Haunted by Pigeons

For some reason, I am being haunted by pigeons.  While sleeping in the morning, I heard my cat freaking out about something by the window while hearing the sound of something tapping on the window.  Living in NYC, I was horrified as I didn't wan to see what was tapping outside of my window even if it was the daytime.  I opened the screen to see this!

Crazed Tapping Bird!

Horrifying!  Just look at the beady eyes on that thing!  I tried to shoo him away by hitting the glass, but he only pecked more.  I finally went back to bed, threw the covers over my head and went back to sleep.  No big deal, it had never happened before and I doubt it will ever happen again, the odds are with me as there is no reason for him to return as it is a crappy place to nest and there is no food!

Later on in the week, I was going home on the subway but there were problems with the line, go figure as the MTA stinks!  Because of a problem on my train's line, I was forced to take another train to the end of the line and then take my train back up to my stop.  It sucked, but I soon was amused by the spotting of this guy.

Didn't Pay Full Fare

He had gotten on the train at Stillwell and decided to take train to the next stop.  Well, I am glad someone is getting a good deal from the MTA!  I had to wonder though if he would take the train back to find his family and friends.  Do pigeons mate for life?  Do they have friends? I doubt it, as they are pretty greedy creatures so I figure they probably don't get to attached to places or other pigeons.  I just hope if he does have responsibilities he made it back in time.  Probably not though as the trains are rarely on time.  Just for the hell of it, here is another shot as it made me laugh for a good 2 minutes making me look like a crazy person.  Odd, because you don't normally see too many crazy people on the NYC subway system...

Looking for a Seat Before the Upcoming Busy Stop

Good times!  But my pigeon encounters didn't stop there, which frightens me!  Yes, they are everywhere in NYC, but they aren't normally this bold or obvious.  You just learn to dodge them, especially the ones that dive bomb your head.  They just become a normal fixture of NYC much like piles of puke on Saturday night and the dog poo you are forced to avoid thanks to the careless owners who don't pick up the special delivery from their pooches.  But this week, the pigeon encounters kept coming fast and furious

It started on Saturday.  After a stop at Starbucks for a big ass coffee due to my extra early class on Saturday morning, I headed towards the college.  It was early yet to head to class and I made the decision to take a walk around the neighborhood rather than go downstairs to the basement of hell at my college to try to force myself to stay awake as the process of the Linear Regression was explain ad nauseum.  Look, there is no way to make stats fun, period.  See, this is what I do when I am early to functions.  Take a walk around the neighborhood rather than be cooped up inside hating life.  Even in my day to day life, I get antsy, thus my life is one big wanderlust.  I get bored easily and would rather get lost in the sights of the city and sounds of my iPod.

While turning a corner, I noticed a huge moving mass on the ground.  As first, I wasn't sure what it was until I got closer.  But soon it became clear.  There was at least 75 pigeons swarming to get something on the ground.  I had no idea what it was, I don't know if I wanted to know what was there.  Could it be The Ark of the Covenant, the Passage to Atlantis, or did I possibly just find Waldo?  The truth is I never found out as I didn't want to get anywhere near that mass for fear they would freak out and come at me crapping all over me before class.  In the end, I only got these pictures before running away to the safety of the next avenue over.  If I am brave enough, I may venture to the street next week to see f they are still there.  Why?  Because it is disgusting yet fascinating.  See for yourself:

Disturbing Yet Fascinating! 

 Hopefully this trend o'pigeons will end this week and I will be able to go back to my normal relationship them. 

Goodbye Fall, Hello Cold, Cruel Winter

A Walk Through Central Park

First off, thanks to the people who emailed me about the blog it is really appreciated.  And they weren't even my family or friends but people who stumbled on the site.  This blog is a great way to let my family and friends know what I am up to, but I am happy if others enjoy it.  I haven't been on as much lately due to my impending finals, auditions and job search.  Life has been busy, but good!  Onto what's new...

Fall is still in full swing until December 21^st, but it sure feels like winter is here full force.  Then again, I am a cold weather lightweight.  If it dips below 50, I will complain, a lot.  It has been in the 30’s and 40’s and even with many layers of clothing, I am still freezing.  Good times for me until the end of April.  That’s what I get for being a Californian, a weather wimp.

Still, I never get tired of the sites of NYC, especially as the seasons change.  I am a fan of photography and take way too many photos trying to capture everyday life.  Ah, another artistic endeavor I cannot make a living off of!  Yay!!!

So now, I would like to bid a fond farewell to Fall, even though technically is is still Fall.  Too bad!  When it drops into the 30’s, it's officially Winter, even if it is in the middle of Summer.

So enjoy some of the sights around NYC amid the changing leaves:

Most of the pictures were taken in Central Park.  Central Park is the best place to see the leaves change in NYC because there are so many trees unlike the rest of Manhattan.  I miss trees, well, nature in general, though I see plenty of animals on the subway everyday...  The day I took these photos, I was wasting time in Central Park rather than doing what I should be doing, studying.  Nature trumps boring subjects I didn't want to take anyway!

