As soon as the kids got home from school, we loaded up the car and headed for West Virginia. I wanted to book something near Seneca Rocks, WV but everything was already booked. However I did find a cabin at Smoke Hole Cabins about 15 mins away.
Once you get off the interstate headed towards Elkins, WV, there is not a lot of restaurants. We did find one called Old 33 Grill and figured it would have something for everyone. The restaurant was very busy and the service was okay. When we finished our meal and it was time to go, we waited for about 10 minutes and nobody came to bring us our check so we got up and went to the bar and we were able to pay. That would be our only complaint with the restaurant. The food was fantastic and large portion sizes.
We got back on the road and finally made it to our cabin just before 10pm. The cabin and the surrounding area was beautiful and had such a peaceful feel to it. We unloaded the car and went to bed.
Smoke Hole has many different lodging to choose from. We got one of their cabins and I feel that it was almost brand new or newly remodeled. Everything about it seemed new and it was exceptionally clean. Our cabin had 2 bedrooms, both with queen size beds and a loft area with 2 twin beds and an area for sleeping bags or an air mattress. A decent kitchen and living room and a large front porch. Each cabin had a picnic table, fire ring and charcoal grill. The kitchen was fully stocked which is a nice bonus. We cooked most of our meals to save money.
Right outside of our cabin was the entrance to the pool as well as a playground, fishing pond and 1 hole of mini golf. While I cooked breakfast the next morning the kids played on the mini golf hole and on the playground.
After breakfast, we drove to Smoke Hole Caverns which is part of the resort. We toured the gift shop and signed up for the cavern tour.
Check out my post below for details on the cabin tour!
After we finished the cavern tour, we went to Seneca Rocks. We went up to the Discovery Center and found out they were having their discovery days. The kids got to participate in all sorts of activities and won all sorts of prizes and had such a great time. After the kids finished up, we went down to a picnic area to have sandwiches for lunch before hiking to the top of the rocks via the backside of the mountain (not the trail with switchbacks that goes up the frontside of the mountain).
Check out my post below on the Discovery center activities and Seneca Rocks hike.
Once we finished the hike, we wanted to reward the kids for the fantastic job they did during the hike and we went to Yokum’s store and got ice cream. Afterwards we took them to The Gendarme which is a rock climbing store.
During one of the times Blake and I went to Seneca, we found a large swimming hole with a rope swing and we wanted to take the kids to play before heading back to the cabin for the night.
To get to the swimming hole, it was a quick walk from the parking lot. We took some chairs and and set up a little area. It was a lot busier than we expected but it was okay. Blake and the kids swam across the river to the tree with the swim and began swinging into the water. The did this for about an hour. I sat with Taylor while they played, she was exhausted. Some of the kids came back and when they did, I swam to the tree and I jumped off the rope swing one time and I thought I was going to die haha. It was a lot of fun but FREEZING. The water was very cold.
The area around the swimming hole is beautiful.
We got back to the cabin and the kids wanted to play in the pool. We told them that was fine and we cooked while they swam. The had a blast in the pool.
While waiting for dinner to cook, Blake took Taylor around to different areas of the campground.
We had a great dinner with a beautiful sunset. We also roasted marshmallows for smores.
Once the kids went to bed, Blake and I walked over to swing by the creek and enjoyed some wine and chatted a bit. It was a fantastic evening.
The next day we got up and debated on going somewhere for breakfast or cooking something we had. We ended up cooking what he had. This saved us the hassle of having so much to bring home.
Once we finished breakfast, we packed up the cabin and loaded the car.
While we packed the kids went to town playing and exploring more of the campground. Once we finished we joined them and gave them some money to feed the fish and ducks.
After leaving the campground, we made our way up to Spruce Knob (West Virginia’s high point). The last time we took the kids here it was 17 degrees and snowing.
Check out my post below on the Spruce Knob hike.
After leaving Spruce Knob we went to the Green Bank Observatory. We went here about 3 years ago but didn’t have time to do the tour. This time we had all the time we needed to do the tour and let the kids play in the science center.
Check out my post below of the Green Bank Observatory.
Once we left the Observatory and the National Radio Quiet Zone, we were able to get directions to High’s Restaurant. This is a restaurant a co-worker of mine recommended to me the last time we went to Green Bank. We liked it so much that we stopped again and just like before, it did not disappoint!
We then drove the little over 3 hours back home. We did get a little surprise on our way home. We were driving down the parkway and I spotted something black in the woods. We turned around and sure enough there was a Black Bear. One of the kids then said, “look, there is a baby in that tree”. It ended up be a mama and 2 cubs.
Another great weekend trip in the books!
Nic of Time - Travel 