Paul receives periodic emails from West Chester University, our alma mater. Recently, we got a message that their women's softball team qualified for the NCAA Division 2 College World Series. As it turned out, the games were being played in Salem, VA, a town about a 90-minute drive from Hillsville. We thought it might be fun to see the Rams in their first-ever appearance in this event.
We headed north from the resort to I-81 and turned towards Salem. As we entered I-81, we encountered a long line of motorcycles heading in the same direction. It turns out that we entered the interstate in the midst of the southern route of the Run to the Wall, one of three motorcycle caravans heading to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC. The group we encountered began in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and happened to be passing through Virgina this day.
The motorcycle convoy stayed in the right hand lane while other vehicles passed on the left. It took us a good 30 minutes to pass several hundred cycles as they made their way to honor their comrades who died during the Vietnam conflict. There were local folks on many of the bridges waving to the cyclists as they rode by, a very patriotic sight to see.
We arrived at the Moyer Softball Complex in Salem to see these logos on the data sign outside the front gate.
The field was adorned with championship banners . . .
and the stands were full; thanks to about 5 or 6 bus loads of elementary school children attending as part of a field trip. Otherwise, these smaller schools would have played in front of maybe 150 fans.
West Chester scored first with a home run in the top of the 4th inning only to end up on the short end of a 5-1 score. The Rams did win their next game before losing a 2nd game in the double-elimination tournament.
We explored Salem and nearby Roanoke during the remainder of the afternoon. Yes, we found a small craft brewery and enjoyed a cold beer. This was not a photo opportunity since the "tasting room" was in the back of a warehouse. We were the only people there but got to learn some of the history of Roanoke from the bartender. Did you know Roanoke was the railroad capitol of the south, and several railroads called Roanoke home including the Norfolk and Western RR and the Virginian RR?
Why have we become such craft beer fans? The answer can be found in this sign which was in the restaurant where we had dinner.
In the early evening, we headed off to see the Salem Red Sox, the advanced single A farm team of the Boston Red Sox. The better players from this team will eventually move up to play for the Portland Sea Dogs, the team we watched last summer. The Salem Red Sox call Lewis Gale Field home, an impressive looking stadium as you enter.
The stadium was generic on the inside and not very full of fans. The view of the Appalachian Mountains in the distance did enhance the experience, though.
Paul got to meet Mugsy during the game.
The Salem team played poorly this night. Twelve of their 27 outs were by strikeouts and the Sox only managed 2 hits in the entire game, losing to the Winston-Salem Dash.
We had a fun filled day and were ready to begin work again the next day, with over 100 check-ins for the Memorial Day weekend.
The resort is still not very full as we approach Memorial Day weekend. Families are not yet traveling on vacation because children are still in school.
Our two resident geese are just wandering about the paddle boat dock waiting to head north for the summer. Since the mother goose is out and about, we have concluding that there are no baby goslings this spring.
Paul is relaxing by our portable propane fire pit after grilling our dinner.
We did have a decent crowd over Mother's Day Weekend. Among our guests, were five families all camping together, with the common bond being that all husband sing together in a bluegrass band. On Saturday evening they got together to play for the other campers. Enjoy listening to some of their music.
The rhododendron is the state flower of Virginia. They grow wild here at the campground and are in full bloom all around the resort. Take a look as these beautiful and colorful flowers. First, this dark pink bush that we walk by every day on our way to work.
Here is a close-up of one flower cluster. Look how vivid the color is in the bright sunlight.
This light pink rhododendron is located in front of one of the homes in the resort.
Our slower and shorter 6-hour days are about to come to an end. The pace will intensify over Memorial Day weekend when we are sold out. Hopefully our guests will enjoy the beauty and tranquility that our wonderful RV resort has to offer. If the weather is nice, I'm sure the pool and water slides will get used heavily.
The Andy
Griffith Show was a popular television series in the 1960's that many
baby boomers enjoyed. Andy Griffith was born in Mt. Airy, North
Carolina. In the show, he played Andy Taylor, the sheriff of Mayberry.
Did you know, Mayberry was filmed in Mt. Airy, North Carolina? We decided we wanted to visit the town to view the places featured on the TV show.
Mt. Airy is located about 25 miles south of Hillsville, an easy drive from our campground. We began our day with a hike along the Emily B. Taylor Greenway Trail built beside a creek on the outskirts of the town. Here are a few different flowers we encountered along our path. These spring flowers pictured below were in full bloom. First, some Hepatica,
And Blue-eyed Grass.
