Beautiful Views and Great Food

Beautiful views and great food is what we have planned for Friday afternoon this week. Since Friday is Fall Break and you don't have any classes, but you are probably not going home for the weekend because you have tickets to the Boston College game Saturday (does this sound like you?), because of all that, Friday afternoon is the perfect time for a hiking trip we've been wanting to take for a while.

Here's the plan: We meet at the campus house at Noon and carpool to Dragon's Tooth trail about 30 minutes from here. We take about 1 1/2 hours to hike up the trail to the top where these huge white limestone slabs of rock are sticking straight up out of the ground about 40 feet into the air. They really do look like huge dragon teeth. You can climb around on them if you are careful, which is really fun. The view is fantastic -- miles and miles in many directions, especially this time of year, of course. We usually spend about a half hour climbing around on the rocks up there at the top and enjoying the view before heading back down the trail.

The hike is not too hard and not too easy. It's just right. You don't have to be in great shape -- it's only about a 3 hour hike round trip -- but it's not just some level, boring trail either. You are hiking up a mountain and you are going to be rewarded with a mountain top experience once you get there.

By the time we finish hiking back down the mountain you will have built up a big appetite. Perfect, because we are going to drive about 5 minutes over to The Homeplace restaurant and eat our money's worth of all-you-can-eat delicious homemade food served family style. That means they bring out a big platter of fried chicken, and another platter of roast beef or ham, and a big bowl of mashed potatoes and a gravy boat, and everyone in our group sits around one big table and we just pass the food around and you get what you want and pass it on like you do when you eat with your family at Thanksgiving or something like that. You also get homemade biscuits, green beans, corn, pinto beans, homemade cinnamon apple butter (everything is homemade, I'm just not saying it in front of every single word), sweet tea, lemonade, coffee, and cobbler for dessert! You get all of this for about $13 which even includes the tax! It is so worth it. And after all that hiking, you will definitely be able to eat your money's worth. The food is so good!

Oh, and the weather is so right for this. It's not supposed to rain, and it's going to be in the 70's all afternoon. Perfect.

So bring a friend and meet us at the campus house at 12 Noon this Friday (October 9), and bring your car if you have one and don't mind driving. We might need it for the carpool.

Don't forget to bring some water with you for the trail, and wear your hiking boots or something comfortable for hiking. (Flip flops are definitely not recommended for this trip.) Also, don't forget to bring money for the meal at The Homeplace restaurant.

Hope to see you at Noon, Friday.

Steve

Here's directions to the campus house in case you need them:
Probably the best way to get them is to type "413 West Clay St., Blacksburg, VA" into Google maps. You'll see that our campus house is only about a block away from most of the dorms on campus, over by the Washington Street tennis courts. It's much closer than most of your classes!

If you are walking from on campus, do this: When you are standing on Washington Street between O'Shaughnessy (O'Shag) Hall and Johnson Hall you are only one short block away. Cross to the other side of the street and take the sidewalk up the hill towards VT's Cranwell International Center. (You will see a sign for Cranwell on Washington St.) VT's Tennis Courts will be on your right. As you are walking up the hill veer to your left off of the sidewalk and walk up the grassy hill. (Veer left before you get to the chain link fence with all the vines growing on it. We are on the other side of that fence.) You will see the campus house facing you. It's a two story red brick house with a big front porch and a banner on the balcony railing that says "Christ's Church @ VT Campus Ministry" -- so you'll know you found the right place once you get here! It's really pretty simple, but feel free to call me if you have any trouble: 540-552-8292.