for a permanent placement child.  He is a fish and wildlife patrolman and they were very interesting to get to talk to. Those are the menus propped up against the window. The sceanery was gorgeous and most of the time we were along the river. The leaves this year are not as spectacular because it has been dry and off and on cold and warm and we have had tremendous winds so most of them had blown off.  By the time we got to the waterfall it was dark outside and that is where some of the "murders" took place 

We thought these people might be part of the cast so we took their picture.  It turned out that they had just dressed up as characters from CLUE(expect Sherlock Holmes!) for the fun of it.

Here is one of the actors in the mystery (and our waitress). She ended up dead and we didn't guess the right murderer but it was fun anyway!

Here is the last part of our trip. Guess where you think we are by these pictures:

If you said Hospital or Hotel you would be right because it was an old hospital that they turned into a Days Inn but they have't  done much remodeling!  It SMELLED like a hospital (not my favorite fragrance) and the bottom two floors had Dr's offices, a lawyer and bondsman and the lobby had a gift shop!  We had booked from Hotels.com and now we know why it was so inexpensive!  At least the bed was comfortable and didn't have a crank!

There is definately plenty  more  to see and do in the mountains of West Virginia and we look forward to having more adventures there! 

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Temple Trip

This video is of the sculptures that we saw at the visitor center at the DC Temple last weekend. These will eventually be made into large statues and put in a sculpture garden at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi Utah and they are truly amazing.

  It was our stake day in the temple and some people worked on the grounds while others went in to do ordinance work.  They light the temple up at Christmas time and so they have wards come in to get all the trees ready.  They also planted tulips for spring.  John and I went in to do a session with a member of our Temple Preparation class that was going for her own endowments and then John stayed to help with the veil and I went out so Emilie could go in and do a session. 
It was a gorgeous fall day with a breeze and we had a very large portion of our stake there. (the goal was 100%)  It takes 3 hours to get to the Temple and the traffic around the beltway in DC is terrible so it always takes a long time to get home but is sooo worth the trip!
When Tommy went in to see the sculpures with me (he had already been with his Mom) he ran right up to the largest statue of Jesus and ran his finger across Jesus' foot and said Ow wee.  It was  a tender moment and you could feel the spirit.  One moment amidst all the running around he did, but one very special moment!
I watched the video on the building of the Salt Lake Temple on Sunday and once again it reinforced in me how grateful I am for all those who sacrificed so much so that we could enjoy such wonderful fruits.  How blessed we are to have Temples so close.

The Healing Power of Jesus Christ - Sculptures by Angela Johnson

Little updates

I can't believe that I have neglected my blog for so long!  It's not that we haven't done anything it is just that I haven't mustered up the time to write.
Three saturday's ago we went to New Market Battlefield for another dose of the civil war.  We have been meaning to go ever since we came here and we pass it every time we go to DC.We even went there one time for a Cross Country race but just haven't gone as "tourists".  It was a gorgeous,  warm (almost 90) fall day and so we ventured on up the road.  For those of you who don't know, the battle of New Market occurred when the Southern Troops were trying to keep the Yankees out of the Shanandoah Valley.  The south didn't have enough troops to hold off against the ones that were coming and so they requested that the 257 Cadets from VMI come to fight with them.  The Cadets marched from Lexington (6 miles from where we live) to New Market about 80 miles away in  4 days.  These young cadets, half of whom were freshman,  were used to marching and studying war but had never had to fight.  The intention was not to use them if at all possible but it became clear they needed them.  The battle took place around the family farm of the Bushong's who took cover in their basement.  There was a hole in the middle of the line and the cadets were used to plug the hole and served valiantly.  There had been a lot of rain and the field they crossed is now called the field of lost shoes because as they ran across it, it sucked the shoes right off of their feet! Five of the cadets were killed and five later died as a result of the battle but the battle itself was won because of the cadets.  In the chapel at VMI there is a large mural of the battle and every year they have a ceremony honoring those who died.  Also, every May there is a reenactment of the battle at New Market.
 As a result of this battle ten days later the Yankees came and burned VMI down while the cadets were in Richmond helping train other troops. Feelings still run very high here over this battle. One of the cadets later became a famous sculpture and his statue Virginia Mourning Her Dead stands on the grounds of VMI.
  My greatest feeling while at the battlefield was of sadness that this country ever had to go through this terrible war with itself.  How grateful we should all be that this nation survived!

