Charleston, West Virginia’s capital, was a very pleasant surprise, and has moved into our top five favorites. The capitol itself is beautiful, with a shiny gold dome. Like Harrisburg, PA, it is set on a river, with a river walk running along the river past some very nice neighborhoods surrounding the capitol. The surrounding grounds are well maintained, and while the memorials are typical of what we’ve seen at other capitals, they’re interesting. We were there on a cool and drizzly day, and we still saw a lot of people walking around the grounds and along the river. Everybody was super friendly, including security and parking personnel. In fact, when we first pulled in, we weren’t sure we were going to be able to find a place to park, so we stopped at the booth for the public parking to ask if there was anyplace around the area to park an RV, and the woman had us wait while she called her supervisor, who told her to send us over to the other side of the lot. When we got there, the supervisor had us park along a curb where we were out of the way enough that cars could get by, and when we asked if we should pay him or feed one of the meters in a legitimate space, he told us not to worry about it and to enjoy their capital. We took a walk around and took photos, and then said goodbye to West Virginia and headed for Kentucky.
