When in WV . . .

My in-laws came to visit West Virginia for the first time over the 4th of July weekend. They were probably expecting banjo-playing, toothless rednecks like most people do and, yes, we have our fair share of those. But so do Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Luckily they both enjoy the outdoors, so we were able to show them a lot of what WV has to offer.


The first night they came, we stayed at the Dian Lee House in Bluefield:





Brad and I stayed in the Abe Lincoln Room. It was awesome.






Over the course of the 5 days they were here, we did a lot of this:

And Brad and his dad even did some of this:

We spent some time in Fayetteville, ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Diogi's, and I purchased a pair of Merrell Pace Gloves (which I ran in for the first time today and LOVE). We hiked, drank, ate at a fancy restaurant, visited the Capitol Market, and hiked some more.

While we were showing them around our lovely new(ish) home state, I felt proud of WV. There are so many beautiful places to go and gorgeous natural things to see. So Charleston has very few good restaurants and there isn't a Whole Foods or a Lululemon in the whole state. So no good bands ever play here (outside of Mountain Stage, of course) and the theater is limited. So we're not a major city and we don't have a professional sports team. We have met wonderful people, are making great friendships, and we can get anywhere in the city in 10 minutes. There's never any traffic to speak of. You can hike up a mountain 5 minutes from your house. The air is clean (if you're not near a coalmine) and the trees are big. I've become a trail runner, and Brad a better cyclist. Mountains do that to you -- they make you strong.

An Actual Conversation

What follows is an actual conversation between my mother and I about her chin-length gray bob:

Mom: I want a new hairstyle. I'm turning 60 this year, and I'm tired of my hair. What should I do with it?
K: Get it cut short.
M: Don't you think that will make me look like an old lady?
K: Do you think your hair now makes you look like a young lady?
M: Well, no. . .
K: You've had the same haircut since I was a child.
M: I have.
K: Do you ever watch "Keeping Up With the Kardashians?"
M: Yes! *launches into a diatribe about how spoiled and mean to their mother the Kardashian girls are.*
K: You should get your hair cut like Kris from that show.
M: Kim Kardashian? Don't you think that's too long?
K: No, not Kim. Kris Jenner.
M: A Man's haircut?
K: Not Bruce Jenner, mom. Kris. The mother on the show?
M: Oh. But her hair is black!
K: . . .