Any nice drives worth the side trip?

[slalemand]

[quote=Chriscross309;66522201]I do hope that you aren't confusing "Western Virginia" with West Virginia. Seeing how I-81 predominately travels through Virginia and only slightly through the state of WV. I don't say that to demean you, but it is unfortunately a common mistake a lot of folks make.

If you truly are wanting to see more of WEST Virginia, then it's going to depend on how far off of I-81 you're willing to travel. The majority of WV would take you quite a ways off of 81, and could totally change your trip. Even the border areas with Virginia are remote and hard to get to off of 81. If you wanted to just reroute your trip entirely, then that would open up a lot more options.

No problem. I hadn't noted it, but these were some of the small towns we were thinking of, so nice to see you noted them as places of interest. I'll start checking for hotels in these areas. Thank you again for the wonderful suggestions. We are thinking about starting near Northfork, WV, and stopping there to see our nephew. Not much there for sure, but some of the area is a pretty drive and a great way to see parts of the country that "Use to be"

[Chriscross309]

[quote=slalemand;66522318]

Originally Posted by Chriscross309

I do hope that you aren't confusing "Western Virginia" with West Virginia. Seeing how I-81 predominately travels through Virginia and only slightly through the state of WV. I don't say that to demean you, but it is unfortunately a common mistake a lot of folks make.

If you truly are wanting to see more of WEST Virginia, then it's going to depend on how far off of I-81 you're willing to travel. The majority of WV would take you quite a ways off of 81, and could totally change your trip. Even the border areas with Virginia are remote and hard to get to off of 81. If you wanted to just reroute your trip entirely, then that would open up a lot more options.

No problem. I hadn't noted it, but these were some of the small towns we were thinking of, so nice to see you noted them as places of interest. I'll start checking for hotels in these areas. Thank you again for the wonderful suggestions. We are thinking about starting near Northfork, WV, and stopping there to see our nephew. Not much there for sure, but some of the area is a pretty drive and a great way to see parts of the country that "Use to be"

Knowing that you're planning on going to Northfork is helpful. As you might be aware, that part of WV has a lot of coal and railroad history, but has suffered some major economic hurdles in the last few decades. That area use to be among the wealthiest areas due to rich coal fields. Now, it's economically depressed and hit hard with the drug epidemic. Still, there's things to check out there.

Some additional things to do;

Bramwell, WV is a small town filled with huge old mansions.
Welch is a very interesting place. It's a small town that use to be a small city
Twin Falls State Park is lovely, but might not be the west for your wife.
You could drive up to Beckley and see the Exhibition Coal Mine.
Tamarack
New River Gorge national Park