Wednesday morning we ate breakfast around 9, yummie apple spice pancakes and fresh fruit. It was a little after 10 when we finally had everything packed up to leave. We made plans to go down to the lower portion of Monongahela National Forest where Hills Creek Falls is. The day was sunny and perfect.

Leaving from Elkins, we drove down and took the Highland Scenic Parkway. The Parkway was pretty cool, great views, a lot of places to stop. It's actually closed to any sort of truck traffic, and during the winter they don't plow it, so it's only open weather-permitting.

Around 1:30 we found Hills Creek Falls. We stopped and took the trail to see the three falls. The first you see is the smallest, then you hike down, going on a bunch of stairways about 3/4 of a mile and you get to see te other falls, the last of which is the second tallest in West Virginia. We had a really nice time, and like the rest of our venures, there weren't many other people around, the only ones we encountered were on our way back up.

After the falls, we decided tohead up to the next place we were staying at, and to get some dinner. We took 28 north and on the way drove by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, WV! I had seen a brocure about it a couple days before, bit it must have been old, since it failed tin indicate that they were open at this time of year. We turned around and parked, then visited the visitor's center, it was pretty neat, but all the tours were over for the day, and it was late so we ended up leaving. We must devote an entire day to this! They have a nature walk down to the biggest telescope.

We got back here to the North Fork Mountain Inn a little before 6. The drive up to this location took us on an 8 mile curvy road up the mountain, which was jsut recently paved. Our hostess here is very nice, and the room and the view are amazing. We grabbed some pizza for dinner in nearby Petersburg and then came back here to relax in the private jacuzzi, then snuggled by the fireplace. It was great.

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