Nature's Fireworks in Central Park

Three of the photos were taken in Washington Square Park when my friend Angie and crew came to visit in NYC for a few days.  They had never been to Washington Square Park and we happened to be in the area.  There were some great photo opportunities due to the lighting from the clouds breaking after a brief rainstorm.  These pictures were taken earlier than the Central Park photos so the trees were just starting to change.  There also was a great shot of a person peeing in a fountain, but I don't really care for those kind of nature shots...

Washington Square Park

Highway Madness and Final Thoughts on West Virginia

Dirty After a Long Day of Hiking

So I would like to talk about how amazing our last day of our adventure was, but the reality is that nothing really happened as we were heading back to NYC.  We got up early refreshed and ready to go.  Okay, not so refreshed as we had been burning the candle by both ends, but the hotel room was really clean compared to the one the night before.  The breakfast was okay, mostly carbs and more carbs, though they did have yummy bagels as was requested by Noah. 

Yes, on the request form that is on their website Noah was a smart ass and wrote, “Please make sure you have some yummy bagels.”  It was damn funny at 2:00AM when the hotel was booked, but we had forgotten about it until the guy who checked us out asked if we had found the bagels they had out on the spread “yummy.”  I lost it and went into a laughing fit while Noah replied, “Indeed, thank you very much!”

Entering West Virginia

So off we went to make it back to Philadelphia where we would catch our bus home.  The ride was crazy in the morning on the route we took, so we decided to go onto a highway that had a toll.  Because of the toll, most people bypassed it, but let me tell you, it was a dream!  Hardly anyone is on it and it is quite spacious.  It was worth the $7.00 we paid just to escape the headache of dealing with stupey drivers.

There is a refreshment area before you get too far onto the highway which was nice.  There we decided to grab a coffee as we were pretty tired.  Let me just say this place was not as amazing as we thought it would be even though it was in the toll area.  First off, some crazy woman wearing pajamas walked out of the building carrying food even though Noah had held the door for me as I was halfway through already.  I have to be calm around rude people like that as it is hard for me not to say something, but after she pushed through, I walked through the doors saying “thank you” to Noah.  She replies, “yep” as if she had done me a favor.  I had a few choice words to say which will not be repeated.  It takes a lot to make me lose my cool!

Point Pleasant

Noah laughed and reminded me that we would be getting a Starbucks which would make me happy as their coffee is strong enough to keep me going.  When we walked up to the counter, no one was there.  About two minutes later, the guy who was working there came back after he was done talking to the person at the Subway counter.  The guy stared at me in a way that made me a little uneasy, he never blinked!  As I began my order, a fly went past the guy’s face and he caught it in his hand squishing it, his eyes never leaving my face and his eyes still didn’t blink.  We grabbed our coffees and got out of the area as fast as possible, it was all just too weird.

As we walked out to our car, we were surprised to see three dudes leaning against it having a conversation.  Okay, this place was a freak show!  When they saw me entering the car two of the guys moved while the third one didn’t care.  I finally had to ask him to please get off of our car so Noah could get in.  This place was crazy!

Crazy Turtle!

In the end, it saved us a lot of time and we got to our destination an hour early.  It was worth it, I just wouldn’t stop at that scary area ever again for a pit stop as it was way to questionable.  Back in Philadelphia we decided to see if we could get onto an earlier bus as it was pretty empty and we didn’t want to stay there for an additional hour and a half as we didn’t feel it would give us a lot of time to do anything. 

I have to say that in the end, I really loved West Virginia.  Yeah, people will make comments about it saying that it isn’t one of the more interesting states or make fun of it for other reason.  Well, I am here to say that they are wrong.  West Virginia rocked!  If you are an outdoorsy person, get there quick, you will love it.  Even if you are not, there is still plenty to do and their weekly festivals are a blast.  Example, there was the Road Kill Festival that next weekend.  We were disappointed to be missing it, but were satisfied that we had finally gotten to the Mothman festival, so it didn't matter.

So thank you West Virginia for showing me a good time!

Bat Boy, Bikers and Seneca Rocks!

The day before had been so long and crazy, we were too tired to really complain about the hotel room we were in.  I won't lie, it was old and smelled like wet dog. I do have to say that besides the orange bedspread, the hand towel in the bathroom was the scariest sight I had seen in at least a month.  I opened it up before stepping into the shower to find that there was an old large brown stain on it.  That in my mind could only mean one thing and it wasn't a good thing.  I threw the wash cloth onto the floor and decided to clean up without the help of a washcloth as it would probably be more sanitary in the long run.


What was even more bizarre was that the cleaning crew kept trying to get into our room starting at 7:00AM in the morning.  7:00AM!!!  The woman tried 3 times before we finally started to get our stuff together and leave.

