Product Description

Way Out , as the subtitle states, is a must have for anyone interested in exploring the numerous nooks and crannies that make up West Virginia. Mozier describes with wit and detail nearly 600 of the state's really wild and wacky offerings. Get the scoop on moldy mummies, the state food ( the pepperoni roll), great plumbing, Cornstalk's Curse, the only town in the country you enter through a parking garage, and tons more. Mozier will delight both the adventurer and armchair traveler alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1241386 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 254 pages

From the Publisher
We say: buy this book. It's Jeanne Mozier's Way Out in West Virginia: A Must-have Guide to the Oddities and Wonders of the Mountain State. The title says it all. If you want to be in the know -- or to see for yourself - most, if not all, of the quirky, wacky, and unbelievable things West Virginia can lay claim to, this book has your name on it.

Author Jeanne Mozier is known throughout the state as an astrologer and arts patron. She is also the founder and owner of The Star Theater in Berkeley Springs, and a frequent judge at the Annual West Virginia Water Tasting Festival. If you've met her, you know she knows all about quirky. . . Like when she hoped to identify Kirk Douglas' water, rumored to be at the Festival:

" . . . I had no idea which of the identical looking fluids was the one Kirk Douglas used to brush his teeth every morning. I searched for a clue. None of them seemed to have even the slightest hint of a cleft chin, piercing eyes or the square jawed look of Spartacus."

The chapter topics are great. In "Adventure Driving", read about the wild and wooly curves in the state, as well as "The Badlands", the X-rated part of Route 60. In "Local Foods", get clued in about more than just ramps, but also West Virginia's "state food": " . . . Generally available for a dollar, it's a primary food group for struggling artists and students, and the only food I found worthy of a quest." Figured it out yet? It's the pepperoni roll.

Parts of the book are a little less quirky, some are amazing and superlative. Way Out takes a gander at West Virginia's:

The Greenbrier, which was paid well for being the only hotel in the world with a contingency plan for the destruction of civilization;

State forests, with trees covering 75% of the state, maybe West Virginia should be called "The Tree State";

Great shopping, which for some West Virginians, the hand painted sign on a roadside market in the mountains announcing COLD BEER - TANNING - LOTTERY covers all the bases.

Historic heritage, with George Washington America's first big land developer, and today's West Virginia his favorite piece of 18th century real estate.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From the description of the tour of the prison at Moundsville: "... West Virginia couldn't afford to buy an electric chair, so prison officials took two inmates to Ohio to inspect theirs. When they returned, the inmates built Old Sparky, the deceptively flimsy looking mechanism that killed nine men before retiring in 1965."

Customer Reviews

Not Your Usual Sightseeing Guide
Jeanne Mozier came up with a great idea when she started collecting information for this book. There are so many guides to natural wonders, historical and educational sites, monuments, and so on. This is really something different for people who have a lot of imagination and curiosity. I live right next to West Virginia, but now I can't wait to get out and explore some of the more "way out" aspects of the state.

The best book for a West Virginia explorer
If you are at all interested in knowing about or exploring West Virginia, this book is for you. I have never read a better example of an interesting, comprehensive, intelligent and knowledgeable guide to a U.S. state. Mozier and her husband flew around the state in a small plane stopping and gathering interesting and important information about every place you can think about. Don't head to WV without it.

A delightfully demented view of WV's tourism oddities!
Jeanne Mozier's witty book of West Virginia's more unique tourist sites is a must for those who have outgrown Disney but maintained a passion for adventure with high camp entertainment. Mozier's wonderful dry humor, combined with some fascinating discoveries gives "Way Out" a "Way In" for both the jaded traveler and the modern reader. Lizabeth White, former Director of Tourism Advertising, State of West Virginia.