After giving Jamie a short night’s sleep Jim had her up and at em in the morning for  some touring spots between Charleston, in northwestern West Virginia, to southeastern WV. We had an overnight booked in an exclusive hotel in White Hot Springs called the Greenbrier hotel. More on that later.

Our first stop was the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV. It’s a bridge that was built in 1977 to get people across the New River Gorge in the Appalachian Mountains. The bridge is 3300′ long and 876′ high and was the longest single span arch bridge in the world when it was built. Now it’s the 5th largest. Arch bridge simply means it’s built on an arch.

Prior to the bridge being built it took 45 minutes to get from one side of the gorge to the other using a steep, windy road to get down to the original bridge and then back up again. The original bridge was built in 1889.

The New River Gorge bridge
The New River Gorge bridge
The walk down to the lookout area
Under the bridge
The original bridge. Still in use for people that want to take the scenic route
The New River Gorge
An area to launch rafts and kayaks
The road along the scenic route
The original bridge
The only way to cross the gorge prior to 1977.
Looking up from the original bridge
They offer raft trips along the river

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