Water Wheel of Fun

Because of the dirtiness of the place, the next morning, we decided to skip the free breakfast and grabbed a coffee while snacking on our store bought goods.  After the washcloth incident, we figured it probably wouldn't be a good idea to eat the food from the establishment.  This place was an interesting West Virginia experience of its own.


So after we grabbed our iced coffees, we were on our way once again.  Today we knew that we had an ambitious itinerary as it was our last full day.  Noah had an interest in seeing a cave while in West Virginia as he had never been in one before.  When I was about 7 I had gone to the Oregon Caves on a family road trip from California to visit my grandparents.  I remember being freaked out due to the heights and the steps that seemed rather questionable.  There came a point where there was a high climb to some room that I just couldn’t do.  My brothers laughed in my face while Mom stayed below with me.  Yeah, nice caving memories.  


Still, I am one to face up to my fears and told him I had no problem with it.  I mean I was 7 years old at the time and felt it was possible that I was overreacting.  I do remember the dank coldness of the cave and pulled out a thick sweater and change into sneakers as I did not want to repeat the stupidity of the day before.


It was decided that we would be going to the Lost World Caverns as they were on our route and looked to be pretty easy to handle.  On their site, we noticed that they had the Wild Cave Tours.  It is a four hour trek deep into the caves with a guide.  There you climb through small spaces, splash through water and mud and just have a crazy good old time.  After seeing some of the photos, I wanted to do this, but we had limited time and Noah didn’t appear to be into the whole experience so we stuck to the plan of taking the 40 minute self guided tour.

Onto the Cave Adventure!

The ride to the caves was about the same as any other drive.  We got behind a 90 year old guy going 15 under the speed limit while the cars behind me tailed us one inch from the back of our car.  Finally, the guy turned onto a dirt road and the pack was off.  It didn’t take long before we got to our destination.  


The road to the caves is marked, but we weren’t prepared for a full on narrow gravel road.  It was crazy!  Because the car was borrowed, we were a little nervous to take it down the road, so we took our time so as not to bang it up with flying rocks.  It took a good amount of time before we finally reached the cave, but there were greeted by a beautiful horse and a nicely kept wooden establishment with a working waterwheel churning away.


Noah was pretty giddy when we hit the door as he knew he was a few feet away from the site where the infamous Bat Boy was spawned.  Yes, the infamous Bat Boy supposedly came from this, the Lost Caves.  Now why would anyone be this excited over a bat child?  Well the same reason I was excited over Mothman, it is ridiculous good fun.  That and Noah had played the title role in the musical Bat Boy and it left a positive impression on him.  So, in a way it was a character study too late, ah well, better late then never.

Bridal Formation

Before we entered the cave, we entered the large gift shop and dinosaur fossil area.  It’s really large and really well put together.  The co owners are also extremely nice and really funny, we ended up talking to them for over an hour.  Bat Boy eventually came into the conversation which gave them both a good laugh.  They had nothing to do with the original story posted in the crap magazine, but they did find it amusing and bought a copy and hhad it behind the counter.  Apparently, there are contrasting stories about where Bat Boy comes from, but either way, they were more interested in people enjoying the actual caves though they said the extra tourism from the bogus article didn’t hurt either.


The cave itself it quite nice and well taken care which can’t be cheap.  It is a self guided tour and takes about 45 minutes and is quite nice for a smaller cave.  We ran into people of various ages including children and seniors so it’s fun for all ages.  The rock formations are pretty cool and we had fun singing in the cave once we were the only once left inside as the acoustics were pretty sweet.  Pseudo opera sounds pretty crazy in a big empty cave.


At the end of our tour, we thanked the owners and headed back out to the world of light towards our car, but it didn’t take long for me to get distracted by a big, friendly dog by the waterwheel.  I love animals and this guy slowly lured me over before he made me a slave to scratching his head and tummy.  I seriously love animals!  But soon, I had to say goodbye so that we could hit the road to our last sought at destination; Seneca Rocks.  


Seneca Rocks had been suggested to me by a few people who had been to West Virginia and the rocks seemed pretty cool, but it was already early afternoon and we had quite the ride ahead of us as it was across the state from where we were.  So we got back in the car and were off.

The Cave

Our only option was a back road that took us past many incorporated towns.  I will be honest, I had no idea what that meant.  Noah did as he comes from an area with smaller towns.  It basically is an area with no local government and a very small population.  Interesting!  While on this ride we past a lot of farm land, but soon realized that even though it was relaxing due to the lack of cars, we needed to take the freeway if we planned on seeing the rocks before dark.  So we veered onto the freeway for about an hour before getting onto a narrow two way road that would take us to the highest point of West Virginia.  The drive up was gorgeous as the leaves were turning into vibrant autumn colors the higher we climbed the more the leaves came swirling from the trees to covering the roads in bright orange, yellow and red.  It was beautiful and a rewarding drive.


