Virginia

Throwback Thursday #6 – September 12, 2015

September 12, 2019Posted in RVing, VirginiaTagged Claytor Lake State Park, fifth wheel camping, Memories, Throwback Thursday, White Tail Deer11 Comments

We’re not traveling as much in our fifth wheel anymore so I thought it would be fun to relive some of our most memorable days from previous RV trips.

On this day four years ago, September 12 2015. we were camping at Claytor Lake State Park, Virginia, one of our favorite state park campgrounds. Our daughter lives nearby and we enjoyed the fall beauty of the park when we weren’t enjoying spending time with her family.

It’s always fun to be somewhere and have an unexpected event taking place. Four years ago today, the Claytor Lake Triathlon was going on. I walked over to the lake to watch some of the race.

20150912Claytor-Lake-Triathlon-(47) — Ready, set , go!

20150912Claytor-Lake-Triathlon-(53) — Swimmers in the 2015 Claytor Lake Triathlon

Swimmers heading for the beach at Claytor Lake

I enjoyed walking the trails in the state park every morning. One morning I spotted white tailed deer in the woods.

20150914Claytor-Lake-Deer-(11) — White tailed deer at Claytor Lake State Park, VA

We enjoyed Claytor Lake so much we have camped there multiple times. There’s more about this stay at A few days in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia.

Last week’s Throwback Thursday was interrupted by Hurricane Dorian. After waiting on pins and needles for several days to see where it was going to go, we decided not to evacuate. The center of the storm passed offshore about 80 miles east of us at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 4, 2019. The wind gusts were strong at times but we had no damage and no flooding. Other than some yard cleanup we were fine and only lost power for 18 minutes. Our neighborhood had no major damage and for that I am very grateful.

The Bahamas did not fare so well. Please keep the Bahamian people in your prayers. It will be a long time before many of them will be able to recover from the devastation Dorian caused there.

Spring Road Trip

April 23, 2019April 23, 2019Posted in Nature, Road Trip, Tourist Attractions, VirginiaTagged Blue Ridge Mountains, Cave, eastern redbud, Luray Caverns, spring blossoms, springtime, stalactite, stalagmite, Virginia is for lovers25 Comments

Our latest road trip destination was southwest Virginia. The scenery was spectacular as we drove north from Georgia through the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

20190416-Redbut-in-NC-(3) — Eastern Redbud at rest area in Western North Carolina

After an overnight stop in Asheville we continued to be awed by the scenery as we drove north through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The flowering eastern redbud trees added splashes of pink as we traveled to Southwest Virginia.

20190417-Blue-Ridge-Mountains-in-NC-(1) — View of the Blue Ridge Mountains from North Carolina Interstate Overlook

20190417-Tennessee-Welcome-Center-(1) — Tennessee Welcome Center between Asheville and and Virginia

20190417-Virginia-Welcome-Center-(6) — Virginia welcome center in Bristol

20190417-Virginia-Welcome-Center-(9) — At the Virginia Welcome Center in Bristol

On our way to see Luray Caverns we took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

20190419-Blue-Ridge-Parkway-Virginia-(27) — Blue Ridge Parkway Virginia

20190419-Blue-Ridge-Parkway-IPhone-(1) — Blue Ridge Parkway Virginia

After we purchased our tickets at Luray Caverns we had a short wait before we walked down the steps to begin the 90 minute tour. We followed our tour guide and stopped a few times along the way to admire the spectacular formations (and of course take photos).

20190420-Luray-Caverns-(14) — Reflecting pool, Luray Caverns, Virginia

20190420-Luray-Caverns-(71) — Wishing Well, Luray Caverns, Virginia

Luray Caverns, Virginia

All three generations of our family enjoyed the caverns, even our two teenage grandchildren!

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Virginia

August 23, 2017Posted in Nature, RVing, State Parks, Tourist Attractions, Virginia, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Blue Ridge Parkway, Claytor Lake State Park, Natural Bridge, Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive9 Comments

State 41:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. We have not visited Vermont so the next state in my series is

Virginia became the 10th state on June 25, 1788. The Capital is Richmond.

Scenic mountain drives, a Sunday jam session at Floyd Country Store, Claytor Lake State Park, Natural Bridge, and a movie location are a few of the places we have visited in Virginia in recent years.

There are many spectacular views along the Skyline Drive which runs through the entire length of Shenandoah National Park.

20080623Walnut-Hills-(24)Skyline-Drive — Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park

The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia has some magnificent views and interesting rock formations.

20080623Walnut-Hills-(6) — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

20080623Walnut-Hills-(9) — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

20080624Blue-Ridge-Pky-(19) — Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

20080624Blue-Ridge-Pky-(26) — Butterfly and wildflowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Rocky Knob picnic area on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia

Blue Ridge Parkway from overlook at Rocky Knob Visiter's Center — Blue Ridge Parkway from overlook at Rocky Knob Visiter’s Center

The movie “Dirty Dancing” was filmed at Mountain Lake Lodge.

Before we had our fifth wheel we drove through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Listening to the Appalachian music and watching the flatfoot dancers at the Sunday oldtime music jam session at Floyd Country Store was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

The Floyd Country Store — Floyd Country Store in Floyd, VA

Sunday Jam Session at the Floyd Country Store

Sunday Jam Session at Floyd Country Store — These guys could really play!

Claytor Lake State Park has been a frequent camping destination since we have been RV’ing and is one of our favorite state parks with a beautiful lake, trails, and wildlife.

Deer visited the campground on our last morning at Claytor Lake — Deer in the campground at Claytor Lake

Seeing the Natural Bridge requires either a walk down many steps to a paved path or taking a shuttle drive down the hill to the beginning of the path. Either way it is worth it to see this amazing natural formation.

20080624Natural-Bridge-(3) — Natural Bridge, Virginia

Small waterfall beside the trail at Natural Bridge, Virginia

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah

A few days in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia

September 16, 2015June 24, 2017Posted in Road Trip, RVing, State Parks, Virginia, Wildflowers, WildlifeTagged Blue Ridge Parkway, Claytor Lake, deer, fawn, Floyd Country Store, Rocky Knob, triathlon23 Comments

Fall was in the air when we arrived in Virginia. In just a few days we went from hot and muggy to crisp and cool. Our shorts and tee shirts were traded for jeans and sweatshirts. The air conditioner was turned off and the windows were open to let the fresh air in. And the best part was campfires at night.

We love to stay at Claytor Lake State Park in Dublin, Virginia when we visit our daughter’s family. We had a great time hanging out with our grandkids in their new home and meeting their two new kittens. Watching our granddaughter’s swim team practice and our grandson’s soccer game were the highlights of this trip and the reason we came up here.

Sadly, we couldn’t spend every minute with the family so we spent some time exploring the area. This was our fifth stay at Claytor Lake and wandering on the many trails in the park is always one of my favorite activities.

Trail at Claytor Lake State Park

Wildflowers in the woods at Claytor Lake State Park

One day we decided to take a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In order to get to our destination, the Rocky Knob Visitor’s Center at milepost 170, we had to drive about 30 miles on a narrow country road through beautiful farmland. After a stop at the visitor’s center to get my National Park Passport stamped we had lunch in the picnic area. A narrow one way road winds through the picnic area which has picnic tables scattered around the hills.

After lunch we enjoyed our short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views from the overlooks were spectacular

Buffalo Mountain from the Saddle Overlook on Blue Ridge Parkway

We only drove about ten miles on the parkway before exiting to the town of Floyd for a return visit to the Floyd Country Store. I posted about our visit to their Sunday Jam Session in this post from 2013.

Saturday morning before driving to Roanoke to our grandson’s soccer game I walked down to the lake to watch the start of the Claytor Lake Triathlon. An 80 year old man, his 50 year old son and his grandson all participated in the event. After watching the swimmers take off, I walked to the beach to see them exit the water and run to their bikes to begin the bike race.

