This is a retrospective blog of my seven-week exploration of Virginia along with a journey through the Shenandoah National Park and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee, North Carolina. 'Retrospective' means simply that it wasn't written during the trip, but is being written in hindsight a little over a year later. Baaswell Sheep accompanied me and is writing the blog in the way he's done my later blogs, since he's so good with the color commentary. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan for this blog back them, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little bigger than I do in my later blogs.
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My companion had heard about this place for nearly two decades, but had never had time to explore it any of the times he was in the area. Finally he has his chance, and I went along for the views. Explore Park is located right alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Roanoke River. Near the visitor's center, we fueled up at the Brugh Tavern (that's pronounced 'Brew' but written with the colonial spelling – first picture below is the basement dining room). My companion got a couple of chili dogs while we split an order of onion rings and iced tea. We then hit the trails, hiking down to a collection of 1800s buildings, then on down to the river where we sat and relaxed for a while. We headed back up around 7 PM, wanting to visit one other place before dinner.
Roanoke Star, Roanoke, VA
Roanoke is truly a valley city, nestled between two stretches of the Appalachian Mountains, which allows for some unique possibilities. Back in 1949, someone went up on the eastern mountains an erected an 88.5 foot tall metal star, complete with lighting, which shines every night over the Roanoke valley below. Not only can you see the star down below, you can even go up there and get a very humbling view of the city, and if you have the time, you can stop by the Mill Mountain Zoo, which is about a third of a mile back from the star's platform. We didn't have time to see the zoo today, but we enjoyed the view. The second panorama shot below shows the airport, probably a good ten miles away. The last pair of pictures are of a groundhog we saw near the parking lot. Probably the best groundhog pictures my companion has ever gotten, as they tend to be very shy around people (and no wonder, what with people driving them out of their holes every February to see if they see their shadows!) FYI, there's two ways up to the star and zoo: you can slowly wind your way up a narrow road from the city, or you can use the handy access road from the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is how we went.
Tanglewood Mall / Panera Bread, Roanoke, VA
We ended the day checking out Tanglewood Mall, which is what some call an inverted mall: there's not much on the inside anymore, but all of the spaces that adjoin the parking lot have been 'flipped' with facades and doors on the outside now. Most all of those spaces were full, keeping the mall alive in a sense, but one wonders what will happen to the empty interior spaces. We grabbed dinner at a Panera Bread outside the mall and returned to the hotel to rest up, as we're heading on to a new destination tomorrow.
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
My companion had heard about this place for nearly two decades, but had never had time to explore it any of the times he was in the area. Finally he has his chance, and I went along for the views. Explore Park is located right alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Roanoke River. Near the visitor's center, we fueled up at the Brugh Tavern (that's pronounced 'Brew' but written with the colonial spelling – first picture below is the basement dining room). My companion got a couple of chili dogs while we split an order of onion rings and iced tea. We then hit the trails, hiking down to a collection of 1800s buildings, then on down to the river where we sat and relaxed for a while. We headed back up around 7 PM, wanting to visit one other place before dinner.
