ROAD TRIP
BY BOB TAGERT
Photo by Dan Mirolli
MOUNTAIN LAKE LODGE
…More Than Just the Home of Dirty Dancing That is, the movie Dirty Dancing! With the 1987 iconic movie celebrating its 35th year along with young people and dance, we decided to take our Road Trip to the primary filming location. Most of us are familiar with the movie and when we had the chance to visit and stay at the site of the movie we took advantage of the invitation. Don’t be fooled, however, there is so much more to Mountain Lake Lodge than Dirty Dancing fame. Mountain Lake Lodge is located in the southwest mountains of Virginia in Pembroke, VA. Nearby is the campus of Virginia Tech, the New River, Appalachian Trail and plenty of mountains. At approximately 4,000 feet on Salt Pond Mountain you will find the stone lodge, rustic cabins and cozy cottages that make up Mountain Lake Lodge. Upon our arrival, after a winding, uphill climb, we arrived at the lodge nestled in a bowl and surrounded by an old growth forest. The stone lodge
22 August 2022
Mountain Lake Lodge 115 Hotel Circle Pembroke, VA 540-626-7121 www.mtnlakelodge.com New River’s Edge 540-599-8382 www.newriversedge.com
is very impressive on first sight and more so after entering the beautiful hotel. We checked in and they gave us directions to our cottage in the center of the compound. We were given a cottage named Norfolk. All of the cottages and cabins have names from back in the days they were built. Our accommodations were very comfortable and complete with a balcony overlooking the volley ball and badminton courts, the two pools, Baby’s cottage and in the distance the dried up lake (we will get to that
shortly). The cottage included a king size bed, stone fireplace and a jacuzzi tub. The tub came in handy after a day of kayaking on the New River. Even though the evenings were cool, it didn’t warrant a wood fire in the evening, however we did make it to the fire pit on our first night. As we were finishing settling in, a staff person arrived with our golf cart to help us navigate the grounds. Nice touch! We enjoyed a very nice dinner our first night in the Lodge’s spacious dining room. Service was excellent as all of the staff were very friendly. Before and after dinner we made a stop at the Stoney Creek Tavern which was adjacent to the dining room. According to President and CEO Heidi Stone, the resort can accommodate up to around 350 people, which means that this bar would be pretty crowded during their busy season. To ease that situation they are in the middle of construction of an adjacent Pub. The Pub and
adjoining shops will be completed this summer. Although Mountain Lake is a place to relax and enjoy all of the open space, including hiking trails and free parking for day trippers, there are other adventures in which to participate including *Treetop Adventure, 3D Archery, an Escape Room, Bubble Ball, Archery Tag and Guided Gator Tours. In addition they offer a Clays 5 Stand, consisting of 5 individual shooting stands and up to 7 different targets, including a rabbit (not a real rabbit BTW). On our first day we met our Gator chauffeur and historian Bo Hunnicutt and embarked on the 2 hour History tour. After the first hour of this tour I was convinced that Bo was a go-kart race driver in a former life. The John Deere Gator was the perfect vehicle for this off-road exploration of the 2,900 acres of the mountain. Our first ride took us to the top of the mountain where, some years ago, a golf course was built on the plateau. Although over grown today, there is a part of the course that is still maintained and hosts the Clay shooting operation. As Bo told us, imagine playing a round of golf at 4,000 feet. We understand that a number of celebrities have frequented ROAD TRIP > PAGE 23
Old Town Crier
