Compare and Contrast: Wales and West Virginia

We went to Wales last weekend. When I told my friend Tina that we were planning to go, she replied that Wales sounded glamorous. Which got me to thinking. Why does Wales sound glamorous? We could reach it in a couple of hours. From our old home in Arlington, Virginia, a couple of hours would take us to West Virginia. West Virginia's motto is "Wild and Wonderful," words which could certainly be used to describe Wales. So, as we traveled the M4 and explored Wales, I pondered. Why does Wales sound more exotic and fabulous than West Virginia? Here's a brief comparison.

What do Wales and West Virginia have in common?

• Mountains
• Struggling coal industry
• Lots of outdoor activities: camping, hiking, spelunking, biking, birdwatching, fishing and more
• People speaking in regionally accented English
• Tattooed men in tank tops drinking Corona (OK, I'm going out on a limb here. While I haven't personally observed such men in West Virginia, I'd guess the odds of finding Corona drinkers in West Virginia are at least what they are in Wales, and I did see this at a pub in Wales. And I'm not passing judgement on the fashion choices of West Virginians, understand. I'm sure residents of many of the United States wear tank tops and have tattoos on their arms.)

What does Wales have that West Virginia doesn't?

• Its own language, prominently displayed on street signs and roadmarkings. (Just over 20% of the population speaks Welsh, and the percentage is reportedly climbing.)

• Ruins of Roman legion amphitheater, barracks and baths in Caerleon. The amphitheater seated about 6,000, and there were nearly that many legionnaires there.
(Great way to bring the Virginia 3rd grade social studies curriculum to life.)

• Beaches. Not necessarily what we would think of as summer beach weather, but beaches. This one's at Newgale, on the Pembrokeshire Coast. (The blue sky was temporary. The rest of the day was rainy and gray.)


• Lots of castles, in various states of ruin. This one's Laugharne Castle, in Laugharne, famous for being a town where Dylan Thomas lived, wrote and drank.


And we explored the nooks and crannies of Caerphilly Castle, one of the largest in Britain. It even has a moat! (This is the next day, which was quite sunny.)

• A famous cathedral in honor of its patron saint, St. David. (For those who might wonder if West Virginia has a patron saint, I checked and it does. Our Lady of Victory. And there probably is a church or cathedral for her in West Virginia. But this one's built on the site of St. David's 6th century monastery and was a pilgrimage site for hundreds of years.)
Bonus Bishop's Palace ruins next door to the cathedral.

So that's a brief summary of why Wales is fabulous. No disrespect intended to West Virginia, which very well may have livestock in the road and quaint villages with laundry hanging out to dry. (Hard to write about the allures of exploring the countryside of the British Isles without the obligatory sheep in the road picture to illustrate the point.)