Then, the bikers came!  Yes, bikers!  There were about 20 of them and they passed our car in true West Virginia style.  I was going over the speed limit but didn’t want to push it past 15 over as I didn’t feel like careening over a cliff that day.  There was one guy in the back who was driving a piece of crap that couldn’t pass us and I knew one thing, I didn’t want him to get in front of us.  His ride was really lame!  Well eventually, I did let him pass because he was annoying me and apparently bikers only feel comfortable if they are all together.  It isn’t like they are running away from Jason Voorhees in the woods and need numbers on their side, there are 20 bikes you won’t lose them.  In the end, they ended up going 10 under the speed limit once they passed.  Yeah, not a fan!  An interesting thing to note, when bikers pass other bikers going the opposite direction they give each other the “we’re bad ass” signal even if the biker is on a crappy bike like the lame guy who probably picked up his for $10 at a garage sale.  It was pretty much a glorified scooter!  I mean if you are on a Harley why give this guy a thumbs up?!? Ah well!

Vulture!  I've Known a Few

Eventually, they all turned off and I did the happy dance in my seat hitting the speed limit for the first time in an hour.  Finally, we arrived at Seneca Rocks. We had the chance to visit the highest point in West Virginia, but skipped it as I had been on higher points on the West Coast.  We were about the rocks!


Now, there was a hiking trail that people can take to the “lookout point.”  It was getting a little late in the day and we knew we didn’t have much daylight left, so we forged ahead.  I apparently got confused as I thought that the lookout point would be an area closer to a better view of the rocks for taking photos.  My first clue should have been the 1.5 miles trail, but it didn’t click.  It turns out the trail takes you close to the top of the rocks on a steep switchback trail all the way up.  Why we didn’t figure this out, I have no idea.  Maybe it was because we hadn’t been sleeping.   My body was still aching from the New River Gorge Bridge hike from the day before but this time I was ready as I had the appropriate shoes on, so on we marched.

The Arrow is Where We Climbed To

It wasn’t bad at first, but after a quarter of the hike we kept passing people who were red in the face and sweaty.  Many of them were older and perhaps not in the best shape of their lives, but still, it concerned us, that and the sun had gone down.  I don’t know how long it took us as I had left my phone in the car like an idiot, but it was quite the hike.  It is completely uphill and it was really humid out and my calves were burning from the day before thanks to the 1600 steps half of which were up.  Still, it was a lot easier than the hike before, but it is a decent workout   

By the time we hit the top, we were surprised to see a wooden structure that looked like a porch deck at the top jutting out from the side of the rocks.  Now Noah is afraid of heights and pretty much freaked out.  I didn’t realize I was truly afraid of heights before getting out onto this thing.  It just didn’t seem stable for some reason though it totally was.  It was just strange to be on something you would expect to be sitting on drinking a cold beer on a hot summer night with friends on the side of a rock formation.  It was a great view and the after light of the past sunset was a pretty shade of deep pink.  We then realized it was probably best to head back as it would be dark soon.

Face the Fear!

The hike back down was a lot faster than the climb up that’s for sure.  That and we were booking it to get back to civilization before night fall which was coming quickly.  On our way down we ran into a couple on their way up.  They asked how the view was.  We wanted to be nice and told them it was great, but that it was pretty dark when we left so they may not see much.  This didn’t deter them at all and they continued up which I thought was crazy.  For the rest of the night we would talk about whether or not they turned around or if they got stuck up there for the night or possibly got eaten by a bear.  I don’t really know why, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them!  


By the time we got to the car, it was dark, and we knew we needed to get moving to get to our hotel sometime before midnight as we were staying in Maryland as we had to catch a bus by 1:30 the next day in Philadelphia.  


Again, the ride sucked.  We were on back roads going through the mountains and again, we ended up in front of a dude who was tailing me like a maniac with full high beams.  I was going 20 over on dark unfamiliar roads with nowhere to let him pass or any place for me to pull over.  These drivers sucked, period.  Noah thought we were going to die, so as soon as I could, I let the idiot pass.  Worst drivers EVER and this is coming from someone who drives in NYC on occasion thanks to drunk friends who can’t get home.  

The Dark Hike Home

Finally, we got off the death road and hit the freeway.  The drive from there was pretty easy going thanks to a 3 to 4 lane freeway.  We ended up  leaving West Virginia and then reentered all on the same freeway within a 10 minute span which was special.  Saying goodbye the second time was a lot easier than the first.  Also, West Virginia likes their big crosses and you can see them from the freeway for miles but the biggest thumbs up goes to Lord Fairfax Community College for such an awesome name for a facility for higher education!


