Labor Day ended up being a rather rainy, miserable day but because it was my birthday, I decided to make the most of it. I had decided to visit another waterfall and left early in the morning to drive to Oglebay Park in Wheeling, WV. I’d been told about the horrid traffic jams at the construction site near the PA/WV border and my first lucky break of the day came when there was no traffic backup!

There are two ways to view Oglebay Falls. One involves a roadside pull off and the other is to take a short hike along the creek on Falls Vista Trail. I opted to do the hike and my second lucky break of the day came when it stopped raining! The trail was a bit mushy in spots but I was prepared. I always take flip flops to change into when I take off my muddy hiking shoes. I thought that the trail could have benefited from a few additional blazes but I’m somewhat directionally challenged so anything short of a yellow brick road can be difficult for me. Fortunately, there really wasn’t a way to get lost there.

I’m not sure that it’s possible to go to Wheeling without stopping at Cabela’s on the way home. Usually I just browse but today I had a purpose. I had $57 in club points that were going to expire and I’d misplaced the club member number needed to use the money online. I’d already picked out a Columbia skort that I’d been wanting for awhile.

I have to tell you about this piece of active wear. It’s a pair of shorts disguised as a cute skirt. It has “rain and stain repellency” and “UPF 50 sun protection”. My bum won’t sunburn while I’m wearing this thing, not like I’ve ever had that problem before. With “two way comfort stretch”, it’s also designed to “keep me comfortable while scrambling over boulders and up steep slopes”. Can’t you see why I wanted it? I need all the help I can get!

I had assumed that customer service could give me my number so I could go home and order myself a birthday present. Not so. They could only give me a temporary pass to use in their store that day. I headed to women’s clothing, disappointed that I couldn’t order what I really wanted. Then, what to my wandering eyes should appear? A birthday miracle! The skort! In the exact color I wanted! In the exact size I wanted! And there wasn’t another one in any size or color in the store. Another lucky moment in time! Plus, it was on sale so I had enough money to buy a pack of socks for my lucky husband. As an added bonus, I threw in a small bag of candy. It may be just a few steps beyond normal, but this girl had birthday circus peanuts instead of cake!