Kingsport TN to White Sulpher Springs WV

 Sunday April 30, 2023

After a great breakfast – had 3 ripe bananas to eat before we left or would have to throw away.  Never made banana pancakes but I did this morning.  They were great – even made a banana, butter, brown sugar sauce to go on them with maple syrup.  There went my diet for the day!  We left about 10 AM and headed up I81 to Abingdon where we turned north on UW 19 and then 460.   We stopped in Prestonsburg WV for lunch.  It was 3^rd time a charm for lunch.  We were there at 12:30 on Sunday – with church just out.  First, we tried Wendy’s – long line that did not move at all while we went to bathroom.  Second, we tried Hardees’s – only 3 workers 1 cook, I clean up guy, and 1 woman taking orders both inside and for the drive through.  Third, we tried McDonalds – lots of drive through cars – 2 lanes with at least 10 cars in each lane.  We went inside- 3 people waiting – we had our food in 5 minutes!  McDonalds is not my favorite but the big mac was tasty and warm.   It was sprinkling rain and in 40’s.

 

Back on the road north – beautiful country but low hanging clouds and intermittent light rain.  All the creeks and rivers are high and running fast.  There was a lot of rain last night.  We have been on 4 lane excellent road so far with very little traffic.  Now we have turned on to a 2-lane road headed to Lewisburg and White Sulphur Springs.  Lots of wildflowers – most prolific was May Apples – they were everywhere.  We saw one huge patch of pink trillium – wish I could have stopped to take a photo of that!  About 10 miles south of Lewisburg the Waze said head directly north on 213 for 9 miles directly to White Sulfur Springs.  We did – lovely 2 lane road through some beautiful woodland until we came to an old concrete railroad underpass.  Height 9ft 9inches – oh my we can’t make it through in the Sprinter at 10 ft 6 inches.  So, we turned around and drove back the 9 miles to 213 and continued into Lewisburg and then to White Sulphur Springs.  We have been here before, but nothing looks familiar to me.

 

We arrive at the School House Hotel – a small boutique hotel – the White Sulphur Springs High School built in 1912 that is now a high-tech smart hotel.  Smarter than we are that is for sure.   Check in pretty much as a normal hotel.  Elevator worked as normal.  Room opened with a card as many do – but it worked no matter which way the card was facing or which side was up or down – now that is a first.  No sliding card in slot just wave it over the pad!  Nice.  Bathroom is quite fancy – toilet lid opens when you open the bathroom door.  There is a keypad beside the toilet with 8 or so options for flushing.  No, did not try them all!  You download an app and control the temperature, lights, shades, and TV.  I managed most; but when it came to the TV Ben is in charge.  You can log into Netfix or other streaming services with your own password etc. and watch your shows. 

 

Night Stand - library card likeness

I went down to the exercise room and tried one of their bikes and the elliptical for 15 minutes because I knew I wanted to eat something good for dinner.  It is still dreary and chilly, so we chose to eat at the Varsity Restaurant here in the hotel.  Not too sure what to expect, there were no reviews on Trip Advisor but the menu looked good so we thought give it a try.  We wondered if there would be many people as we had only seen 3 or 4 folks in the hallways…but there were about 10 people at the bar and 10 or so couples scattered about.  We started with She Crab Soup – out of this world.  We decided to try some things we had not had before – seen on menus and all-over social media but never eaten – Jane had Bourbon smoked pork belly and Ben had Short Ribs.  Both were excellent.  I thought I would have to search for lean pork in a lot of fat but no it was nearly all lean pork with a wonderful flavor.  Served with it was hominy and peas with watercress.  Now I have had hominy before and can take it or leave it but this - I finally gave Ben one spoonful to taste but did not really want to!    The only thing I did not eat was the pea sauce – it was cold and not so tasty.  I ate some of Ben’s Short Ribs and the beef was “fall off the bone” tender and very tasty.   Several Firsts – never had pork belly, never had watercress, never had short ribs.

She Crab Soup

Burbon Smoked Pork Belly 

Beef Short Ribs

We ordered our breakfast to pick up in the lobby where the coffee bar is located.  Only thing so far I am not 100% happy with is there is no in-room coffee.  If the sun is shining in the morning we will take our breakfast to the rooftop bar to eat – if not the room or lobby will do.  I am going to make it up to the rooftop bar just for the view.  The hotel serves a breakfast buffet on weekends but has only the order for pick-up sandwiches during the week.

 I have gotten all my devices connected d writing the blog.  Ben is still working on getting Netflix to work on the TV.  All and all it has been a nice day.  Different that’s for sure.  What are we doing in White Sulphur Springs?  Tomorrow we have reservations to tour “The Bunker” at the Greenbriar.  It has been on my “bucket list for years and we just never made it a priority.  Could not quite cough up the $$$ to stay at the Greenbriar so we are staying in this neat place right down the road.  We are not the golf or horseback riding crowd anyway.  Then after our tour we are off for a short visit with long- time friends in Lexington VA.