We enjoyed our one night stay in Virginia at the Fort Chiswell RV Campground and since we had decided to stay longer at our next site we didn’t hit the road until about 10:00 am. We would have stayed later but the next stop was at a first come first served place and it was very close to the weekend so we thought we better get there a bit earlier.
Our planned stop was an easy drive up the highway to Buena Vista VA where we found our way to the park. I accidentally posted the photo above in the last blog but this was painted on a building in the town of Buena Vista and I loved it… “6002 Happy Citizens and 3 Old Grouches”.
Passing through town we crossed a bridge into Glen Maury Park. We pulled up to the office to pay and were told to just go pick a site. Well we looked around and could only find one power box with no one using it so we pulled into the site. It was then we discovered we were on a 30 amp site with no sewer unlike what we had read about this campground.
It turns out they do have some 50 amp with sewer sites however all but one was taken and all of those sites were located up a steep hill with lots of overhanging branches. Thus we decided to simply stay at the 30 amp site. The lower campground is really just a large open field but is adjacent to the Maury River.
There is a cool older home on the site called the The Paxton House, but it's apparently closed to the public now. We also walked along the river as far as we could until the trail became in poor shape revealing it was obviously a hangout for kids. There was an old rope swing on a tree over the river and lots of trash. It’s sad how some choose to treat our scenic sites.
It was however a great place to stay to explore the Blueridge Parkway. One day we drove all the way from where we were to where the Blueridge Parkway meets the Shenandoah National Park. Nearby was one of our favorite breweries so we talked about it and decided to go have our first craft beer at a brewery since the pandemic began.
When we arrived at Blue Mountain Brewery we were delighted to see that their large outdoor seating area was even larger than we remembered. We donned our masks and were seated by a masked hostess at a table on the edge where we we no clsoer than 10 feet to any other table. It felt almost sinful to be enjoying our first draft craft beer since March and gave us a very slight sense of normalcy albeit only for a fleeting moment…
Before leaving the area we also checked out a little brewery called Devil’s Backbone in Lexington Virginia. We picked up a growler and a few six packs from their curbside service. On the way back we checked out Lexington which appears to be a very cool little town. When all of this virus stuff is over we will have to further explore Lexington…
Cheers!
NOTE: We are currently in the Shenandoah Valley near Woodstock Virginia until who knows when…
I worked in VA for several years, it is a green but the history was my fascination. Looking forward to your experiences.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we will get out and about some but we are going to sit tight for a good part of our stay here...
DeleteIn our "other life" the one we spend driving to regularly during the winters, we often stopped in the little town of Lexington. It's definitely worth checking out when you have time. Great restaurants there.
ReplyDeletedriving back and forth to Florida during the winters!
ReplyDeleteYes, we must check it out...
DeleteOnce again, our paths almost cross. We’re in Maggie Valley, NC, for cool temps through Aug. Best of luck and Godspeed.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that our blog has moved to dunngone.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteTrust you both are healthy.
Good to hear from you and thanks for the blog update!
DeleteVA is such a beautiful state, we always enjoyed our Blue Ridge parkway visits. Nice you were able to enjoy a draft beer, so far Dave is just enjoying stuff we can have at home. By the way we have a zoom call scheduled for Friday-thanks for thinking of us.
ReplyDeleteYes the call was entertaining I thought you would enjoy it.
DeleteI had to chuckle reading your first paragraph. We've stayed at Ft Chiswell RV Park. When we checked in they asked us if we booked there because of their bathrooms. No we didn't. The clerk told us many people come there because of how good the bathrooms are. We use our own in the RV, thank you. One regret.... we never did check out the bathrooms they must have bragging rights to.
ReplyDeleteNow that is funny! Sadly we too didn't check them out...
DeleteGreat to find outdoor eating and drinking
ReplyDelete