Back from Berkeley Springs

Jeffro and I spent a nice relaxing weekend in Berkeley Springs, WV. We stayed at the Country Inn, which was a nice enough place I guess, central to everything and right next to Berkeley Springs State Park. The springs were not what I envisioned them to be, but it was kind of cool to think that George Washington had made the trek there hundreds of years ago to enjoy the mineral springs' restorative and healthy properties.

Friday we arrived at lunchtime and ate at Tari's, which also had a nice amount of local art to view. Dinner was at the Panorama at the Peak restaurant--excellent local food and a view to die for (see photo). We made a new friend sitting at the bar waiting, a very interesting "local cowboy" who, much to our surprise, liked Obama. But also said he couldn't tell many people that. Apparently WV just went non-smoking so he ran out about three times during our 15-minute conversation to smoke.

Saturday we went to Cacapon State Park and enjoyed walking along the lake to the dam/waterfall. Then we spent the rest of the day exploring the shops in Berkeley Springs and talked to a nice guy who owns a cabin nearby and told us we should have stayed at Whispering Hills. We wanted to see the Paw Paw Tunnel and the railroad bridge at Great Cacapon, but wound up unfortunately seeing neither. But the winding drive to get there was really fun. I wanted to eat at Lot 12 Public House, but there were complications so we weren't able to do that either. But I'll give them a plug here anyway since they had a booth at the farmer's market selling amazing-smelling food. When it started pouring that night, we found a great wine bar La Luna to enjoy a glass of wine and chocolate lava cake, as well as take in more local art.

Sunday we explored the local farmer's market, then discovered the beautiful Exline Iris Garden. It was tempting to buy some irises, but I don't think they would do well in my yard. Quite a spectacular place with hundreds of irises in bloom in every color.