We love the mountains... the hills, trees, fresh air... all of it! Our next vacation stop found us in the hills of West Virginia, where we visited Hawks Nest State Park. Man, what a beautiful place! We'd initially planned on spending a few days here, but due to our delay in arriving stateside, we had to settle for one day.
Hawks Nest is nestled on a hillside overlooking the New River Gorge in Ansted, WV. This is whitewater rafting country. One can also hike various trails, take a jetboat ride on the river, swim in the lodge pool or golf... the usual stuff.
Here are a few photos of our day at Hawks Nest...
This is a view of the New River from our balcony.
A little closer view
Mountain view from our balcony... I'm still imagining how beautiful this place must be during the fall months, when the leaves are brilliant in color. We might have to go back to see for ourselves someday.
We saw this deer from our balcony, and as we took photos of this one...
... another one entered the area. There would eventually be three deer grazing together.
We also saw this little critter hanging out on the lawn below our balcony. 
These flowers attracted butterflies like this one...
... as well as this winged creature, which at first glance appeared to be a type of hummingbird, although I'm not 100% sure.
We rode the aerial tramway down the side of the mountain to the river below so we could take the jetboat ride.
Here are D & M on the tramway. This ride scared me a little. The older I get, the bigger wimp I become. What's up with that?
My husband and youngest son enjoy the jetboat ride as we look at the sights down on the river.
If you look closely, you can see the lodge at the top of the hill.
There were several homes located on the riverbanks, and this one called out to me. We were thinking we could live here... it does have that whole military look going on. Just get me an American flag, and I'd be set. 
This is the New River Gorge Bridge. Interesting data... The main span is 1700 ft long, making it the western hemisphere's longest steel arch bridge. At 876 ft above the river, it's supposedly the 2nd highest east of the Mississippi River.
Here's another view of the bridge, taken from a different angle.
This is the New River Gorge Bridge taken from the top of the hill. Beautiful structure, isn't it?
I thought this was a nice view of the river below. The boys would have loved to go whitewater rafting on this trip, but we simply didn't have the time.
One of the boys took this photo of my hubby and me. We so rarely have the opportunity to have our photo taken together, and this one actually turned out well. My hubby is photogenic, but me? No so much! 
Here we were leaving the New River Gorge and Hawks Nest State Park area, and soon West Virginia would be in our rearview mirror. Next stop on our U.S. Vacation... VIRGINIA!
1 comment:
Nice pictures :)
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