Both Andy Taylor and Barney Fife, played by Don Knotts, enjoyed lunch most days at Snappy Lunch and had their hair cut at Floyd's Barber Shop, shown on the right below. Floyd's was also where the town folk got caught up 0n the gossip of the day. Both of these businesses are still in operation today.
Further down Main Street we found Mayberry Courthouse. The sign still reads Mayberry even though the TV show has not been filmed in nearly 50 years.
Next to the court house is Wally's Service Station. This was known back then as a filling station. Look at the old truck parked on the right. No diesel at the pump here.
Ronny Howard played Andy's son, Opie. We saw Opie's candy store as it exists today. As we remember it, there was no such place in the TV show. Paul enjoyed some hand-dipped ice cream on the bench in front of the store.
Mt. Airy is a sleepy little tourist town that was fun to visit. There were historic sights to see as well as several souvenir stores selling all types of relics from the past, including TV show memorabilia. Our visit made us want to watch some of the episodes from the show to see how the town was portrayed - when we get home and have decent internet connectivity.
Our second day off, and it was another nice sunny day with temperatures in the low 70's. We decided to take a drive to Fancy Gap, a tiny, blink and you will miss it, Virginia town about 10 miles south of Hillsville, where there is an entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was our first time driving along this famous roadway built after the Depression. Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began on Sept. 11, 1935, and was built in sections that were later connected. The Blue Ridge Region was economically depressed, and the idea of this new paved road appealed to many mountain residents.
There were frequent turnouts along the Parkway, where you could stop to see the views either to the south towards North Carolina or to the north further into Virginia. The views were spectacular but our camera did not due them justice.
You can see a hint of blue in the distance. Perhaps this has something to do with the name--Blue Ridge Parkway. The dark or shaded areas are where clouds were blocking the sunlight from reaching the earth.
Paul is seen here taking in the view.
Just how high up are we? This sign was at the first turn-out.
When we walked along a path at a turnout, we enjoyed viewing this Pink Azalea Rhododendron fully in bloom.
The terrain quickly sloped downward from the Parkway, which was built mostly alog the crest of the mountains.
As we drove west along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we did seem to be going more uphill than downhill. The elevation signs at the turnouts verified our assumption. This overlook is over 600 feet higher than the previously pictured overlook.
The mountains were a collection of steep rolling hills which is the norm in the eastern United States. There were plenty of trees and some great views. It was easy to see why so many of the early settlers decided to try to build homesteads here.
We stopped to view a very famous old cabin, the Brinegar Cabin. Martin and Caroline Brinegar purchased this cabin, along with 125 acres of land, after they were married in 1878 for a price of $200. They lived here for nearly 60 years and either grew or made everything they needed. For example, Caroline made her family's clothes from the flax she grew. Notice how the wooden shingles on the roof are curled up on the edges from the weather. There are not a lot of windows because windows would not keep out the cold during the winters. No such thing as double pane windows back then.
If you look at the side view of the cabin below, you will see two fireplace chimneys, with the larger chimney venting the fireplace in the main room of the cabin and the smaller chimney in the kitchen. These fireplaces provided the only heat source for both cooking and warmth during the cold winters.
The outdoor pantry, shown below, was a separate building about 50 feet to the side of the main cabin. This building was where all their food was stored to be able to exist during the winter. The upper level was used for dry storage, items such as dried corn, buckwheat and herbs. There was also a meat box holding the butchered meat after it was cured with salt.
The lower level, below ground and encased in stone, was their root cellar. They kept fruits, vegetables and canned goods here because the food was protected from freezing by the surrounding earth and stone.
After our leisurely afternoon drive, we exited the Parkway in West Jefferson, NC. Our purpose for this evening was to attend the Boondocks Brewing Company's monthly beer dinner. Dinner consisted of a four courses, each paired with a different beer to complement the flavors in the food.
Our first course was Chipotle Black Bean Soup paired with Allagash Odessey. The beer was a limited brew that helped cool the palate after the heat in the soup. Note: We toured the Allagash Brewery in Portland, Maine last summer.
Our second course was Buffalo Chicken Bites, shredded buffalo chicken wings hand breaded and drizzled with an Ashe County Bleu Cheese Bechamel. The beer was Blind Squirrel-Belgian Tripel, a sweet beer which complemented the hotness in the wing bites. We enjoyed the chicken wing flavors without having to pick meat off bones.
Our third course was a Jalapeno-Cheddar Beer Brat with Great Divide (Denver, CO) Chocolate Oak Age Yeti beer. The beer provided a good mix of flavors to chill down the heat from the brat. Yes, there was a hint of chocolate which provided most of the cooling affect. After the cool down, the beer was not a good sipping beer. It is rare that we leave a glass on the table with beer remaining, but we did with this glass..
