ON THE GROUND IN PARKERSBURG, W. VA (Cheri, mostly)

Mark and I were talking about going to an art exhibit in Wheeling, West Virginia.

We decided against it, but I remembered that I had more that I wanted to post about Parkersburg, WV, which is about an hour-and-a-half away from Wheeling.

We spent time in Eastern Ohio and West Virginia last fall.  We did not stay at the Blennerhassett Hotel, and when I saw it I was sorry that we didn't.

Here's another container arrangement in front of a "main street" store.  I'd forgotten that we drove our orange Mini Cooper on that trip until I saw it reflected in the window.

A mural near the city's arts center:

This mural doesn't photograph as well, due to the poles and cords, but I wanted to send it to a friend who sews a lot for her regional theater:

We try to find good bookstores wherever we travel.  Due to my unfamiliarity with the area, I was surprised to discover that this store was actually across an extended parking lot from where we were staying:

Unfortunately, Trans Allegheny Books, formerly the biggest used book store in the State and housed in a former Carnegie public library, hasn't been open in over 15 years.

There are some pictures of the beautiful interior at this Facebook post.  The books are still inside.  I read somewhere that they are the subject of a difficult estate situation.

We arrived at this area of town just as the sun was heading towards the horizon.  Mark spent a lot of time taking pictures here.

A couple of Mark's pictures of details surrounding the courthouse:

Mark is a big fan of taking pictures of reflections.  I'm not always as taken with the concept, but this picture of his, of a building across the street from the courthouse, is spot-on!

These buildings were difficult to get a good picture of, but I just had to.  They almost look like they should be in a Texan border town, definitely deserve some development attention.

This little building cracked me up, and I got Mark to stop just so I could take the picture.  It was difficult to get, as it was in the crook of a sharp turn in a fast-moving major street, not to mention the power lines.

It houses either a credit union or a savings and loan building . . . so why the Dutch-style windmill??

I think Mark was still at the courthouse when I got this shot.  It was a hit with his text string of former-cop buddies!

We may head back to the area sometime to visit the beautiful Blennerhassett Island.  I'm not sure that this depicts the actual conveyance to the Island, but it's a very evocative mural!