John and a "Cadet"

Kitchen of the Bushong Farm

Edge of the" field of lost shoes" and the Blue Ridge Mountains

shanandoah River

This week we had the dedication and renaming of the student union.  It is now the J Golden Kimball Student Center.  J Golden Kimball was one of the missionaries that first brought the gospel to this part of the country and it was one of the most difficult missions he ever served.  The local people even tried to drown him the the Maury river which runs through town! 
The school held a dedicatory service on Friday and they did a tribute to him and you can't talk about him without telling some great stories and hearing some colorful language!  I think he would be amazed to see what has happened here and to know that there are now 7 wards in this tiny town! (5 of those are student wards) along with an entire stake.
This week was homecoming week and Dad is in charge of Alumni relations so he was a busy guy.  We recently had a donor give us money to fix up one of the old houses on campus to make it an Alumni house and so it had to be cleaned up so alumni could actually go through it.  He also had the first SVU candy bar introduced.  It is being made by a chocolate store over in Lexington and it has a raised relief of Main Hall on it!  It looks really neat and tastes great!

Alumni House

Our New Chocolate Bar (Emilie made the sign)

Tonight we went over to celebrate Tommy's 3rd birthday so here are some pictures of him with his cake.

Notice Buz and Woody right next to him!

It is so hard to believe that he is 3, that JJ left on his mission 3 years ago (and has now been back 1!) and that I have been back in Virginia for 3 years!!!

Fun site!

I found this site through Mormon Times and it has some really great ideas.

http://preparednotscared.blogspot.com/2010/09/soup-mix-recipe-book.html

A Small Ramble with some good luck

Dad and I decided to go get peaches again on Saturday since we are down to the last few types that are available at Saunders.  They have already started harvesting apples but our taste buds just wanted a few more peaches!  As we were passing through Lowesville (tiny town) they were having a town yard sale.  It was great fun and we got a great, new chandelier for the new Alumni house that the school is fixing up and a brand new old table for us!  It is a great table and after we pick it up I'll post some pictures.  We also had Brunswick stew made in a large kettle and amazing baked goods.  While at the baked goods stand they mentioned that the rest of their group was over at Nellie's Ford because they too were having a town yard sale.  Woohoo!  So, after going to Saunders we headed for Nellies's Ford but we took a wrong turn and ended up....way up...on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We stopped at the visitor center to see how to get down to Nellies Ford and discovered that it was the 75th anniversary of the Parkway and there were interpreters on the "typical Blue Ridge Farm" circa 1890. We had a great time exploring and learning.  Here is the cabin and our "homeowner" with me.  9 people lived in this cabin and it is an originial cabin (moved to this spot but put on the old homes foundation).  There was a loft for the kids and Mom and Dad and baby slept downstairs.

Here is me getting istructions on how to make a broom

You make it using broom corn that you comb the seeds out of.  There are different styles for tying them and we even saw a mop that was made from the heart of the hickory tree with the layers peeled back.  It gets soft when wet! Ingenious (necessity the mother of invention?)

Here is the garden:

It has tobacco, they would have raised enough for themselves and some to trade:

Sorghum from which they squeezed the sap out of the stalks and made molasses:

and broom corn from which they made the brooms:(Dad grew some of this in Oregon)

Here's the hen house,

Barn and Pig Stye.  The hogs ran wild in the woods with all the neighbors hogs and then they brought them in to let the fat harden so it was usable before they slaughtered them. The X contraption you see was a device to keep the bears out.

The spring house for keeping things cool.  An earthquake has moved the spring

There was a root cellar and a few other things to see but this last picture is dad eating an apple he took from the tree behind him!(don't ask how I felt about that!)
It turned out to be a very fun day and we capped it off at night by attending the university's production of "Songs for a New World" which has some great songs in it!
The weather has been amazing and we are beginning to see the leaves start to change.  Sorry about the rain in Oregon! (people here aren't too happy about our drought though).

Published

I just thought you would like to know that JJ is a published author...well, journalist.  He was asked to write an article on this Blue Grass Group and their festival so I thought I would show it to you.  I tried to zoom in on the byline but it got too fuzzy.  As an added bonus you can see who spoke at SVU last week.

As for reading it, you'll just have to take a mother's word for it that it was well done!