Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Copyright Violation Wednesday: PBW - Beartown
With apologies, of course, to MCF, who's Photo Blog Wednesdays are always fun. While he may choose to remain mysterious and cloaked, giving us nary a glimpse of his visage, MCF has done something quite unique... he's shown us the world through his eyes. Gotta admit, that's cool.
I should also apologize to my very own child bride, who's subject matter I've stolen as well.
And while I'm at it, before I get on with my own pictures, I want to make sure I recognize a number of other bloggers who've posted pictures that have warmed my rusty old heart.
As I mentioned Sunday, I'm doing this Copyright Violation theme to celebrate my second anniversary as a blogger. As much fun as I have writing at my blog, the real fun for me is in the reading... and in the viewing... especially when my favorite bloggers post pictures like these:
- Lorna frequently posts pictures of her family, and there's just something about them that makes me smile. I guess it's just something about family, something about the ties that bind... Heck, I don't know what it is. I like that Lorna posts pictures like these. And, like the photo here, which is my favorite photo she's ever posted, and it happens to appear at the end of my favorite Lorna In Wonderland entry ever.
- Then there's Kelly, who got our attention with this beautiful early infant photo. What can I say, I'm a sucker for people's baby pictures.
- I'm a sucker for baby videos, too... like this one Rey posted just the other day.
- When you read people's blogs... and especially when they actually post pictures of themselves (nudge, nudge, MCF and Kelly), you can't help but feel like you've gotten to know them a little bit. (I hope that comes off as friendly and not cyber-creepy.) And when it comes to posting pics that run the gamut, The Write Jerry is in a class by himself. I mean, how can you not feel like you know a guy when you've seen him dressed up for Halloween and then attended his wedding to the lovely Mrs. Write?
- I don't get the chance to do much traveling.... so it was nice to be able to virtually visit Asia with Jamie Dawn. By the way, Jamie Dawn's prolific use of Flikr has given her readers a ton of chances to get to know her and her family.
- As I said, I'm not a traveler... more of a homebody. And a bit of a backyard gardener. So it's through the miracle of blogging that I've enjoyed the chance to visit Ms. Elanaeous's garden.
Having said all that, on with PBW.
Last weekend we took the kids to Beartown State Park in West Virginia. Beartown is known for it's unusual rock formations, and it's kind of a neat place to visit.
I have no idea why it's called Beartown. The name is a bit misleading, and I think the kids were disappointed that we didn't see any bears. Wendy tried to make it up to them with her doctored pictures at her blog.
The kids did, however, really enjoy the unusual rock formations. They weren't bored, they really got a kick out of it... and that made the whole trip worthwhile.
The drive to Beartown affords a number of scenic views of the valleys of Greenbrier County, West Virginia. I love stuff like this.
Beartown is navigated by visitors by way of a complicated system of boardwalks.
The boardwalks form kind of a giant maze... and I think the kids thought that the maze alone was worth the trip.
The rocks are technically sandstone. I'll leave it to geologists to decide if that's a cool fact or not. I just think they look neat.
Narrow passages, rocky edges... you can't help but have a little bit of an Indiana Jones feeling while exploring Beartown.
I kept waiting for this big rock to speak to me. It looked like something out of a movie with it's ancient face covered in moss and with that thick, grassy head of hair.
Yeah, it's a posed shot. Getting them all together in one frame is a nightmare; they have a tendency to scamper in three different directions. So I said "Just stand still for a second and act like you're looking at something interesting." This is what I got.
Wendy had a good time, too... until a bunch of caterpillars showed up and spoiled things for her. Wendy hates caterpillars.
I actually spent most of my time with the video camera in hand... which explains the two minute video here at the end. The quality of this video is crude, I used a high compression rate when I copied it to the hard-drive so it wouldn't be 500 megs in size. Basically, this is a two minute tour of Beartown with musical accompaniment by Tool.
Why in the world would anyone put together a two minute video of a natural park and put Tool, of all bands, in the background? Because I happen to like Tool, that's why.
Anyway, awesome pics and video. I went to a place similar to that in the Poconos back in college with walkways, stairs and waterfalls. I don't remember the real name; Rey used to refer to it as "Endor." Last year one of my other college buddies went back there with his wife and baby girl and they saw a BEAR while videotaping. My friend, an experienced army-trained pathfinder, walked slowly with his child while his wife, having spent most of her life in (bear-free?) India, RAN. The bear stayed to the side following him until he made it back where there were more people and the bear hung back, finding a trashcan of more interest.
I was kind of hoping you'd do "Copyright Violation Thursday: Photo Blog Wednesday" as a joke on the days, but cool nonetheless. :) I always liked that generations pic of Lorna's too. As for a photo of the MCF, my next anniversary is coming up in October, which means it will be time for my annual revealing photo....
I'm guessing two hours. It's about an hour from Roanoke to Alleghany County, and another hour from here to Beartown. So, give or take 15 minutes, I'd say you're looking at two hours.
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