Boldly Go Solo

Skiing Canaan Valley in 30 inches of new snow

If you're going to get stuck somewhere in a blizzard, make it a ski resort, is what I always say.

Actually, I'd never said that before this past weekend. But then, as serendipity would have it, I got "stuck" at a ski resort during a blizzard. Oh, poor me. 

All I could do at Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia was ski--Nordic and alpine--snowboard, ice skate, use the whirlpool and head for the lodge's dining room for meals. 

I wasn't able to shovel, figure out what to do if I lost power, experience cabin fever or stare at empty supermarket shelves. 

Instead, I skied "first tracks" for the first time in my life. Got on a chair lift a little after 8 a.m. and before anyone else that day I skied pristine powder, along with a ski instructor and one other person.

We had a run called Timber Trail to ourselves. Wheeee.

Real ghosts for Halloween...scary!!!

They say that if you walk late at night, up Hog Alley, a short, steep street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., you might see a tall black man, dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s, pacing up and down. If you get close enough, he slowly lifts his head to show piercing blue eyes. But when he lifts his head a little farther, you see blood dripping from a scar that goes from ear to ear. . . .

Agghhhhhhh!

This story is continued in Friday's Weekend section of The Washington Post. The headline is, "An eerie twist on 'living history.' "

I went on the O' Be Joyfull ghost tour in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and visited The Haunted Cottage there as well.

The Harpers Ferry Ghost Tour

Rick Garland, the guide of the ghost tour in the historic area of Harpers Ferry related stories about the ghosts of people who actually died in the area, many during the Civil War era. Some Confederate soldiers, some abolitionists, some young boys sent to help the soldiers.

Harpers Ferry lodging, ghosts and pancakes. West Virginia is indeed wild and wonderful.

A guy I hardly knew cooked me breakfast yesterday. Pancakes. An Israeli guy from New York. 

Actually, "hardly knew" overstates things. I didn't know him at all. But Raz from Queens not only cooked me a batch of pancakes, he also gave me a rundown of all the places I should go and see in Israel - which I'm planning on visiting in January.

This is what I love about hosteling. Particularly when traveling solo.

You are unlikely to feel lonely at most hostels.

In the short time between when I checked in at the Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, hostel (actually located in Knoxville, WV) and left to visit the historic town of Harpers Ferry, I ended up talking to two bicyclists and one weaver, all staying there.