What To Do in West Virginia

About two weeks ago, my girlfriend and I flew up to Huntington, West Virginia to see the UCF vs. Marshall football game. She won a contest through ESPN 1080 here in Orlando and scored two free plane tickets, free hotel room for three nights, and free tickets to the game. It all sounded like a fantastic trip until we stopped and thought, “What the hell are we going to do in West Virginia for three days?”

Surprisingly enough, we had an absolute blast up there. Oh, and UCF won, which made the trip even more worth it. We packed plenty of Knights paraphernalia; hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, jerseys, etc, and expected to be everyone’s worst enemy. While we did get a handful of hecklers, everyone else in town was incredibly nice. I can’t count the number of times I heard someone call out “Welcome to West Virginia!” It was almost creepy, as if they were just lulling us into a false sense of comfort, only to strike when our defenses were at their lowest and they could easily dispatch us and dump our bodies in the Ohio River. Okay we never actually thought that, but all this warmheartedness was not what we expected.

We were booked at Pullman Plaza which is easily the nicest hotel in the area. That’s where Matthew McConaughey and the rest of the crew stayed while they shot We Are Marshall. It’s also right across the street from Pullman Square (I’m guessing that’s no coincidence) which is sort of a shopping/eating hub. The pictures we had seen of Pullman Square were slightly misleading as the place was smaller than we expected. Still, it has some sweet restaurants and a movie theater so I was happy to spend some time there. There were also quite a few other bars and restaurants within walking distance of the hotel so we were never at a loss for a place to eat and drink.

Speaking of bars, the bartender at our hotel told us about a few different places we could walk to. One of the first he mentioned was “The Lounge.” To get in, you actually have to ring a doorbell. They check you out on their surveillance camera and, if you don’t look like a trouble-maker, they buzz you in. It definitely sounded like something special so we decided to go check it out after a couple hours of bar-hopping.

Sure enough, we walked up to the front door of The Lounge and saw the doorbell. I was understandably hesitant but we rang it anyways. A few seconds later, the door buzzed and we entered. The inside of the bar is pretty plain. There’s a shuffleboard table along one wall that I swear was 20 feet long (22 feet is actually a tournament-length table, so that’s probably what it was). They had a few tables, a CD jukebox, and a big bar in the middle of the room. That was about it. My kind of place.

We met some awesome dudes there named Dave, Greg, and Buddy. Buddy actually owns the place and he was so nice to us. They were all buying us drinks and telling us how great the town is and how glad they were that we could make the trip. They even watched the game on TV the next night and saw us sitting in the stands. When we went back to The Lounge we were celebrities because we had been on TV. Oh and they gave us free t-shirts.

Long story short, there isn’t a whole hell of a lot to do in Huntington besides drink, but if you find yourself there for one reason or another, absolutely go and check out The Lounge. It’s on 3rd Ave. right next to Hillbilly Hot Dogs (regrettably, we didn’t make it there…it was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives…I hear it’s amazing) and it’s walking distance from the Marshall campus. Tell them Scott and Cristina from UCF sent you. Hopefully they remember us. I meant to get some contact info from them but never did.

It was a great trip and I’d love to go back some time. I think three days was just enough time to see and do everything but not get sick of it. Plus, you can’t beat a free trip. Thanks ESPN 1080! (big smile and a thumbs up)