An Evening in West Virginia

I'm in the middle of a series of posts about our whirlwind trip through Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. On Saturday, I wrote about our acquisition of a new minivan. Yesterday, I wrote about our Ohio adventures. I left off when we crossed the border into Kentucky. We continued on to Ashland, KY, where a friend of Greg's lives with his wife and two girls. So how did we end up in West Virginia, you ask?

Well, Ashland, Kentucky, is part of a tri-state area, including Ironton, Ohio and Huntington, West Virginia. The three places are very close, and there was a classical music concert down by the river. I'd never been to West Virginia, so visiting a new state was pretty cool.

First, we had dinner at an Asian Hibachi restaurant in Huntington (before the concert). Nick sat next to our friend's daughter, who is nine, I believe. They had a great time. Nick likes older women. She helped Nick with his fortune cookie. I'm thinking that without her help, Nick would've just eaten the whole thing, fortune and all. What's supposed to happen if you eat your fortune instead of reading it?

When we arrived at the concert, we found out that it would be $15 per person, including the children. That was a bit much, but a helpful lady told us that if we just walked down a block we could listen from behind the fence. Plus, there was a park for the kids. So we stayed on the non-paying side of the fence.

The kids had a great time running around and playing on a hill by the river, listening to some classical music.

It was a really lovely night, and the view of the river was gorgeous.

Then we hit the park. Nick loved the swirly slide.

Henry was all about the swings.

After a day spent mostly in the car, this was a great way to relax. I think Saturday evening and night were my favorite part of the whole trip. Socializing with another couple was great, and it was neat how the kids all played together and didn't require much intervention. That doesn't happen often at our house.

This concludes my first visit to West Virginia.  :) We drove back a few minutes into Ohio, then back to Kentucky, and within 30 minutes we were back in Kentucky. Tomorrow I'll write about our stay in Ashland.