I headed over to the Lost River area to check off the last state park on my list.

And while in the area, of course I wanted to check out some local fare.

One place that I recently heard of was the Wardensville Garden Market + Bakery.

The Wardensville Garden Market + Bakery is a nonprofit farm that employs local youth, encouraging their entrepreneurial spirit through small-scale sustainable farming in an education-rich environment. Our goal is to enhance the knowledge of local youth by teaching them how to run and sustain a successful small business, and by offering opportunities to pursue new career paths, through classes and scholarships.  We reinvest 100% of every purchase and donation made back into the program to hire and inspire even more young people (ABOUT).

How cool is that? The bakery is really cute and known for these gigantic cinnamon rolls. They even had free samples of cookies!


As I was getting ready to leave, I saw the entire other half of the place - the market!



It's such a cute space with some great local products.


Have you been here yet? What's your favorite item?

Driving toward Summersville, I passed Drennen Dairy Bar, and it's exactly the kind of place I love to find: cute, small, & local.



On this hot day, I was ready for ice cream. They call their blizzards "storms," and the cookie dough was speaking to me.



Here, they don't do the small little balls of cookie dough. No, they scoops giant hunks from a tub and mix it in. The result being a half cookie dough-half ice cream concoction that is all delicious.

Donut Connection is a chain, but it's not widespread through West Virginia and there are just a few locations in the southern part of the state: two in Huntington, two in Charleston and two in Beckley.

This is the second Charleston location I've visited, and I do like that they have a drive-thru and a nice assortment of donuts.

I got a dozen to take back to the office, which included: caramel apple, pumpkin, iced pumpkin, glazed, german chocolate, samoa, chocolate chip, jelly filled, strawberries & cream, sprinkle and cream-filled.

This was in the fall, so the specialty donuts were my favorites.

Taste of India is a grocery store in downtown Charleston.



I love local groceries, especially ones that cater to delicious cuisines.



The shelves had an assortment of different goods.



And there were some foods I recognized, though not sure I'd be able to pull off cooking them on my own!



Have you been?



Let me know in the comments below!

On a day off from work, I wanted to treat myself to Chinese but wanted to try a new location.

China Star is located just a few minutes away in Dunbar, and they offer a buffet as well as take-out orders.


I went for the "crispy chicken" combination dish, as well as an order of cheese wontons.

It also came with an eggroll!

Not too shabby. What's your favorite dish here?