Sometimes I like taking the road less traveled. Interstates are nice but you can't really see or experience America sandwiched in between 2 tractor-trailers and eating at Cracker Barrel. Driving through Ontario and then Michigan was actually enlightening, to see the farms, the small towns, and the locals going about their day, totally separated from the hustle and bustle of the city. Well, the rain finally let up...lets see it's been 5 days of downpour now. We took a "shortcut" to get from Flint to Columbus, at least that's what I was told. We passed an old drive in movie that I now wish I had stopped to photograph. Plenty of old gas stations, barns, and shops. The highlight of our stay was meeting Emma our grand-niece. As you can see she is cute as a button and we spent plenty of time getting some good pictures.
We left Columbus and headed to Canaan Valley, WV...yahoo! I was familiar with this place when I attended the very first NANPA Regional event held here in May 2006 (my gallery from this event). The foliage was in good form, and the weather...well it seemed like the rain had caught up with us. We felt like we were jinxed, out comes the camera, down comes the rain. As you can see the overcast skies worked in our favor. I would rather dodge the raindrops than deal with the full sun. We debated staying one more day since I missed the morning fog in the valley. I have a tough time catching that fog! We decided to head out per schedule, one more night in Cornelius, NC and then home at last.
