My wife Melissa and I decided to go to the Road Kill Cook-off in Marlinton, West Virginia on September 27, 2003. We both had seen the cook-off on HGTV the year before and decided that we would like to go. We also decided to go to a few other places in West Virginia, such as Seneca Rocks and Seneca Caverns. The first day was spent driving up to Elkins, WV where we spent the night. It only took us about three and a half hours to get to Elkins, so we decided to check into the hotel and take a little break before heading out to Seneca Rocks and Seneca Caverns.

It was mostly sunny on the first day when we went to Seneca Rocks. There is an old homestead on the property and my wife and I really enjoyed looking in the old house and at the garden. There was a really old pear tree near the house that was loaded down with pears. I got an idea on how to build an old picket fence that was at one end of the garden.

After looking at the old homestead for a little while, we walked over to see Seneca Rocks. There was a telescope viewer that we could use to get a closer look at the rocks. We could also see people that were climbing the rocks and a few that were already on top. My wife and I would never want to climb the rocks, but it was kind of cool seeing people that were. We took some pictures and walk over to the information center before leaving and going down to Seneca Caverns.

We stopped at a little antique shop on the way to Seneca Caverns. Although they didn’t have a lot of items, it was still fun to look at. When we got to the caverns, we had to wait a little while before the tour started. We looked around the gift shop and bought a few souvenirs. The tour cost $9.00 per person, but they said it lasts for nearly an hour so it was worth it. They told us that we might need our jackets since the cave is a constant 54 degrees year round. There were quite a few stairs, which was a little bad for me since my knee was hurting, but there were hand rails so it wasn’t too bad. The caverns are very pretty though and my wife and I took several pictures. Most of the rooms were large and the trail through the caves was easy to walk although it was a little slippery in places. Overall we both enjoyed the tour but we were both tired at the end so we decided to just go get dinner and go back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning it was a little cloudy, but it wasn’t raining. We left Elkins and was headed toward Malinton and the Road Kill Cook-off. We were driving on US-219/ WV-55. The road went through some of the prettiest areas in the Appalachian Mountains. It was still a little early in the season for the leaves to be turning there beautiful fall colors, although there were some areas where the leaves were just starting to turn. We stopped along the way and took some pictures of farms. We also saw a lot of the bed and breakfasts that we had been looking at on the Internet. At least now we know where they are when we decide to come and stay at one.

We made it to Marlinton a little after 12:00 noon. The cook-off was just getting started. We decided to look at all the crafts first before sampling any of the food. There were quite a bit of crafts and we got some ideas on items to make ourselves. After looking around for a little while, we went to try some of the food. There wasn’t anything too weird, mostly deer, elk, turkey, rabbit, and buffalo. We tried it all and everything was really good.

On the way home, we stopped at another antique shop. This one had a lot more stuff than the other one, almost too much because it was kind of difficult to get down the different aisles. We bought a few candles and books for Melissa and got back on the road. We did see a black bear cross the road right in front of us. That was the first time either of us had seen a bear in the wild.

http://www.pocahontascountywv.com/home.aspx

http://www.senecarocks.com/

http://www.senecacaverns.com/