West Virginia, Mountain Mama

Though I claim to be a southern girl through and through, half of my heritage actually comes from West Virginia. I know, I know. ;) It's actually okay because, as my Dad had to prove to my Mom's Granny before he received her blessing in marriage, West Virginia is below the Mason Dixie line. Nah, I seriously have a huge place in my heart for WV and the mountains!

I traveled to WV with my Dad last weekend to visit his hometown and cheer on the WVU Mountaineers! I had so much fun! I hadn't been to WV since my grandparents moved to Florida when I was in grade school. West Virginia, and my Dad's home town in particular, are sorta like Disney World to me; I first visited when I was a child and all my memories there are great and magical ones. I loved revisiting places from my past and this trip was especially significant since as an adult I can appreciate things I wouldn't have as a child. 

We flew in to Pittsburgh, PA and drove down to Morgantown and Fairmont, WV. I stopped for some picture opportunities in the airport first. Apparently I got some bad looks from my attempt to "tackle" the football player who was clearly labeled "Do Not Touch"... oops. I didn't see that obviously. And William Penn didn't impress me too much. 

I really enjoyed seeing Fairmont, where my Daddy and his side of the family are from.

There is an East side and a West side to Fairmont. Bob-bob, my grandfather, was from the East Side, which my grandma just really turned her nose up at. =) Silly, small town politics. 

Driving over the bridge from the East Side to the West Side. 

I love history and nothing beats your own, personal history. My dad took me to see the house where Bob-bob grew up at, his childhood homes, and of course back to the house that I remember my grandparents last living in.

The house my grandfather grew up in

Looking out over East Fairmont

The view driving up to my grandparents' house... I would get SO excited when we would turn this corner as a child!!

SO many fond memories in this house! It's funny going back as an adult, everything seemed so much bigger, larger than life, as a child!

My dad took me to all the places I remember going when I visited WV as a child. We had to stop at Gabriel Brothers. It's basically like a TJ Max. My grandmother loved a great deal and we always had to shop at "Gabe's" whenever we were in town. I remember a HUGE Looney Tunes night shirt I got here as a child. I loved that shirt. I probably wore it till it got holes in it.

It cracked me up that in addition to the usual departments such as Juniors, Ladies, Men, Shoes, there was a hunting department! Haha!

So of course, I had to try on some things...

That jacket was WARM!

We also visited Muriales, a really yummy Italian restaurant that gives Andes mints with your check... the best! 

I found a picture of the Fairmont YMCA... represent, holla. 

One of the many reasons my Dad is the best... he got the wait staff to give us extra mints! And look! Our rental car came with the perfect little storage spot for them! 

A huge thing in WV is pepperoni rolls. Seriously. I saw these for sale everywhere! Bakeries, the concession stand at the football games, CVS... they are popular! We stopped by the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont and picked up a dozen rolls to take back home to Miguel. They didn't last long at home btw ;)



We also had to stop by Colasessano's... the BEST pizza. It's thick and square and full of yummy cheesiness!!!

Enjoying some pasta salad before the pizza came... bad choice, I should have left more room for the pizza!

My Dad also took me to see his grade school and his high school and Bob-bob's middle school.

Bob-bob's middle school

Apparently, my dad and his buddies tried to steal the bell outside Bob-bob's middle school... it didn't go so well.... it's a bit heavy... =)

My Dad's grade school... one class per grade 

I loved seeing my dad's high school! It was so different than the way I pictured it in my head. I pictured a one story, smallish building built in the 1950's. I also think it's really cool that both my Dad and my Grandma went to school in the same building. 

The doors were open so we were able to go in and walk around. It was fun to see the pictures of the past principles from both my dad's time and my grandma's too. I loved hearing about what Lo-lo (my grandma) thought about her principle and what my dad thought of his and his teachers. 

Friday night we decided to go to the high school football game. The east and west high schools share a stadium and my dad said pretty much nothing had changed since he went to games there. He said even buying the tickets was exactly the same.

As an added bonus, it happened to be their Homecoming game. The team didn't play so well, but it was an excellent cultural experience. The cheerleaders hair cracked me up. I'm sorry if you think this is cute, and I may be behind the times in this beauty fashion... but these girls were rocking some pretty serious, um... snooki poofs? Those things were seriously high and looked soooo funny in person! It was really comical! I wish I had had enough courage to go up and get a decent picture of their hair... but I figured it would look sorta sketchy having a stranger be that obvious about taking their picture. But, seriously. Those bumps have to be at least over four inches. How do they even get them to stay that high?!

