Having fun here in WV

Today starts day two of our week here in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It's great to finally be relaxing and away from home. Yesterday we ventured up to Snowshoe Mountain for the day to spend time at the Fire on the Mountain Chilli Cookoff - what an awesome time! First off the weather yesterday was simply incredible - high 70s, low humidity and it was so clear up at the top of the mountain you could see everywhere for miles and miles. There were lots of contestants participating in the cookoff this year and we got to sample most of their creations. some of the chilli samples weren't for the faint of heart. Our friends from First Tracts Realty had a chilli entry that was so hot you needed to sign a liability waiver before tasting - hilarious!!! We also spent time listening to the great live music at Snowshoe villiage center and shopping for West Virginia crafts at some of the vendor booths. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law took the older kids on a ski-lift ride down to the bottom of the mountain where they all went paddleboating for the afternoon.

Later last night after dinner we got a fire going in the firepit and sat around the fire telling ghost stories. The kids thought that they would try to scare us but we managed to turn that around! One of our neighbors from down the street came down to join us and proceeded to tell the kids all about the local legends of ghosts that frequent our area. Needless to say the kids were shaking in their boots - all good fun though and this morning it's all a distant memory. Today we are hoping to make it down to Droop Mountain State Park and Beartown State Park but we are waiting out a passing shower. Actually, just looking out the window now it seems to have passed so it looks like we've got the afternoon planned out afterall.