Our “Get out of the Cold” Vacation – Days 1 and 2
On Monday, January 11th, we left home en route Florida. We drove 480 miles, from our home in Warren, Pennsylvania, to Hillsville, Virginia. We departed Warren at 9:15 AM and arrived at our hotel around 6:20 PM. Our drive was uneventful. It was a good travel day. There was no precipitation, and the roads were clear of snow and ice. It would have been nice had there been sunshine and blue skies; however, a cloudy day was better. A cloudy day is easy on the eyes, as you drive. Besides fuel stops and potty breaks we made one stop for brunch and two photo stops. Our two photo stops were along West Virginia’s Route 19 (Mountaineer Expressway).
Scenic Overlook on Route 19
located north of the Summersville/Beckley, WV area
New River Gorge
View from inside Canyon Rim Visitor Center
located near Fayetteville, WV along Route 19
New River Bridge – the longest steel arch span
in the western hemisphere
View from inside Canyon Rim Visitor Center
located near Fayetteville, WV along Route 19
We spent the night at Comfort Inn in Hillsville, Virginia. We ate dinner at Shoney’s Restaurant, which was across the street from our hotel. We are generally pleased with our accommodations whenever we stay at any Comfort Inn. The Hillsville hotel was no exception. Our room was tastefully decorated, comfortable and quiet. We were pleasantly surprised to be handed a small paper sack upon check in. Inside the paper sack was a bag of chips, cookies, a bottle of water and a newspaper. By the way, snow was still on the ground 480 miles from home.
Our second day of vacation was also a travel day. We drove from Hillsville, Virginia to Kissimmee, Florida — a distance of approximately 650 miles. We left Hillsville around 7:00 AM and pulled into the Clarion Hotel in Kissimmee at approximately 6:00 PM. We made stops only for fuel, potty breaks and lunch. After checking into our hotel, we ate dinner at Denny’s Restaurant. Denny’s was only a short walk away from our hotel. We lost the snow somewhere in North Carolina. It was cool when we arrived in Florida, but much warmer than at home. The temperature when we went to dinner was in the low 50s. Before leaving home I had made a hotel reservation for 4 nights at the Clarion Hotel. We ended up spending only 3 nights at this hotel, as our vacation was cut short.
Stay tuned; Day 3 of our “Get out of the Cold” vacation will be covered in tomorrow’s blog post.
4 Responses to “Our “Get out of the Cold” Vacation – Days 1 and 2”
Beautiful photos! Sorry you didn't get to do all that you had planned.
Lovely pictures of Virginia! Boy guys are quite the travelers. That was alot of ground you covered in 2 days!
Iowa Gardening Woman – Thank you, and we are sorry, too, that we didn't get to do all that we had planned. We are thankful, though, that Bob had a job to come back to.Elena – Wait until you see how much ground we cover in one day on our way back home!
I do love the old bridge picture you have here and that gorge picture is something! I do love the scenery in WV. I have a friend in the “Glades,” who has said the weather has been downright frigid so I am not surprised with the temps of 50s when you got into Florida. Sure hope it warmed up for you!