A few months ago, I turned the big 4-0! And pandemic or not, I decided we should celebrate by going on some kind of trip. So, I packed up the Lysol and a cooler full of food, and we headed to the mountains. (The Lysol to decontaminate our lodgings, and a cooler of food so we didn’t have to go to a restaurant or grocery store – because I’m a tad paranoid.) More specifically, we rented a cabin at Smoke Hole Caverns and Log Cabin Resort. My parents even rented their own cabin and joined us for the fun. It was great! We spent the weekend exploring, playing games, and hanging out.
Smoke Hole is located in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, which makes it an easy drive for people in various locations. For instance, it’s only a three-hour drive from Washington, DC, and about a three-and-a-half-hour drive for those of us located in Southern West Virginia. And it definitely has some tourism appeal and perks.
The Smoke Hole Resort offers an array of lodging options from cabins and cottages to a log motel. They also have an impressive cavern in which you can take guided cave tours, as well as a massive gift shop full of all sorts of goodies. Both of the aforementioned, took us the better part of a day, and ended up being a great way to spend a rainy morning. (PS: morning is the time to go if you want to avoid crowds.)
The resort also has a ton of other attractions, including the Smoke Hole Outfitters where you can catch as many fish as you’d like to pay for. My daughter, Olivia, got a huge kick out of the fishing experience, and my husband was pleased that they even fillet them for you. Not being big on fishing, I personally just liked feeding the fish from the food dispensers, which was highly entertaining. Over the course of the weekend, we gave the food dispensers more quarters than I care to count, but we all got a kick out of tossing food pellets to the ducks and fish.
There’s also quite a lot to explore in the surrounding areas. We took a drive to Dolly Sods, which has amazing views. You can drive along the road, or you can take a hike on one of the many trails. I recommend checking out Bear Rock, as it’s one of the prettiest locations there. We also went to see Seneca Rocks, and perused around their visitor center. I’m not brave enough to go scale the side of a cliff, but this is also a popular place for rock climbers. I preferred to watch from a safe distance; and I even said a prayer or two for the crazy people out there hooked to ropes and wearing helmets (like that was going to help), yikes…
And after a fun filled weekend, on our way home we stopped by the Green Bank Observatory, which turned out to be an awesome side trip. The immense telescope was amazing to see in person, even if we didn’t have time to take an actual tour. And Olivia thought the science center was pretty spiffy (and of course, the gift shop too).
In all, it was a fantastic little mini vacation and a great way to celebrate another trip around the sun. I’m super thankful that I got to spend my birthday with my family, and as an added bonus, we got to go on a little adventure.
If you’re looking for a fun place to escape to and enjoy nature, you should certainly give Smoke Hole a try. You can learn more via the links provided in the post, and the marker above is linked to a Google Map with location points from our trip.
