4x4 Icon - Thomas, Douglas, Blackwater Falls, Dolly Sods, Deep Creek Lake 6/20/2010

Prologue

It was Father's Day and as is our tradition on the 'parents' day, the guest of honor (that would be me) chooses what the day will be. I sat down and assembled an itinerary that is familiar but has not been followed for a few years. We would go to the Purple Fiddle for lunch, wander around Thomas for a while checking the shops, then head over to the MountainMade Artisan Gallery. After some shopping we'd visit Blackwater Falls State Park and then head over to Dolly Sods to catch the late afternoon light. A little bit of something for everyone.

Muster

We packed the car with some snacks, drinks, our usual gear, and extra clothing for the late afternoon. I loaded up the GPS info and mapped a route that would take us to these spots, with some optional places along the way. The yellow-dotted-line shows our route for the day as we drove it.

Trail

Our first stop was the Purple Fiddle in Thomas, WV, for lunch. We ordered sandwiches and drinks and sat outside to enjoy the beautiful sky with clouds and mild warm weather.

Tom had been sleeping when we arrived so he was still a little drowsy.

Thomas, WV

After lunch, Maria and the kids went to the shops and I wandered around the main drag making images of whatever caught my eye.

After a while I decided to go find my family and poked into the shops.

MountainMade Artisan Gallery

Once everyone had what they needed, we loaded up and drove to the MountainMade Artisan Gallery, on the road to Douglas.

Coketon, WV

We looked at the glass while the kids played checkers. Then we drove down the road to the site of a Coke processing operation, formerly known as Coketon. It consists of two long rows of coke ovens, with little left but the ruins.

Blackwater Falls

Next stop - Blackwater Falls. We got drinks at the gift shop before we went down to the falls. We took the 213 steps down to the falls with quick stops along the way at the upper overlook platforms where we took a casual family portraits.

Then I tortured Maria and the boys by making several pictures of the falls. I had to wait for other people to move on so the observation deck would not move while I made triple-slow exposures... My family ended up retreating to the upper observation deck without me...

I made a couple images of the boys at the same rock as the last time we all came together.

Dolly Sods

Then we drove to Dolly Sods. The long dusty, bumpy road was not a welcome part of the journey but we soon reached the parking area near Bear Rocks. We didn't walk very far out but the view was spectacular and the time of day was perfect.

When mother caught sight of the fun the boys were having playing near the edges of the cliffs, she herded them up and we made our departure. I snuck a few parting images on my walk back to the car.

We followed the shorter less bumpy road down to pavement as planned and found our way back to Deep Creek Lake.

Deep Creek Lake

Here we stopped at Smiley's for dinner. The boys conned us into letting them ride the go-carts and came back to the table all wired. It was no doubt a combination of the go-cart rides and the candy we had purchased on the way in at Candyland. As we ate, a gentleman approached our table on his way out and recalled himself to Maria - they were colleagues during her time at World Wildlife Fund. He had rented the Deep Creek Cabin we stayed in many years ago when this picture was taken. What a small world!