For Thanksgiving Leah and I drove to Washington D.C., which afforded us the opportunity to visit West Virginia. West Virginia isn’t quite on the way… but it isn’t out of the way, either. Also, my parents, sister, and I are in a big competition to see who can visit all fifty states first, and I am winning. Before last week, what I had “left” was Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and West Virginia (it probably helps that my mother is from Alaska, though in playing this game against her that isn’t an advantage). But with an added 40 minute excursion on our way back home, now I’m down to three!

Of course, once we were in West Virginia I called my family immediately. It’s OK though—they always call me anytime they make it to a new state or country (our country contest is a much larger story). Now, what did Leah and I do in West Virginia? Well, as we came into it I tried to type a story as Leah drove, and I got motion sickness. Thank goodness this is a rare occurrence, because I felt awful. We also went into an antique store, though we didn’t buy anything, and then thirty minutes later we were out. So we did a whole lot! But overall the drive was mountainous and forested and absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully in the future I can see more.

Pictured below is my scratch-off map that my sister gave me as a birthday present. When I get some time I’ll take it down off my classroom wall, scratch off West Virginia, and start planning a future trip to the Deep South. Now, if in the meantime, I can get “Country Roads” out of my head, all will be set! Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone, and I hope your time off was as fruitful as ours!

–Jeff and Leah