Before hitting our hotel, we decided to stop by somewhere to get food.  It turns out there is not much open in Hagerstown, except for the Waffle House we passed the first day of our trip.  The place was scary, but it was 11:30 at night and we were hungry!  Sadly, we looked over at the now closed Cracker Barrel.  Please, don’t eat at this Waffle House for your own good.  The service sucked and there was a big dead roach on the first table we passed.  When our food came it was not great and my eggs were raw in parts.   I was so tired and hungry I just cut away the crap part and got the hell out of there as fast as I could and prayed I wouldn't get food poisoning.  It was just skeevy!  So after that delicious meal, we headed to the hotel as we both were exhausted.  Luckily the hotel was clean and inviting with no crap stained towels.  Yay Hagerstown!  

The Mystery of Mothman of Point Pleasant!

The next day we woke up early as I was worried that there would be no parking by the time we got to Pleasant Point which concerned me.  That and I wanted to get an early start on the Mothman festivities, so we grabbed a coffee downstairs from the barista before we checked out.  Again, we got the same vibe as before.  The barista was fine but the greeter and the front desk woman, not so much.  They delivered the required pleasantries, but were very cold towards us.  Again we looked at our jeans.  Were these causing the problem or was that just the vibe of the place.  I don’t know!  Either way, we were ready to possibly solve the mystery of the Mothman so we didn’t care!

Point Pleasant is only about an hour away from Parkersburg so it was a nice short jaunt.  That is until we got behind a motorcycle with female cargo that was going 10-15 under the speed limit.  There is passing in West Virginia, but you have to be quick as it doesn’t last long before you hit a major curve, so we stayed behind the bike.  It was a little frustrating but we were on vacation so we chilled out.

As we saw signs for Point Pleasant we both could barely contain our excitement, so much so that we almost sped right through the town.  Hmm, interesting!  So I turned into a parking lot and pulled by a nearby curb.  Odd, parking had been extremely easy and there appeared to be hardly anyone on the streets.  Were we in the right place?  We slammed our doors and were off to solve the Point Pleasant mystery.

9th Annual Mothman Festival

Well, after a two block walk, we realized that this was indeed the Mothman festival.  It was about 10:00 in the morning and it was pretty quiet.  That and it was a lot smaller than I had expected.  Noah wasn’t surprised at all.   He was raised in a small town and knew what to expect from small town fairs, I on the other hand was confused.  Still, we were ready to check this bad boy festival out and headed to the river front to see the views.

Before we got there, we ran into the Mothman himself, or rather a dude in a costume who was dressed to look like him.  He did the obligatory pose with me, though I found it odd that I could hear music blaring from his iPod.  That and when I saw the photo later on, it looked like he was grabbing my goodies, I think it was the angle, not the Mothman. 

After that distraction, we were off to the riverfront only to find the Mothman Festival in full swing!  I won’t lie, I was tempted to sign up when I saw it online as I have never been in a pageant, but I had missed the deadline.  I am not a fan of pageants, but it was so tempting!  We watched for a few minutes as they paraded the youngest competitors then we moved on as I found it a little disturbing.

We walked along the water, but realized though it was nice, we were away from all the action, so we headed back over to the main drag to catch the Mothman action!  The crowd was a little denser than before which is always a plus when it comes to crazy festivals. 

The Man of the Hour

On our way to the booths selling Mothman merchandise, we came upon the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine Van.  Now, I have seen Scooby Doo maybe once in my life on some strange channel on cable so I had no idea what the hell the van was called, but my friend Noah knew all about it and ran over to get a photo with himself in front of the crazy van as he could not contain his excitement.  The amazing thing is that besides the lack of facial hair, he looked amazingly like Shaggy with his long hair and casual clothes.  I on the other hand had nothing to really offer as I don’t really look like anyone on the show, though Noah mentioned I could pass for Daphne.  I took it as an insult at first as I thought she was the nerdy chick.  I didn’t see that many movies in the 1990s!  He just shook his head and moved onto the booths disappointed in my lack of Scooby Doo pop culture. 

Now, I have to say, I was quite surprised to see so much merchandise created for the supposed Mothman.  There was food, t-shirts, comic books, paintings and jewelry.  All this for some mythical creature that was most likely a Sandhill Crane!  Some of it was amusing while some of it was just plain tacky and expensive.  Noah, wanted a t-shirt, but decided to walk around before buying one as he didn’t want to carry around a plastic bag for the rest of our stay in Pleasant Point.

Goody Grabber!

As we continued our walk through the various booths, we came upon the famous Mothman statue.  There is was in all of its shiny silver glory in the middle of the town square glinting in the sun.  It wasn’t as big as I had expected, but it was still more impressive than the Godzilla statue in Tokyo, so I didn’t complain.  We had come so far we knew what we had to do and proceeded to do stupid poses in front of it while the vendors looked at us like we were idiots.  Please, I guarantee we weren’t the first tourists to make damn fools of ourselves in front of this thing.  After we got the right shot, we continued our window shopping until we ran out of booths. 

At the end of the row, a sight appeared before us that could not be ignored.  There in front of us was a tent housing the infamous Turtleman of Kentucky!  While doing my research, I had read about the Turtleman and how he would be making an appearance at the Mothman Festival, but due to all the excitement, I had forgotten about him.  How could I have forgotten about the Turtleman?!?  So Noah and I paid our dollar and walked into the small blue tent.  Inside we came to face to face with the man, the legend, the Turtleman!

