West Virginia Day 1 - Markets, Mortar Men, and Mystery Holes
I started my first day In the more Western Virginia in the town of Huntington. Huntington is the home of Marshall University and is a nice little college town. It was pretty cool starting in a college town, because West Virginia is the first state on my trip that could be considered Southern (the accents are definitely Southern, but the people I've talked to have different opinions on whether or not they're culturally part of the South). The first thing I saw driving into town was the Biotechnology building, which made me really happy because I was expecting a lot of my of my pre-conceived Northerner stereotypes to be busted but I didn't know it would happen almost immediately.
I stopped for coffee at the Old Village Roaster. It was all done up to seem like an old cafe from the turn of the century which gave the whole place a really fun atmosphere. The coffee was excellent as well. The woman behind the counter told me to that their specialty was flavored coffee. I generally try to avoid flavored coffee because so few things can compare to my beloved Mary Lou's, but I figured who am I to turn down a specialty so I ordered their coconut coffee. I was very pleasantly surprised by how nicely balanced the flavor was with the coffee, not overly saccharine like most flavored coffees I've had.
Fueled and flavored, I drove to Charleston to see the state's capitol. It was a bit cold and rainy today, but Charleston was still a nice place to walk around in, not too big but still lots of shops and places to look around in.
I got my lunch at Black Sheep Burritos and Brews. Both the namesake items were exemplary, though I did not see any actual black sheep. For brews, I ordered a flight of four beers: The Attack of the Alpaca Wheat Beer, the How Ewe Doing? Cream Ale, the Meat Candy Smoked Milk Stout, and the Weird Little Pumpkin Brown ale. The milk stout was unsurprisingly my favorite, despite easily having the worst name of the bunch. There was no actual meat in, but it did have a cool smoked flavor that was a nice counterpoint to the creaminess. I also really liked the pumpkin ale. I don't always like pumpkin beers, because they're usually kind of sweet, but this one had a cool spiciness to it so it almost tasted more like a nutmeg brown ale than a pumpkin ale. The two lighter beers were also quite good but did not stand out as much. For food, I ordered a chili-lime marinated chicken burrito. First of all, it was massive. Second of all. it was outstanding. The chicken was really flavorful and tender, and you got a lot of it. Everything else was just extra but it all complimented the chicken very well, and the burrito came with an additional side of rice and some tortilla chips. I was very happy.
After lunch, I walked around for a bit. I made sure to see the Mortar Man, a funny little statue made by an architect on a whim when he had a little extra mortar. He put the little fellow in a bit of space between two building where he quietly watches over the town. Apparently at one point, he was removed due to renovations, but enough people complained that he was put back in his rightful place. He can be kinda tricky to spot, but if you're in the capital and looking for a dose of whimsy, he's not going anywhere.
Mortar Man successfully spotted, I walked up to the Capitol Market, a big indoor marketplace showing off all kinds of local food and crafts. I got some local chocolates as dessert. I originally just wanted to get a coconut creme and an Irish cream truffle, but the cashier told me that you get four for the price of three so I felt like I'd be losing money if I didn't get two more. I went with a mint truffle, and a classic dark chocolate and I was not disappointed. Everything was superb, and just look at how beautiful they all look in their box.
Before leaving Charleston, I decided to get some more coffee. I went to bookstore and cafe called Taylor Books. The coffee was really good, and the book store had great deals on used books and a cool collection of books highlighting local writers and attractions. I had to tear myself so as not to buy a bunch, but I particularly enjoyed the title of this book by a local poet, You really do learn something new everyday.
After leaving the capital, I drove to Ansted to see the world famous Mystery Hole. Unfortunately when I got there it had closed for the season which if anything just made it even more mysterious. I did some googling though and it appears that the mystery is that the bottom floor is built in such a way that things seem to defy gravity because everything is slanted but in a way that's an optical illusion. Even though I did not get to witness the laws of physics shattered before my very eyes, the hole is a roadside attraction on a beautiful windy state highway through the mountains so the view alone was still worth the visit.
By then, it was time for my first open mic of the state. It was at a place called the RiffRaff Arts Collective in Princeton. Princeton's a pretty small town, sort of out the way from most of bigger cities, but the fact that they had a community arts center at all was the first sign that they had a strong and supportive community and the rest of the mic confirmed that. The arts collective is affiliated with a music school nearby, and it must be a damn fine program because several high school kids performed and they were phenomenal. They'd clearly been taught actual music theory not just how to play their favorite songs, because while they did mostly perform covers, they also took solos, sang in harmonies, and arranged their own medleys out of different songs that displayed vastly above average talent for their young ages. One young woman played bass in several different acts and particularly impressed me with her ability to play anything from bass slappin' funk to smooth country pop. As a bassist myself, she completely blew me out of the water.
Because the mic was mostly younger kids and their parents and I was the only comic, I definitely felt a bit out of my comfort zone even moreso because I knew I'd have to be clean for the even younger siblings in the audience. I know I've got mostly all clean material but somehow knowing that I have to be watching my language and content in the back of my head always throws me off a bit. I don't think anyone else noticed though, as in the end my set went over really well. The audience was super attentive and receptive, and they gave me a great energy that was fun to play off of. After my set, I had a lot of people come up to me and give me a pat on the back or a handshake which made me feel really welcomed into this lovely community. It was the kind of mic I was really glad I got to be a small part of. I couldn't stay too long though because Princeton was a little more than 2 and a half hours away from my Air BnB so I think I saw most of the musicians but I must have missed a few, which really was undoubtedly my loss based on the ones that came before them.
If you're in the area and looking for a place to try any kind of art I'd definitely recommend them. They do ask for a small donation of $2, but they also give you free snacks and coffee and the money goes back into allowing them to keep adding to the community so I'd say it's more than worth it.
Favorite Random Sightings: Fat Patty's; Long Term Wife Insurance; A slogan- "You can't beat our meat"; Beef Jerky Outlet; Mom and Dad's Adult Consignment (I generally want to support mom and pop shops but this is a weird one alright)
Regional Observations: I have never seen so many beautiful water falls just off to the side of the road. I've always had to do at least a teensy bit of walking to see one before.
Albums Listened To: Heartattack and Vine by Tom Waits (a slighter album in that it's not even 10 songs but it's got Jersey Girl on it so it's still pretty noteworthy); Heartbreaks and Shadows by Deals Gone Bad (fine Chicago soul and ska); Heartwreck Sessions 2015 by Jordan-Morgan Lansdowne (not a lot of good things happening to hearts in these album titles, huh?); Heavy Horses by Jethro Tull; Hell's Ditch by the Pogues (produced by Joe Strummer. The story goes that Shane MacGowan was so strung out on heroin during the recording sessions that they'd have to record his vocals almost exactly one word at a time and then splice it all together)
People's Favorite Jokes:
How does a tree use the internet? It logs on
Song of the Day:
