Month: September 2017

A Steam Engine in Roanoke

When we moved here in 2014, we didn’t know anything about Roanoke to speak of.  When, in 2015, there was a lot of hooplah about the return of a steam engine from Spencer, North Carolina, we didn’t know why it was a big deal and didn’t know to ask.  The news reported that people waited beside the tracks along the route, hoping to get a video, even though the time that it would pass was kept a secret. We did think that that was odd, but we were busy and weren’t paying attention.

The local hockey team is called the Rail Yard Dawgs. Up until recently, the oldest craft brewery in Roanoke was the Roanoke Railhouse.   There are ads on television for the the popular local Roanoke restaurant called  The Great 611 Steak House.  At some point, you would think that we’d start asking questions, right?  Continue reading A Steam Engine in Roanoke

A Jingle that Gets Stuck In Your Head

There is this jingle that plays here that gets stuck in our heads.  It’s an ad for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, so it may be played nationally, I don’t know.  What I do know that it plays here all the time, almost as frequently as political ads in an election year.  Once it sneaks into your brain, you are lost.  You will be singing it in car and the shower.

Myrtle Beach is somewhere between four and five hours away from Henry County.  Virginia Beach is around five hours from Henry County and the Outer Banks in North Carolina are closer to six hours, so considering a trip to Myrtle Beach is not unreasonable.

We haven’t been to the beach yet but we’d like to go.  The lure of the ad is strong but it looks like it has the potential to be crowded.  Anyone have any recommendations for low volume yet still touristy spots?

 

Feeding the Fish at Bridgewater Plaza

I say so often that someplace is “about an hour away” from Henry County that someone is bound to eventually get suspicious.  It’s true though.  Within an hour from here in pretty much any direction, there is something really cool to see or do.  Smith Mountain Lake, and specifically Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, is one of these cool destinations. Continue reading Feeding the Fish at Bridgewater Plaza