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Doe
Run Lodge Trip
June 2001
Bob and I were able to get a weekend away on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Trip pictures below. From Winston-Salem we are only about an hour away from the Parkway entrance at Fancy Gap, VA. The Doe Run Lodge is only ten miles up from Fancy Gap once you get on the Parkway. However, as you can see from the very first picture we posted, it was raining and foggy. We missed the turn twice, the third time I was driving at 5 mph's with Bob sticking his head out the window so we could see the driveway.
The cabin was originally constructed on 1865 and moved to the Doe Run property. The outside logs are all from the original cabin and barn which it was attached to. The inside boards on the walls and ceiling are also from the barn. After Friday's rain and fog we had nice weather the remainder of the weekend.
The Lodge had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting in the cabin for our arrival. We ate dinner at the Lodge restaurant, an all you can eat seafood buffet. The steamed squash and zucchini casserole and the asparagus were delicious. I ate shrimp, scallops and tuna along with an assortment of cold salads that were delicious. I had an ice cream crepe for dessert.
We returned to the lodge, started a fire, and read while drinking our champagne and just relaxing. Saturday morning we slept in until about 8:15 then dressed and headed up to the lodge for breakfast. Bob had coffee and biscuits, and I ate buckwheat pancakes with syrup and bacon. Back to the cabin I sat on the porch and read then went in around noon and took a two hour nap. Afterward I took a hike to get some air and exercise than back to the cabin to read until dinner time. We ate at the lodge again. I ordered manicotti with marinara sauce which came with a side of those delicious steamed squash and rolls. Carrot cake for desert along with two glasses of wine. Bob had a salad. Back to the cabin to build a fire. The skies cleared briefly for a bit of moon viewing than clouded back over and it rained again during the night.
Sunday morning we slept in and read until we checked out around 10:00. Then we drove another twenty miles up the Parkway to the Chateau Morrisette Winery for lunch and a tour. After the tour we tasted twelve of their wines. I bought a few bottles for myself and as gifts for my dad and sister. We then drove back along the Parkway into North Carolina for another 80 miles or so before taking a winding back roads route back home arriving around 6:00.
Driving up Friday afternoon, the fog was terrible. This was actually one of the clearer spots, and it's worse than it looks. The camera is on wide-angle, and that tree barely visible on the left is actually maybe 50 feet in front of the car. |
Outside view of the cabin. The wagon belonged to one of the maintenance workers Uncle and was found in an old barn.
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Main porch and entrance.
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Backside of the cabin
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Antique tools hang from the wall |
Here is am relaxing on the porch with a good book. I spent a great deal of the weekend out here reading. |
Entrance door and fireplace. Notice the antler ceiling fixture and log beams as well as the antiques around the room. |
Neat toilet. The tank and flush mechanism is at the top. |
Whirlpool bath. Check out the rock base and enclosure. |
Bob building a fire |
The bed in the main room and the door to the bath. |
It cleared off long enough to view the moon for a while before the clouds rolled back in on Saturday night.
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I took a hike Saturday afternoon on one of the trail that runs behind the cabin. This little stream is one I crossed over |
I did not get a very good picture of the waterfall. I was a little waterfall but you get the idea how pretty the area is. |
The is the trail on my way back up. It was about a mile down to the waterfall. |
Millpond Hideaway located on the pond right across from the cabin. This cabin is about fifty yards up from our cabin |
Here is the pond. The chalets atop the hill are part of the Lodge |
The restaurant at the winery. Until two years ago the wine was made in the basement of this house where the restaurant is located. |
New building for the expanded winery production
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Another view |
Tour guide standing along side the grape crusher for extracting the juice |
Part of the tour group standing beside a stem removal and grape crushing machine |
Vats for holding the wine while fermenting before being moved to barrels. |
Only oak barrels are used. They pay around $80 for American and $600 for French oak |
More of the holding vats
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Jazz is one of three Labrador retrievers who belong to the owners of the winery and hang around. He is the model for their Black Dog label wine. This is the bar where we did the tasting after the tour. Jazz was serving. |
The Winery raises some of their own grapes at two locations. One vineyard is located behind the winery, the other several miles down the road where Mr. Morrisette first started his wine making operations at his home. They buy their grapes and some juice from other vineyards in Virginia. The wine industry is quickly growing in the United States and the NC/VA area. |