Almost Heaven...West Virginia

"Almost heaven, West Virginia..." Yep.  We've been singing John Denver and yep, we saw that Shenandoah River (by the way, a real thrill).

West Virginia - their license plate's motto is "Wild, Wonderful" - very interesting and actually I agree.  It's wild, as in, wild, wild west.  It's wonderful as in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Put one more check on the list of things we've wanted to do:  we hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT)!  Okay, just a small bit of the 2200 miles, but still - it was the AT!  And it was thrilling.  And scenic.

In addition to amazing wildlife (I spotted a blue heron and lots of living things I couldn't readily identify) and spectacular views, Harpers Ferry takes you back to the time of the Civil War as so many things happened there, including John Brown's raid and the largest surrender of federal troops during the war.  In listening to one park ranger, it became apparent.  He talked about how our country was divided...and fighting.  Many abolitionists fought on behalf of the belief that men should be free and slavery should be eradicated, but these same individuals were still racist, and still insisted on segregation.  The Civil War formally abolished slavery, but the Civil Rights movement a hundred years later is what advanced the notion of true equal rights - and the topic of race is still relevant and still controversial.

Harpers Ferry Lower Town - near the John Brown fort

The Potomac and the Shenandoah rivers meet

Blue Ridge Mountains

AT - from Maine to Georgia

The 2"x6" white post markings indicate the AT

Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry in 1783 and wrote: "The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature."