An Overnight in Shepherdstown, WVA. Yes, it's Come to This.

On the Potomac Shepherdstown, West Virginia

    Well, I just wanted a little getaway for my birthday. No, that’s not true. I wanted a big getaway. But the COVID Compromise continues. Where could we go on a reasonable drive for an overnight? I looked at a lodge in the Shenandoah National Park. Then I remembered it would be a lodge. I looked at a resort in Charlottesville. But a resort is in name only with COVID. It’s a resort without swimming or tennis or spa life. Then some friends convinced me to go to Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It’s only an hour and 15 minute drive! The place to stay is The Bavarian Inn which has hot tubs in the rooms and looks over the Potomac! It’s a charming little college town! And so off we went. 

Country roads. Take me home.

      As we got off the highway and drove through the short Main Streets in small towns it was kind of interesting. We were getting hungry and Darr pointed out a restaurant called the Old South Mountain Inn. But I didn’t like the font on the sign, so I wouldn’t go there. Thenceforth, as I grew hungrier and hangrier Darr had to remind me that there was “that place where you didn’t like the font.” 

Well?

    One of the cute-on-the-route towns was something called Boonsboro where Nora Roberts, the romance book billionaire, has established The Inn Boons Boro. One has to wonder why. Darr photographed her years ago. I don’t get it. Hey Nora, with all your money why not get something decent, like an island off the coast of Maine? 

    We crossed the river and boom we were in West Virginia. The hotel could not accommodate us until 4 p.m. so we went to a rainbow flag draped restaurant called The Blue Moon Cafe. When we walked in the hostess was slouched over the counter and when I asked how she was, she said “Oh you know. Living the dream.” I liked her right away. And there was outdoor seating and the BLT kicked ass, as did the sweet potato fries. Really. 

The C and O Canal

    After lunch we went over to the C and O canal. Yes that very same C and O canal that Darr frequents regularly. It just goes on and on to O, you know. The big differences were higher numbers on the miles and locks, a more dramatic landscape, and practically no people. 

C and O Canal lock

    The Bavarian Inn, I half expected the reception desk to be manned by pigtailed girls in dirndls. The bed was hard, the pillows were terrible, one of the lights over the fireplace was out. The terrycloth bathrobe was like Brillo. The coffee cup was chipped. We did have a large room overlooking the Potomac, but here’s the hot tub:

Coloration from the 70s.  

Lovely bedside lamp

Toiletries by Tobacco, I mean Tarocco. Who?

My belated birthday dinner awaited in the fine dining room of Bavarian Inn. We there encountered a tableful of banality. Actually the prime offender was a bald blowhard bunch of banality. “Education is the most important thing you can give your children” and the like. Their conversation crept, no jumped into our ears, and I almost had to be restrained when they started in about the media, and Parler. 

Restaurant decor: sconce/plate. Repeat.

    I have to say our dinner was very good. I carefully dodged the German entrees on the menu. But I did succumb to the sausage sampler appetizer. It was between that and “avocado fries” (pieces of avocado fried in tempura) or, gag, a German pretzel stuffed with crab. My grilled ribeye steak au poivre was delicious. And I rarely compliment a steak that is not cooked by the great H. Darr. As were the truffle mashed potatoes, and the pumpkin cheesecake. 

The moment

    But the next morning we found that the best part of our room involved leaving the room and going on to the balcony. The view was majestic and the room service breakfast was fabulous. Dining in style really, that was a moment. Maybe the moment. 

Mecklenburg Tobacco Warehouse, Riverfront Park

Okay, what was I thinking going to West Virginia for fun? Why didn’t I pick the Eastern Shore? I’m not a country girl. I’m a city girl, I’m a beach and ocean girl, and a desert girl. Admittedly, we were there at the worst possible time of year to enjoy countryside. The leaves were all off the trees, the landscape was spare and sparse and not very green. 

We soaked up everything we could in Shepherdstown, we went to the river park, we met a stoner who told us how to get to the James Rumsey Monument, we drove by the Shepherd University campus (dead) and walked around the cute little downtown (deader). 

Just don't love it

    Then off to Harper’s Ferry, because it was close, because it is where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet, because it is part of The Appalachian Trail, and because it's an important site in the annals of Antebellum America. I’m sorry but I’ve never been very interested in American history. I know it’s wrong but I got it from my Canadian mother who told me it was boring, and steered me to the drama of European history. 

I'd say head for Maine

    So John Brown, the fort, the educational plaques, blah blah. But wait! Showtime just came out with a series called The Good Lord Bird starring Ethan Hawke as John Brown, and now I’m pretty interested. Ethan as John looks much like Tom Waits. All the better. 

    So that’s it. I’m trying, but COVID has seriously clipped my wings. 

    We’re coming for you COVID. Next year we are going to catch you with our Operation Warp Speed vaccines. And then you will see a veritable army of starving travelers, travel agents, train and plane employees, and maybe even some of those cruise ship kooks on the move again.

I can always lean on Darr's shoulder