Road Trip Day #2-#7 of 26

Our first stop after we checked into the Hampton Inn in Christiansburg, Virginia, was Macado's restaurant. They have the best broccoli cheese au gratin soup, and Katie just begs for it everytime we're in Virginia. They also have awesome sandwiches (my favorite is the Ragtime), and their Chubby Bubby (a HUGE banana split) totally ROCKS! I know I usually gain five pounds just looking at it, but I had to have one (or maybe two) during the week we were there. It is impossible to find good ice cream where we live. Everything is that awful soft serve stuff.

Anyway, back to our Blacksburg visit. We went back to the hotel after dinner, and by the time we arrived, David was there waiting for us. We just relaxed and regrouped the rest of the evening. The kids tried to swim, but the pool was COLD!

The next day we went to visit our friends, David and Wendy. We ate grilled burgers at their house while the girls had a ball picking blueberries in their back yard. We went and played at a park near their home and then headed out to the Home Place restaurant near Salem, Virginia.

Having dinner at the Home Place is a different kind of dining experience. It's about 12 miles from Salem, in a beautiful mountain valley near the Appalahian Trail. The scenery is incredible. The house itself is an old, but charming, farmhouse which has been tastefully expanded into a restaraunt. The wait can be up to two hours, but they have an excellent outdoor area where the kids can run around and burn off energy.

The food is served "family style", and the choices are very limited, but that's why it's so good! The servers bring bowls of everything to your table, and just like family, you share everything. Entrees include roast beef, Virginia ham and fried chicken, which is ALMOST as good as my mom's. Sides include green beans, pinto beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls, biscuits and apple butter. It was the best the best $14 meal I've had in a while! If you are visiting the Roanoke/Salem area and are looking for a way to get some really good food, as well a great look, at the Blue Ridge scenery, this is it!

We spent the rest of the week relaxing and visiting our buddies, the Schwartz family. We went out to eat at Red Robin and at Macado's again, and we saved tons on our budget eating dinner with them at home. Thanks guys! We also caught a free movie at the theater with nine kids total in our group (and only 2 were girls!), got to see the Twilight movie with Amy & John while the kids slept, babysat for just a bit when Schwartz kid #4 cut his head open and needed to go to the ER, and went swimming at their community pool. Katie even got to go work out two different times at one of the local gymnastics gym. I was so happy that Virginia Techniques was willing to let her practice with their team! We will be arriving home just a week before we go to gymnastics camp. It's wonderful that she can work out on the road so that she won't be sore during camp!

It was a great week, and we we so sad to leave... See you next year, Blacksburg!