This picture is from my 2013 Wild and Wonderful Christmas trip. It’s the lodge at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, WV, where I spent the first night of the trip. While there, I rode through their Festival of Lights on a trolley and set out to do it again in my car but the ultraheavy traffic convinced me to return to the lodge. You probably know that “Wild and Wonderful” is West Virginia’s welcome slogan and West Virginia is where I spent every night of the trip. There were only three. In addition to the night at Oglebay, I spent two nights at the lodge at North Bend State Park. That’s where I spent Christmas and enjoyed the holiday buffet. Additional stops included the Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum, the Marx Toy Museum, and Berdine’s Five & Dime (established 1908).

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.