This year for Columbus Day weekend my roommate Janet, my buddy Brian and I went on an adventure to John Denver's "almost heaven" West Virginia. We took a little detour on our way out and stopped at the Graves Mountain Apple Festival. Where we sampled and picked our own apples before heading to WV. Our first stop in WV was the Biscuit World, where they serve biscuit sandwiches with names like Ron, Tootie, Thundering Herd and Duke. It was delicious! Once our bellies were full we headed over to Cooter's Cabins & Campin'. "Cooter" was exactly what you'd expect a West Virginian to be, except he had a full set of teeth, but he was not without the overalls, goofy laugh, and country manners. His house is on the property and the "office" is located in the old barn. In the office there are a variety of things for sale, including Cooter's Cabins & Campin t-shirts puffy painted, I'm sure, by the misses. He showed us our campsite and warned us not to leave our shoes lying around 'cause the neighbor's dog would chew 'em up. The neighbor's dogs showed up an hour later to play an endless game of fetch. Nothing could deter this dog from the game in fact she was waiting outside our tent the next morning with the same stick in her mouth ready to go. But we had other things to do. Mysterious things.
My roommate had tried to visit the Mystery Hole several years ago but sadly it was closed that day. After reading their website we were not gonna let that happen again. The website makes it perfectly unclear what the Mystery Hole is. My favorite quote is "Now that you've read and digested this story I believe you understand what you think I've said, but I am not quite sure you realize that what you've read is not what I meant." So even if you think you understand, you don't. Like the website says, "seeing is believing." So we came to see. When we pulled up what should be playing on the loud speakers but the Macarena. It was then that I knew this experience would be extraordinary. We purchased our $6 tickets and waited for our tour group to be called. It's hard to describe what happened on that 15 minute tour. The best I can do is tell you what I saw. Picture if you will psychedelic happy face book fair posters, plastic Halloween skeletons, drift wood creatures, abandoned hornets nests, 1970s mannequins, a black hall way with spatterings of neon paint glowing under a black-light, a wood paneled tilted room where a golf ball running along a track appears to roll up hill, a mustached Hawaiian-shirted tour guide cracking goofy jokes, fun house mirrors, and the comfort of a bench seat that formerly resided in an old ford pick-up. It was almost as if some one had raided Good Will or their 90 year old Grandma's basement for decorations. Really its something you must see for yourself. If you are ever in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia don't miss the Mystery Hole! In fact you probably won’t be able to resist the powers of the Mystery Hole drawing you near…
Along with the Mystery Hole, another legend of the New River Gorge area of West Virginia is “5 Dollar Frank.” We asked Cooter about Frank and he had all sorts of great things to say about the man. Frank passed away a few years back and when he died he was apparently the oldest licensed pilot in the US, couldn’t hear a thing and gave rides in his Cessna plane for $5. He built the Fayetteville airport with his own 2 hands and everyone knew Frank. While we missed the opportunity to meet 5 Dollar Frank we did wander over to the Fayetteville airport and for a lot more than $5 dollars took a ride in a WWII biplane. A biplane! It was incredible! Admittedly I was a little scared, but it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity. The weather was absolutely perfect for flying. The leaves were at peak fall colors, the sun was shining and the sky could not have been bluer. The flight was about 25 minutes with amazing views of the New River Gorge and beautiful WV hills. We cruised along leisurely through the sky with the open air blowing past us. After the scenic part of the flight came the fun part. The acrobatics! We did some barrel rolls and hammerheads and while the cockpit is open, you don’t feel like you’d come close to falling out. And I had a parachute on “just in case.” It was like a very mild roller coaster. Not scary, just fun! Sadly my time was up after the acrobatics and we had to land. All good things must come to an end and we had to return to our real lives. It’s true what they say. West Virginia wild and wonderful!