Our last night in WV my dad and I drove around and through some of the surrounding towns. We happened upon a traveling fair in Shinnston. We had to stop and check it out. I asked my dad if he thought people would know we weren't from there and he just laughed in response. I did get a bunch of stares apparently. People thought I was crazy for taking pictures of everything... they thought I was acting as if I had never seen a fair before. Which is kinda true I guess. I felt like I was in a movie set in a small town. It was fun. But everything was super over priced. 

 

I'm going to blog about the WVU game, but in another post. For now I will just leave with some thoughts and interesting facts I learned while in WV...

There are strange stoplights that last forever... I felt like I was in Gilmore Girls...

just substitute my dad and me for Rory and Lorelai

There are a lot of scary bridges, that I don't think people should drive over....

There are coal mine ventilation things....

People carpet their front porches...? Like this wasn't a one house thing... there were fewer houses without carpet than there were with it.

Okay, to be fair it's to help the porches not be too slippery in the winter... 

This sign made me laugh...

It is WAY too cold for September up there...

We drove through a mountain! NOT COOL! 

But the tunnel was shorter than it originally felt like it would be and we came out to a pretty view of Pittsburgh. 

So much fun! Can't wait to blog about the game!

Hilton Head 2012: Lasting Memories

My family and I started visiting Hilton Head Island for vacation when I was just one year old. We lived in Texas at the time and we were a family of four living on a seminary student's income, so as I'm sure you can imagine, a beach vacation was a huge treat for us! Hilton Head charmed its way into my family's heart that summer and has never left since. Bob-bob and Lo-lo (my grandparents on my Dad's side) treated us to a two-week stay for almost every one of my childhood summers. Countless memories come to mind when I think of Hilton Head. It has that "special" factor that just warms my heart and makes me smile when I think of it. The feeling of pride and ownership I have for Hilton Head rivals that of one's feeling of their hometown. Both Bob-bob and Lo-lo are partying with Christ these days, but we are continuing the Hilton Head family tradition. Sarah, my sister, wrote about it on her blog too and I encourage you to check it out here... I also am "borrowing" some pictures from her post. 

Harbor Town: Year 2012

Harbor Town: Year:..early 90's judging by our awesome attire. 

It was such a ball to introduce Karis to Hilton Head! We were so excited to recreate our childhood memories with her! Some of which include sitting in this small, wooden boat in Harbor Town as well as posing with the pensive, reader statue. I wish I could find some pictures of us in that boat. We were determined to fit in it and pose for a picture up until our late teen years. Perhaps if Karis wasn't there one of us would be modeling in this picture instead... another good reason for the addition of Kar-Bear to our family!

We also had to take Karis to see Gregg Russell. Gregg Russell has performed at Harbor Town for over 25 years and is a staple to my Hilton Head memories. He sings silly songs that kids love and, really, half of his show is pretty much stand up comedy. Even during our Hilton Head trips since adulthood, we've made it a priority to go to Gregg Russell's show. 

Though his crowd has certainly grown and he sings some new songs that we don't know, it's still a great time. 

I don't have any pictures of Sarah and me as children up on Gregg Russell's stage. The closest I have is of us at a similarly significant Hilton Head must and kid entertainer Rick Hubbard.

Sarah and I are the two on the right

Not only is it fun to share Hilton Head with Karis, but we've also had a ball bringing Miguel and Jared too!

Karis, what are you doing behind that bush? 

Haha, yep... having Uncle Miguel at Hilton Head certainly brings another side of entertainment! It definitely wouldn't be the same with out either Miguel or Jared though now!

As someone who doesn't like change much, it's good to see how much fun it is to bring others into our special family memories. It really only keeps getting better and better, and I just love continuing experiences through Karis!

Karis and her Poppa at Hilton Head

Sarah and me with Bob-bob in Hilton Head

 I just love Hilton Head and had such a great time on our family vacation there this year... I really could go on and on, but I have to get in the shower and go to work... bla ;) So since I have to cut it short, I will just leave you with this gem from a past Hilton Head Vacation. Aren't I so lucky I never went through that "ugly duckling" stage?!