Start of the Claytor Lake Triathlo

Waiting for the swimmers

Swimmers heading for the beach

Starting the bike ride

On our last morning at the state park I woke up to see four deer in the campground.

On Sunday afternoon our daughter’s family came out for a visit. So much fun sitting by the fire, going for a walk, playing ladderball, and sharing a meal of burgers, hot dogs and of course s’mores. A perfect end to our stay at Claytor Lake.

Best Campgrounds of the year – 2014

December 31, 2014January 19, 2015Posted in Arkansas, COE Park, Parks, RVing, State Parks, VirginiaTagged Claytor Lake State Park, Maumelle Campground, Mississippi River State Park15 Comments

Although we didn’t wander too much in our RV this year our travels took us to some very memorable places. We visited family, camped by lakes and rivers, got together with old friends, visited a distillery, watched barges go by on the Mississippi River, went to 2 Georgia away games, and ate award winning barbeque and tamales.

During our 2014 travels we camped in 8 states and stayed in a total of 17 different parks: 7 state parks, 5 private RV parks, and 5 federal parks.

So here it is, the first ever “Wandering Dawgs best campgrounds of the year” list.

Number 3: Claytor Lake State Park, Dublin, Virginia.

Site D21 – our favorite site at Claytor Lake State Park

Swim platform at Claytor Lake State Park

Claytor Lake State Park is our favorite place to stay when visiting family in Virginia. We’ve returned several times and enjoyed each stay.

There are plenty of things to do in the area to keep you busy. The state park has a nice beach and swimming area, hiking trails, a marina, and gift shop with free Wi-Fi. The Blue Ridge Parkway is close enough for a day trip and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg is just a short drive away.

We always stay in one of the big pull through sites in section D. Each site has water and electric, a picnic table, and fire pit. The sites are wide enough that you don’t feel like you are on top of your neighbor. There are no waterfront sites in the park but the lake is just a short walk from the campground.

We visited Claytor Lake State Park in April, 2014 and also in May, 2013.

Number 2: Maumelle COE on the Arkansas River in Little Rock, Arkansas

Ducks on the Arkansas river

We enjoyed relaxing at our campsite beside the Arkansas River

Maumelle is a popular Corps of Engineers park in Little Rock, Arkansas. This is a very popular park so reservations are recommended especially on the weekends. Our site, just a few steps from the lake, was a large back in with water and electric hookups, a big patio area with a fire pit and picnic table, and a beautiful view of the Arkansas River.

The campground is conveniently located in Little Rock and close to shopping. The park has a boat ramp, playground, basketball court and a picnic area. It is a good home base for exploring the area. We enjoyed a day trip to Petit Jean State Park.

We visited Maumelle Campground in October, 2014.

Number 1: Mississippi River State Park, Marianna, Arkansas

Relaxing at the campsite on Bear Creek Lake

This Great Blue Heron came back to the same spot on the lake each day

Not only the best campground of 2014, but I would rate this one of the best state park campgrounds ever!

The park is located in the Mississippi Delta on the Crowley’s Ridge Parkway and the Great River Road within the St. Francis National Forest. We stayed in the Beech Point Campground on a peninsula in Bear Creek Lake. There are only 17 sites in the campground with 14 full hookup waterfront sites and 3 tent sites. Ours was a large pull through with a big patio area for the picnic table and fire ring. Everything was clean and new, the staff at the visitor’s center and the rangers were friendly and helpful, and the view from our site couldn’t be beat.

This is a great place to sit and watch the resident Great Blue Heron and turtles on the lake. The visitor’s center has a very well done and interesting interpretive center about the Mississippi Delta. The lake is a popular fishing destination and if you enjoy scenic drives the Great River Road and Crowley’s Ridge Parkway are both close by. Oh, and award winning barbeque is just a short drive from the campground.

We’re already trying to figure out when we can camp here again!

We visited Mississippi River State Park in October, 2014.

Honorable Mention: