Higher annual rainfall than Seattle/Tacoma
by kevanrijn
Average annual precipation is 41.5 inches--about 3 inches more than Seattle-Tacoma gets. Yet Seattle has the rep for being rainy. After living in both places, I know why. Seattle rainfall tends to be drizzles which go on for days. In Parkersburg, we get more rain, but "when it rains, it pours." In Seattle it virtually never rains from the beginning of June through the middle of September, then it rains for days on end from October through May. In Parkersburg, you are just as likely to get drenched in July as you are in March. I would certainly recommend you either check the forecast before you visit, or else pack a raincoat and umbrella. We sometimes go several weeks without any precipition, but if it does rain, you will wish you had your bumbershoot!
If you are visiting in November through March, you should make sure you have a coat. We do get cold temperatures (it was -3 degrees F last night) and snow, although sometimes we have temps in the sixties and seventies during the winter months (rare, but true). Don't forget your prescriptions.... Don't forget your camera!
Visit Rinky Dink's & do some wheelin'& dealin'
by kevanrijn
This is one place where you are unlikely to run into other tourists. There are no flyers or brochures at the West Virginia Welcome Center about this place. It's mostly known only to locals--and locals of a particular persuasion...the avid bargain hunters and collectors of things.
Rinkys Dink's is a large (90,000 sq. ft) indoor flea market (with heating and air conditioning), open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm. It's located in an old supermarket or department store, just south of Marietta on Ohio Route 7. The store that formerly occupied the building was named Rink's...the current flea market is referred to by everyone as Rinky Dink's. I dunno if that's their official name--but it's the only one I've ever heard anyone call it. Inside the building are hundreds of vendors with an incredible array of stuff to sell.
If you are hunting for cheap souvenirs to take home, this might be a good place to find something inexpensive and unique. If you collect Fenton glass...well, you can find it all over this area in the antique shops and secondhand stores but the dealers in Rinky Dink's have the most under a single roof. Williamstown, the home of Fenton Glass, is just across the river from the Rinky Dink's flea market. Lots of the glass collected by the former employers and area collectors eventually ends up here. If you aren't interested in Fenton glass, it don't make no never mind. Whatever your interests, I'll bet you can find something here you'll like. There's plenty here to appeal to collectors of all sorts...china, coins, dolls, trains, tools, glass other than Fenton, books, etc.
There is food on the premises--a simple breakfast/lunch counter menu, no table service. I've not eaten here (always more interested in shopping than eating when I'm here) but lots of folks do. The building housing Rinky Dink's could charitably be described as "rundown" but it is kept clean.
Early spring in the arboretum
Part of the Wildflower loop trail in early spring
Looking uptown during a snowfall
The inside entrance of Windmill Cafe--new location
