The are coming to take me away ...ha ha

Last night we landed in Fayetteville, WV to set up for sight seeing at Canyon Rim. I cut a bunch of miles out of our trip, mainly maybe USA towns without some specific place in mind. West Virginia is a wonderful riding state. I don't think there is a straight level road in the state. We essentially rode right up the middle of the state from Fayetteville to Morgantown in the north. For the most part it was Highway 16 and US 119. We did finally grab some interstate for the last 60 miles. ( all pictures clickable and will enlarge )

If you have never been to Canyon Rim, this is a must see. The roads to get here are fantastic and the roads to the bottom of the gorge are fun. The sights are unbelievable.

Descending down into the gorge. This use to be the road taken before the New River Gorge bridge was built

The bridge across the New River

Back out of the gorge

A MapSource view of the road down. Well worth the trip. It is something like 8 miles.

Next stop was Ansted WV for some Grand Tour Pics

West Virginia really has some wonderful roads and scenery

Right around 4pm we pulled into Weston WV and one of those signs was there.

As the sign says it is the largest hand cut stone building in the US. It is also the second largest in the world just behind the Kremlin in Russia. It's other name is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. It was a Kirkbride building like Worcester and Danvers State Hospitals in Massachusetts. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1990. The hospital has been featured on Ghost Hunters as well.

The backside.

Moving around front. The hospital is open for tours. We just wandered around the first floor  and did watch the video they had. I learned how to do a frontal lobotomy from the video. The procedure doesn't look all that hard. I believe the drug companies made the procedure obsolete and they are still making tons of money off its patients.

Some inside views

 

This nurse was one of the actual nurses at the hospital when it was opened. She had quite a few stories to tell and really quite interesting to talk to. She reminded me of the housekeeper in American Horror Story that aired in the fall of 2011.

We ended spending much more time at the hospital and headed straight to Morgantown. Thanks for riding along today.