New River Gorge National River, WV

Yesterday we traveled to the visitor's center for the New River Gorge. I was disappointed because I thought the river would be running more - this area has been in a draught just like the rest of us and the Class 5 and higher rapids (these are for those rafters that are very very advanced) were just trickles. Was neat to see anyway - we saw this Gorge about 25 years ago when we brought our son-in-law's parents through here on a trip. This bridge is the largest single-arch span bridge in the world. You can fit the Washington Monument and then 2 Statue of Liberties on top of that Monument and still not reach the top of the bridge where the traffic is. Two times a year people bungee jump off this bridge. We went to get a snack after and saw a memorial to those jumpers who have lost their lives doing this. Fun? Unbelievable. From there we drove the Gorge scenic drive for awhile. I wanted to stop in Thurmond, which is a ghost town now withe the exception of 6 people who still live there. Dave was not happy to drive into this small little place - the road went from a narrow two lane to one lane - and there were cars and trucks passing us. No where to get off the road but scrinch by. We saw some really sad looking places, very very poor. However, once we got there - there was a railroad bridge with a one-car lane attached to it. Had to go over it to get to the town - so over we went. Glad we did. Thurmond is now part of the national park and they are restoring the town to make exhibits and such to show how the town was way back in 1900. Thousands of people lived here - coal mines were abundant, hotels, banks, and all the supportive businesses for that amount of folks. We walked the tracks to look at the exhibits inside these buildings, there were no roads - only walk by the tracks or on them. Just as we were leaving, a train came by. Pretty neat.
Today we are heading south of here, still within New River Gorge National River area - to Sandstone Falls. This is very well known and we plan on spending all day there - weather is wonderful - about 72. Weather is supposed to turn to rain tomorrow so we will hunker down and just enjoy being 'out here.'