Just in time for summer road trips, stay at home dad blogger Shaun Fleming has a recommendation. Enjoy his chronicles of a recent visit to Smoke Hole Caverns in Pendleton County: "Day Trippin' in Our Own Backyard."

 

I don’t want to call it a New Year’s Resolution, because it didn’t happen on New Year’s, but we decided that we should take more day trips. As much as I like to travel and explore new places it seems a waste to not go out and see the natural beauty that my home state of West Virginia has to offer. The kicker is, most of it is free!! Smoke Hole Caverns isn’t, but at $15 per adult and $10 for kids over 4 it’s not terribly expensive.

 

Where I live in north central West Virginia is rather unique is that I’m a days drive from many great places. For example, 8 hours or less in the car will get me as far as New York City, Toronto, Indianapolis, and the Atlantic Ocean anywhere from New York to North Carolina. Nashville is only about 7 1/2 hours from my house and I can almost get to Atlanta in the time it takes to put in a 9-5.

 

Now 8 hours is a long way to go with an infant but you get the point. I can see a lot of places within a single days drive. We decided why not start in our own backyard. My opinion is that WV is unmatched in natural beauty from about April, when the leaves start budding, through late October, when the leaves change color. This wondrous beauty is too often taken for granted.

 

 

LET’S GO SPELUNKING

 

We decided for our first spring adventure to see Smoke Hole Caverns. I haven’t been here in probably 30 years and Jenny had never been there in her life so it seemed like a good place to start.

 

Smoke Hole Caverns is about a 2 hour drive from my house. It lies within the Seneca Rocks-Spruce Knob National recreation area. Seneca Rocks is in the picture above. It’s popular among rock climbers. There is also a hiking trail to the top if you don’t want to risk falling to your doom. It’s next on the bucket list, not falling to my doom, but rather hiking the trail to the top. Also, Spruce Knob is the highest point in the entire state. I have been there and it’s wicked awesome. Maybe I’ll write about it soon too.

 

Anyway, back to Smoke Hole Caverns. We picked here for today because it’s a manageable drive with a baby, it’s a place where I can carry the baby, and it has a huge gift shop. I really like gift shops. They claim this one is the biggest in the state, I don’t know if it actually is, but it is quite large.

 

Read the remainder of the blog HERE at rolesflipped.com.