What's there to do in Virginia anyway?

Well, our summer vacation consisted of a quick visit to Silverspring, MD and a few stops in Southwestern Virginia. We had several stops plotted and pretty much had everything in our favor for the week, except TRAFFIC!

Stop #1- Silverspring, MD to see my brother and sis-in-law just outside of DC. It unfortunately took us almost 6 hours to get there when it should have been a 3 hour drive. We stopped for lunch and stretched our legs for a spell before sitting in the car for another 3 hours. Note to self: leave super early in the morning next time we head that way on a Saturday. We had a fantastic time visiting with our family. Staying up late (kids included) talking, enjoying some wine and great company. We even got to tour their downtown area (totally envious that everything is in walking distance) and sample some of the local cuisine. The kids had their first trip on the metro and we visited a few of the museums in DC before heading back to lounge at the pool. I think this stop was one of my favorites, we just don't get to spend as much time with The Kiger's as we'd like.


Stop#2 - Dinosaurland in Woodstock. This was just about an hour from Silverspring and we discovered that Stella gets car sick. This was her first trip through hilly terrain, but she was a trooper. Dinosaurland was a pretty cool stop. It was connected to the back of a gift shop that had about 40 different kinds of prehistoric creature statues. It was a great break for the kids to run around and explore before driving another 1.5 hours to our next destination. Bro and I weren't paying attention to our surroundings and got attacked by a Pteranadon and a lizard type dinosaur.


After a quick check in to our hotel we ventured onto Stop #3, Luray Caverns. As a kid, I always wanted to visit this place and I think I enjoyed it more than the kids did. It's a pretty large compound with lots of things to do, but we just went to explore the caverns and gift shop and headed back to the hotel. Al carried Stella a good portion of the way and I carried Bro the whole time. The little guy fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until the tour was almost over. When he woke up the first words out of his mouth were, "Eeeewww! Big rock! Cool!" He seemed a little more interested than Stella, she thought it was kind of spooky and creepy. She really loved the gift shop and all the trinkets. Our GPS took us through the mountains back to our hotel, we were really in the middle of nowhere. We were able to visit 2 restaurants and enjoyed some local fare. We really enjoyed the Italian restaurant we visited for dinner. The kids had spaghetti and meatballs and you could tell they loved it by looking at them (with their tomato stained faces). A nice breakfast at CrackerBarrel (the Sganga's on the road breakfast stop) and off we went to Roanoke.

Stop #4 - the Hotel Roanoke. I was very excited to get to the Hotel Roanoke. In all the years that I lived in Blacksburg, I passed that beautiful hotel many times. Driving up to the hotel, I almost felt like I was in a different country. It's very reminiscent of an Alpine mountain sky lodge or something you'd find in the mountains of Europe. The hotel was built in the late 1800's by the local railway line. It had all the old world charm and patina that I absolutely love. We were greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies and off to our room we went. The hotel is right in the heart of downtown and that gave us lots of opportunities to explore and check out some of the restaurants. We even got to see lots of trains passing, which the kids really enjoyed.

We headed to Corned Beef & Co. for lunch and then up the mountain to the Mill Mt. Zoo. The zoo was much smaller than the one at home, but it was very nice and shady and we saw everything they had to offer. We even ended our mountain trip with a visit to the Discovery Station. They had some pretty neat, hands on things for the kids and then back to the hotel for some pool time. We had dinner downtown at a bar and grill and then back to the hotel for baths and bedtime.

Stop #5 - No trip in SWVA would be complete without a stop in Blacksburg to visit our beloved VT campus. Al and I were excited to stroll through our old stomping grounds and show the kids where we went to school. We needed to load up on Hokie gear so we headed to the S.Main book store. It was a lot different from the last time I was there, nice and updated. We probably spent almost an hour in there looking at stuff. Most importantly, the kids walked out with things they really loved. Stella got a little stuffed animal kitty and my sweet little boy walked out with 2 VT pompoms. That's right folks, he wanted pompoms. As we walked through downtown, he proudly waved his Hokie pompoms in the air. We went to Macado's for lunch and the kids were thoroughly entertained by all the statues and tchotchkes. The grown ups were just happy to enjoy a delicious sandwich, they just don't make them like that around here. The Cowpoke and Bobagger were super yummy.

We headed to Pandapas Pond (our old fishing hole) after lunch and walked the perimeter of the lake. We saw a little of the wildlife, butterflies, minnows, frogs and geese. Bro was very sad to leave the pond. We stopped once more at VT's drill field to let the kids run wild and then headed back to the Hotel Roanoke.

It was our last night in Roanoke and we enjoyed some more pool time and then headed downtown to one of the best Thai places ever. The kids gobbled up their noodles in record time and Al and I were able to enjoy a delicious dinner. The owners were very gracious and accomodating and even entertained the kids with magic tricks. If we lived there, that totally would be our Thai place. After dinner, we walked down to their version of Skinny Dip called Frogurt and had a little dessert.

Bath time and pj's and then a nice evening drive up Mill Mt. to see the Mill Mt. Star. Stella was the only kid awake so she and I went to see the star. She was in awe of how big it was and loved having her picture taken with it. She called it the 'North Star' and had fun playing peek-a-boo with the star on our ride back to the hotel. I couldn't believe that Bro slept through the car ride, a walk back to the hotel and an elevator ride! The boy slept all the way through to the next morning. Our last morning in Roanoke, we had a yummy hotel breakfast and then started our trek home via Rt. 460. The kids slept a few hours and then we made our last stop at the Virginia Diner for lunch.
It was a week filled with fun and and adventure, lots of great memories made. Who knew Virginia had so many great things to offer! I look forward to planning our next trip, but not for a while! :0)