Morgantown, West Virginia

Alicia suggested that we meet up in Morgantown, West Virginia, because it was a spot in the middle of the three of us. I’d been to West Virginia but couldn’t really remember anything I did there in particular, so I was excited to go – and of course to see Aimee and Alicia.

It was an easy six and a half hour drive of mostly highway. As I drove into town, I thought, I could live here. I saw a river, rolling hills, and a college town. As I drove into town to find a parking garage, I thought – never mind. The town seemed kind of run down. I didn’t want to drag all my stuff from the parking garage to the apartment since I would look very out of a place, and I didn’t want to attract the attention of the homeless people, since I didn’t know exactly where I was going. I also had difficulty figuring out the parking garage, because we were told to stay there by our Airbnb host, but the sign explicitly said that you couldn’t park there over 24 hours or you’d get booted. I parked there anyway and just took a bag into the apartment. It was easy to get in, after I got the key fob out of the locked box, entered a locked door, used the key fob to enter another locked door, and used a code to get into the apartment. They sure were into security!

Aimee got there shortly after I did, and she said, “Oh no. Alicia is NOT going to like this.” Alicia had booked the place, and although it was totally fine, it was not up to what I would call regular Airbnb standards. Like parts of the ceiling were stained and falling down, spots where things had been ripped off the wall and not repainted, places where the wall was coming away from the trim, and the like. But no matter! It was safe and dry. Aimee and I went out to explore while we waited for Alicia to get there. We walked around, went to Apothecary, ate dinner at the River View Rooftop along the river, and figured out where things were in town. Alicia arrived at the Airbnb before we got back, and immediately suggested going to a hotel. I assured her it was fine AND SAFE, and we went out to eat at Gibbie’s in downtown Morgantown. There were a lot of people out and it was lively.

The next morning, we went to the parking deck to see if our cars had been ticketed. There was a parking office, and we went in to ask if we could stay there overnight. The guy at the desk said, “What do you drive?” We told him, and he halfheartedly scribbled the name of our cars on a sticky note. “You just have to tell us you’re staying,” he said. It was completely obvious that no one was checking this parking garage, so we went on our merry way.

We ate breakfast and had coffee at the Blue Moose Coffee House, and it was perfect. Sunlight streaming in, lots of people to look at, and great food and coffee.

Alicia had a meeting, so Aimee and I went running along the river to the campus arboretum. We then ran around campus, which was really pretty. Lots of elevation and nice buildings. Everyone was wearing West Virginia-logoed clothing. I like the way the W and V fit together, and I was surprised to see their mascot is a mountaineer, which is a man standing with a rifle.  I stopped in the bookstore to buy a shirt, but it was the colors of our rival college, so I didn’t. Odd thing – there was no one in the bookstore and almost no one on campus. There was a public campus train that wasn’t running because school wasn’t in. The whole town was sort of empty. They were doing work on the main building of campus and adding LED lights to the outside – like the kind you see in a teenager's bedroom.

The three of us drove to Coopers Rock State Park, and it was wonderful. Right away you get a huge payoff of a gorgeous overlook. We then went on a six mile hike through the woods and saw really cool rock formations. It looked like ruins of buildings had been dropped into the middle of the trees. We went to solar slabs and saw where people rock climbed. We went on many paths, including rhododendron and rattlesnake and ridge and rock city. Aimee and Alicia are much better at maps than I am, and if they weren’t, I may still be out there. There were markings and signs and it didn’t seem to matter – I still didn’t know which way to go. Great park and great hiking! Highly recommend.

We stopped for ice cream at Mountaineer County Ice Cream and ate out on the porch, which was filled with rocking chairs and hanging baskets.

We headed back to the apartment to get ready for dinner at Tropics, which was great. They had tons of outdoor seating, beautiful tropical foliage, and a band! We danced and had a good time. People were really nice, too.

On the way home, our Uber driver had an LED light shaped like an assault rifle. Hadn’t seen that before!

We got up and got our bikes out of our cars. I saw they had both brought helmets, and I hadn’t even thought of that. We had to ride through the city for a few blocks to get to the river trail, and boy did I wish I had one then! We rode along the river trail for 14 miles. I rarely ride a bike, and I never go that far. It was so fun! We saw so much, it was overcast and perfect weather, and it was a great ride.

We stopped at a statue of Colonel Zackquill Morgan, the founder of Morgantown. A city employee was landscaping around it, and we chatted with her. She said she’d seen a painting of him, and this statue made him look way better than he did there. Alicia sent at picture later and sure enough – no chin.

Mostly what I will remember about this trip is laughing with Alicia and Aimee. It doesn’t matter where we are, how nice our place is, whether we know where we’re going on a hike, or what we’re doing – we’re always going to have a great time together. And maybe the Uber driver.