Basically, the Turtleman is known in the region for going into ponds and finding big ass turtles.  Sometimes he keeps them though on his website he makes jokes about the meat, though I don’t know for sure if he makes steaks out of them.  Can people eat turtles?

Fun!

He had two of his turtles with him and was showing demonstrations.  He asked if I would like to pull a stick out of one of the turtle’s mouths, I figured why not?  I ended up looking like a wimp as the turtle dragged me across the tent.  This guy was strong.  I asked how often he got bit by the turtles to which he answered at least once a month and proceeded to show me the scars.  At that moment, I walked away from the turtle.  Holy crap!

The Turtleman didn’t want me to leave the tent freaked out and proceeded to have me partake in a Turtleman trick without a real turtle being involved.  I figured why not, you only live once.  In the end, I proceeded to end up in the arms of the Turtleman in some strange dance lift.  Oh, BTW, the Turtleman is single though as the name implies he does reside in Kentucky so be prepared to move.  All and all, this was a highlight at the Mothman Festival as he is a crazy yet funny guy.  Definitely worth the $1 I paid to see him.

After the Turtleman, I decided to grab a snack in the food area of the festival.  There we past a group of psychics.  Psychics equal fun but not for the price of $20 for 15 minutes.  Talk about highway robbery!  So I continued over to the food stalls and ordered a Mothman Pancake for a hell of a lot less than $20.

Turtleman of Kentucky

The woman at the stall suggested that both Noah and I sign up for the Mothman Pancake eating contest.  Whoever ate the pancake the fastest got a free t-shirt and the title of the fastest pancake eater for 2010.  Tempting as it was, I passed, but Noah realized that if he signed up he could get a discounted pancake and a chance at winning a free t-shirt.  In the end, he threw his hat in the ring.  That meant we would have to stick around until 12:00 at least.  Look, I loved the Mothman Festival, but we were hurting for something to do as we had pretty much seen it all.

So, we headed over to the vintage car area and took pictures with the 1970’s muscle cars while I sipped a chai iced tea.  While admiring the cars, I did get asked if I wanted to participate in a beauty pageant in November, sadly, I would not be in the area and had to gently let her down.  Man, pageants are huge out there!

After posing like Vanna White for photos, we heard the bell strike noon and headed back over to the Mothman Pancake tent.  At the moment, the kids contest was in full swing.  The oldest girl of the group ended up taking the title.  Next the adult hopefuls were called up to the table.  There were four people in total including the reigning 2009 champ all the way back from Baltimore.  Along with the girl from Baltimore, there was a hometown favorite from West Virginia and Noah and one other person from New York State though he was from upstate.  Maybe I got a little cocky, but I have seen Noah eat and I thought Brooklyn totally had this.

Yummy Mothman Pancake

The woman gave the start and the eating commenced.  All contestants had to eat the pancake without the use of hands so I couldn’t help but laugh when their faces hit the whipped cream.  The friend of the other New Yorker and I were like animals as we yelled out the play by play of how the other contestants were doing.  It was a close race between Noah and other guy, but in the end, the other guy won.  I have to say I was a little disappointed as neither of them had swallowed the pancake and I felt it should have been based off of who swallowed the food the fastest not who could cram the whole thing in their mouths the fastest, but it wasn’t my rules.  So we congratulated the guy and his friends while the winner told Noah that he had almost choked to death on the pancake as Noah was a beast!  Noah had been in the leader for ¾ of the race.

Disappointed with his loss, Noah thanked the woman who owned the booth and walked back over to the vendors to buy a glow in the dark Mothman t-shirt.  For the rest of the day, he would speak of the aroma of sweet maple syrup up his nose.  Yummy!

Muscle Car!!!  Woo Wee!

At this point, we knew we had pretty much tapped out all that the Mothman Festival had to offer.  We had originally wanted to stay to hear an account of the Mothman sighting from one of the original members who had encountered Mhim, but that was not until 3:00PM as his time slot had moved.  There was no way we would be able to last that long, so instead, we decided to visit the New River Gorge Bridge to take a hike so to speak.

The drive would take about an hour and a half, so we hit the road but not before stopping to get some chicken at a drive thru at some local joint.  The woman was thrown off by our accent and made small talk and asked how we had been enjoying our visit to West Virginia.  We told her so far it had been a blast and we were excited to be experiencing more fun at the New River Gorge Bridge.  She had mentioned there was base jumping off of it every October and that there was also a new zip line.  We smiled before admitting we were both weenies, she smiled and told us to have a great vacation.  The people in West Virginia are so damn nice and I love them for it, I really do!

Yeah Hikes!

The drive to New River Gorge Bridge was quite eventful as we sped down the freeway.  First off eating while driving is stupid!  We also got a quick peek at Charleston as we cut through the city to get to the bridge.  It wasn’t what I expected, but then again, I was only there for about 10 minutes so my opinion doesn’t count in the long run anyway.  Also, when the road signs in West Virginia tell you to slow down, you’d better do it!  As we were speeding down one of the freeways, we saw an overturned trailer that had hit the cement meridian.  The traffic on the other side of the freeway was blocked for miles.  I sent out good vibes to the poor trucker hoping he was okay.  From there we missed our exit causing us to have to pay for two tolls, which sucked!  Thanks chicken!

Finally, we were near our destination: New River Gorge Bridge!  Now I hate bridges, I really do, so I had wanted a warning when we were close by so that I could brace myself.  From the pictures of the bridge, it looks like you can see it coming a mile a way as it is scary!  The reality is you don’t even know that you are crossing the damn thing as it looks like any other freeway.  The only reason I knew I was on it was because I saw a sign to the right telling me how I was on the largest arch bridge in the US.  Not cool as I didn’t even get to go into my happy place first!  By the end of the trip I would pass over this thing a total of three times cursing all the way.  Good times!

Old Mining Town

We decided to go to the New River Gorge Bridge visitor center to get a stamp for my book because I am a nerd like that and because we wanted to find out about hiking in the area.  But before the hike we went out to the lookout point by the center.  We were told that the steps were strenuous which in the end, they were not.  There were about 100 of them but they were easy to maneuver unless you were older or in bad shape.  It was a nice view, but we were ready for more, so we headed over to the old mining camp trail for a 1.5 mile walk.

Because the New River Gorge Bridge visitor center had said their walk was strenuous we felt that his one would be easy too as we had not been impressed with the other.  It turns out we were wrong.  Like an idiot, I was wearing sandals as I had left my sneakers in the trunk of the car.  I figured if the hike was anything like our other jaunt it would be easy.  It was not.  It was later in the day when we got there so we moved at a fast pace.  The trail was down a side of a mountain with tons of rocks and trees.  From there you came to the entrance of the mining town and then were lead to 800 steps down to the actual living site.  Yes, 800 steps down.  No big deal!

Where's Waldo? Blair Witch Edition

The mining site was pretty cool.  I had wanted to walk near the river, but the trail was too muddy and my sandals would have been ruined so I took photos while Noah ventured on.  The light was starting to fade so my photos were stinking up a storm as I didn’t have a tripod.  I waited for Noah for a while, but nothing.  Eventually, I heard rustling in the trees and had a Blair Witch moment, but it only turned out to be a smiling Noah.  He felt victorious as he had made it to the river.  Yay!

We headed back up the trail, it was okay until we had to climb the 800 steps back up the mountain.  This time, it was a big deal.  I am in good shape, but nothing prepared me for that.  Hiking is easy, lifting up my short legs to climb every last 800 steps sucks!  At the end of the steps, I took a breather because I was sweating up a storm as it was warm and muggy.  After our break, we headed back up the trail to our car.  It was a lot harder the way back up because there were several ways to get up and in sandals, none of them were good.

We did end up talking to a cool lady who was born and raised in West Virginia who told us she had been coming here with her son for years.  She knew the mountain like the back of her hand and walked the trails everyday.  She was bright, funny and very down to earth.  She did get a good laugh out of my shoe choice and was impressed I was able to do the hike with them.  Loved her!

We finally made it to the top and collapsed in the car.  We decided to get to the hotel as it was dark and we needed to feed.  So after getting a well deserved Blizzard from the local Dairy Queen, we checked in to our hotel, cleaned up and headed out to a late dinner. This day had been insane but we both were looking forward to another fun filled morning the next day as we drifted off watching bad TV.

Wild and Wonderful West Virgina - State #23

To be honest with you, I have no idea how my friend Noah and I came up with the idea to go to West Virginia.  It really isn’t one of the first states you think of when you want to get away for the weekend.  I do recall that we wanted to get out NYC and I was pushing for somewhere new for the 50 State Project.  We checked out a local bus company and found crazy cheap prices.  I told him if we were close to Pittsburgh, we could slip into West Virginia and see what there was to see.  Having been there, Noah said “there wasn’t much.”  Here’s the thing, Noah had been there when he was a kid on a family trip, so he didn’t remember all that much.  Nothing really made an impression.   

I decided to do some research on local activities and something amazing caught my eye.  The Mothman Festival!  Yes, the Mothman Festival!  There it was like a shining beacon of hope!  I have been a fan of Mothman since I found out about him about two years ago when I stumbled home from a late night out on the town.  I don’t recall what channel, I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but there on the screen was a special about the Mothman of Pleasant Point.

