We found ourselves on this mid-July Saturday with nothing to do but meet up with family for dinner at Stefano’s in the evening. True to our nature, we stacked up a lot of stops around north-central West Virginia to fill our day.
Zeke’s
No weekend adventure starts without breakfast at our favorite local joint, Zeke’s, in downtown Morgantown. We love their simple but delicious menu, particularly their breakfast sandwiches with homemade bagels. Our go-to order is egg and cheese, served to us on Fiestaware plates, of course! We often bring books to read while we wait for our food among college students, families, and often some folks who are just visiting Morgantown. We’ve sampled the whole menu at one point or another, and everything on it is delicious and made from scratch, from the breakfast tacos to Belgian waffles.
Modern Homestead
Next, we headed into Preston County and stopped at the main four-way intersection in rural Reedsville to visit Modern Homestead. The greenhouse here is lush with a large variety of indoor and outdoor plants, including many shrubs and trees.
It also has a wonderful cafe that’s open on weekends. We didn’t take any photos here this time around, but I have a few from a photo outing at Modern Homestead a few years ago with my friends Jacqie of The Lipstick Narratives, Amanda of Reclick Creative, and Kristen of Kristen Riley Photography.
We picked through the berries and selected a few mulberries to purchase. I grew up on a farm in Fairmont and had many mulberry trees to feast on in the summer. I liked them so much that I named one of the cows on the farm Mulberry.
Appalachian Youth Livestock Showcase
And cows were the main reason for our outing today—my youngest brother, Carter, was showing cattle at the Appalachian Youth Livestock Showcase in Kingwood. I hadn’t been to a show in years, but since the show was close to home, we went to watch. The show was a jackpot, winner-take-all style with cash prizes for the overall winners. Carter’s two heifers were second and third overall, and his outing was a success.
Muddy Creek Falls
After the show, we headed north through Albright, and stopped at Muddy Creek Falls. We didn’t have our cameras with us today, but we have been to this hidden roadside gem before to take winter waterfall photos. Recently, this became a stop on West Virginia’s new Waterfall Trail that features scenic stops of all sizes throughout the state. We checked it off officially for our waterfall passport before heading off.
See more photos of Muddy Creek Falls on our Bull Run Winter Drive post »
Screech Owl Brewing
Screech Owl is only open on weekends, so we took advantage of the timing to stop for a beer before heading home. The parking lot was full – of both cars and ATVs – but we snagged a spot and sat down in the huge outdoor area with a variety of seating arrangements. The brewery has expanded a lot from when it first opened in the family’s garage where it started. Jimmy sipped a beer under a cloudy sky, I jotted down notes from our stops for this post, and we headed home to pick vegetables, check on our monarchs, and spend some time on the porch with the dogs.
