More-gan meets the eye: Unraveling the Riches of Morgantown

When planning what to do with an extra day off and a long three day weekend, we wanted to plan an ambitious road trip to see the best of West Virginia.  We decided to use Morgantown, West Virginia as our starting point, which is a 6 hour drive from Indianapolis and home to West Virginia University.  Morgantown was a strategic choice because of its location and because of the dining, shopping, and hotel options thanks to the university.  The plan was to spend a day driving to Morgantown, see everything we could on the next day, and then return home on the last day.

La Quinta Inn Morgantown

The first order of business was checking into our hotel. We chose the La Quinta Inn in Morgantown, primarily for its promise of a complimentary breakfast. The hotel's location was convenient, being just a few minutes' drive from downtown and close to the highway. The room was clean and typical of hotel rooms everywhere. The staff was also friendly and helpful. The hotel sits impressively atop a hill, offering a commanding view of the highway below.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed with the breakfast. They  had a moderate variety of food, such as cold cereal, bread that you can make toast out of, fruit drinks, and coffee. There was only one hot meal available each day: the first day was biscuits and gravy, and the second day was sausage with scrambled eggs. There just wasn't a lot of variety for breakfast. While the hotel technically offered free breakfast, it's probably not worth staying at this hotel just for the breakfast.

West Virginia Botanical Gardens

With limited time on our hands, we wasted no time exploring the town. Our first stop was the West Virginia Botanical Gardens.

What's great about this place is its free entry and abundance of hiking trails.  The trails are mostly gravel and you can probably get by without hiking boots.

When we visited the West Virginia Botanical Gardens, they were working on a new visitor center.  Unfortunately it wasn't finished and we weren't able to see it when we were there.  The gate closes at 7:30 PM, blocking off the lower parking lot.  If you plan to stay later, you park in the upper parking lot outside of the gate. There's a pretty steep grade between the upper and lower parking lots, and it's definitely much easier to park in the lower lot.

One of the neat things they have at the West Virginia Botanical Gardens is a wetlands boardwalk which offers some pretty good views.

Unfortunately, because a tree had fallen on it, you could only walk halfway down the boardwalk.

There used to be a reservoir in the same area as the botanical gardens that provided water to Morgantown. The town switched to an improved water supply and they eventually drained the reservoir. All that's left of the reservoir is a seasonal pond.

Hazel McQueen Park

The next stop was a small city park called Hazel McQueen Park. I wanted to stop there because I had seen impressive pictures of downtown Morgantown taken from a bridge near the park and I wanted to take some of my own. The park itself is pretty small. There is an amphitheater there, but probably the most interesting thing is a walking path near the river.

The US 19 bridge over the river is right next to the park and is probably one of the best vantage points to take a picture of downtown Morgantown from. If you park at Hazel McQueen Park, then it's a short walk to the bridge. There is a sidewalk on the bridge and if you walk halfway across, you can take a pretty good picture.

Almost Heaven Bar & Grill

As evening approached, we decided to unwind at a sports bar called "Almost Heaven," recommended by our hotel's front desk.

It had a fun and lively atmosphere because West Virginia University was playing Penn State that evening. We were also very lucky that it was an away game, otherwise the city would have been very crowded. The food was excellent, but was typical of any sports bar.

Morgantown is also the home of actor Don Knotts, and his statue is across the street from the Almost Heaven sports bar.

We ended our day drinking a local beer: Screech Owl's Who's Your Daddy IPA.

Day 2: Applalachian waterfalls and exploring West Virginia

We spent the next day driving through West Virginia, and seeing appalachian waterfalls.

West Virginia University

On the last day before we left Morgantown to return to Indianapolis, we explored West Virginia University, which is just up the hill from downtown Morgantown. There area is very pretty, with impressive architecture and beautiful landscaping.

Probably the most picturesque building there is Woodburn Hall.

Just behind Woodburn Hall is an overlook where you can look out across the river.