A little history: Mothman is a large 7 foot creature that looks suspiciously like a moth and has large red eyes.  He apparently also has this really loud annoying screech that he uses if his appearance doesn’t make you take notice of him.  Mothman was discovered on November 15, 1966 by a group of teenagers near the old TNT factory.  They tried to outrun the Mothman in their car, but the Mothman followed them by flying after them at speeds of 100 miles per hour.  Huh…  Okay, I didn’t know cars back then could go that fast, let alone the whole 7 foot moth thing.  I am not going to lie, it seemed a little suspicious. 

Apparently, the Mothman continued to make a few sneak appearances here and there until 1967.  He appeared by the Silver Bridge before it plunged into the water killing 46.  Some believe he appeared to warn people of the danger of the bridge.  Well, if he was trying to warn people, he didn’t do a very good job in my opinion.  Also, how do they know he didn’t cause it?  Anyway, after the bridge fiasco, the Mothman never appeared again leaving behind the mystery and making him a local legend.

Grr...Wild and Wonderful!!!

There are several theories about Mothman.  Some claim he is a mutant created by the run off at the TNT factory, others claim he is a large Sandhill Crane as they were a huge nuisance in the area during the 1960’s.  My personal theory is this.  Remember, these were teenager couples roaming the streets late at night during the1960’s…that says a lot right there.  Turn in, tune in, drop out.  But I do not know these people so I have no proof of anything so it most likely was a damn Sandhill Crane!

Still, the legend lives on and once a year, Point Pleasant has the Mothman Festival to celebrate the mystery that is the Mothman.  Look, I knew this was gold and something I had been looking forward to since I saw this program.  As soon as I brought it up to Noah, he was in!  I mean, this was too good to pass up!  So we bought our bus tickets, secured a car and our hotels and we were ready. 

We ended up climbing onto the bus early Friday morning.  We had decided that we were going to go to Philadelphia instead as the bus had really cheap tickets and the ride was less than two hours.   From there we would borrow a car and then drive to Parkersburg which was about 6 – 7 hours away depending on who was driving.  The bus ride was pleasant enough as it was surprisingly clean and empty.  But we were both happy to finally get to the car as it gave us more freedom to do what we wanted to including shopping in Delaware to get some snacks for the road.  Does spending an hour in Delaware count for the 50 State Project? 

The drive from Philly past Baltimore was crazy!  It didn’t help that it was an early Friday afternoon, but luckily after we passed Baltimore, the ride became a lot less stressful.  Before crossing into West Virginia, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Hagerstown for a late lunch early dinner.  As usual, the Cracker Barrel did not disappoint, though the portions are crazy large!  There also was a Waffle House across the street, but nobody was in there and it looked shady.  It didn’t matter as we were satisfied with the Cracker Barrel and after eating continued towards West Virginia.

Dusk

The sun was starting to descend as we finally made the cross into state #23 on my project! Yay West Virginia!  We decided to stop at the visitor center even though it was closed and take some photos.  I had no idea before, but I soon learned that the state motto was Wild and Wonderful!  I kept confusing it with Wet and Wild for the rest of the trip which made it sound like a crazy water park or cheap hourly motel.  Sorry West Virginia, you’re better than that!

We continued on.  There are some interesting names for mountains and towns in West Virginia, some confused the hell out of us and to this day we question if they were real as they seemed a little out of place.

Soon it turned dark and we still hadn’t hit Parkersburg, West Virginia.  A little something I noticed about the locals driving.  They drive one of two ways in West Virginia; 10 under the speed limit or 20 over.  I have been known to be a fast driver myself, but some of these people would tail you even if there were 50 cars in front of you and there was nowhere to go!  And I don’t mean sort of tail, I mean full on 2 inches away from your bumper at 85 miles per hour tail. 

Also, many people drive with their high beams on as well.  When I learned how to drive, one of the first things I was taught was to turn off your high beams when there are other cars present unless you are in the front of the pack.  Then, when someone appears in the opposite direction, you turn them off so as not to blind the person sending them off a 100 foot drop off.  Nope, not so much in West Virginia.  There are hardly any street lamps on the freeways, so you will need the high beams, but most people would tail you with them full blast even if you were going 20 over.  Finally, I had to adjust my rearview mirror so I wouldn’t careen off a cliff.  The night driving in West Virginia was stressful.

We finally got to Parkersburg and to our beautiful hotel the Blennerhassett.  We had been told that if you had to stay in Parkersburg, the Blennerhassett was the place to go as the other hotels in town could be questionable.  It really is a beautiful hotel and very reasonable.  I will say that the person at the desk was not the warmest towards us.  We got a very odd feeling while there from the staff, maybe because it was a no no to wear jeans in West Virginia in certain hotels?  In NYC, millionaires wear jeans in the ritziest hotels, nobody cares, so we didn’t quite understand if it was us or just how the staff behaves.  Even so, the hotel is gorgeous and I would definitely recommend it, but just be prepared.

 It was 11PM by the time we got to our room thanks to a few stops along the way and we realized that nothing was open this late for dinner.  So we cracked into our snacks, cleaned up and headed to bed.