Our fourth and final course was homemade key lime pie paired with Wyerbacher-Insanity Barley Wine, which was actually a beer. The key lime pie was as good as we have eaten, even in Key West. We both would have preferred to replace the beer with a cup of good coffee.
Paul is holding the two souvenir pint glasses we were given at the dinner. We had another great day of sightseeing and beer sampling. Boondocks holds these beer dinners on the 2nd Thursday of each month. We plan on attending a few more beer dinners while we are in Virginia.
After our first week of work, we were ready to get outside to enjoy the local scenery. On our first day off, we decided to take a hike in the New River State Park in Galax, VA, about 15 miles from Hillsville. The New River Trail is a 57-mile park that follows an abandoned railroad right-of-way. While this is Virginia's longest park, it is also the narrowest, with a mere 80-foot wide right-of-way from the former railroad. The part of the trail we hiked was very flat. We parked at the Galax trailhead and began our journey.
There were lush plants and flowers in bloom all along the trail. Below are some of our favorites.
Robin's Plantain,
Bulbous Buttercup,
Golden Ragwort,
and Yellow Rocket,
We searched for quite some time but were unable to identify the following flowers. We thought we should share them with you for their beauty.
(1)
(2)
We nicknamed this tree the pretzel tree because of the way the vines are entwined near the base.
All along our hike we were serenaded non-stop by chirping songbirds. A cardinal was watching us from above.
Here Paul stops to admire the view from a bridge over Chestnut Creek. You can readily see the trees are mostly just beginning to get their summer leaves. And you can see the steep slope of the hillside along this part of the river.
All along the trail we would see bird houses such as this one, attached to the trees. This trail was also listed as a birding trail.
From time to time, the geese in the area along the creek would honk loudly. Here is a pair of adult geese and 5 goslings.
We found several old mileage markers left from when this was an active train route.
Later during our hike we found another family of geese with 8 goslings. The adult geese each had a group following them as they swam upstream.
We watched as these geese swam with the adults in total control of the family of young ones. As the geese family approached a small set of rapids, they changed their formation and put all 8 goslings between the two adults.
When they reached the rapids, the adults acted as lifeguards while their little ones played in the rapids. The babies would jump off a rock in the stream and try to swim upstream. Not being strong enough to swim against the current in the rapids, they would then float back body surfing style behind the rock, creating their own little water park.
All along the trail, at least one of the sides of the trail was a fairly steep hillside above the creek. Sometimes, there were farms that bordered the trail, with livestock who would watch us as we walked by.
Here is a view looking down at the creek. You can see the trail curving to the left directly above the creek.
Since we hadn't hiked in many months, this level hike was a great way to begin our Virginia hiking experience. The weather was cool at the beginning but warmed up considerably as the day progressed. We are looking forward to exploring other portions of this trail with our bikes later in the summer.
When we made the final turn into the Lake Ridge RV Resort, we couldn't help but notice the rolling hills as we followed the road to the office. It is easy to see why the name of the closest town is Hillsville.
As you enter the resort, you see this view of the main building across the hillside, which houses the camp office, camp store, activities/crafts room, large game room and snack bar.
As you get closer to the camp office, you drive along a tree lined road bordering a 3-acre lake.
Here is a view across the lake towards the paddle boat dock. There is catch and release fishing in the lake too.
In addition to campsites for RV's and tents, we have about 25 cabins of various sizes for those guests who want the camping experience without having to purchase any camping equipment. The cabins below are 2-room lodges that can sleep up to eight guests.
The pool and water slide area is very large, with lots of chairs on the deck for relaxing. Once the weather warms up, there will be a lot of day use guests as well as overnight guests utilizing these wonderful facilities.
Here is a view of the water slides taken from our campsite. Riders float down the slides using the blue tubes seen on the left of the photo below near the yellow umbrella. The multi-colored slide in the foreground is called the Rainbow, and the black slide in the back is called the Black Momba. Notice most of the Black Momba is covered so you go down this slide virtually in the dark, similar to Space Mountain at Disney World.
The resort has an 18 hole mini golf course too.
For the first week, we were given the use of a golf cart so that we could better familiarize ourselves with the layout of the resort. Our guests like to rent golf carts so that they can get around the campground faster than they can on foot.
As you can see, the facilities are extensive and well kept. Our guests get to enjoy all the amenities such as the pools, water slides, paddle boats, and mini golf without paying any additional fees. Now all we need is some consistent warm weather to bring the crowds of campers and day visitors.
