Out of Order- Roanoke, VA

Whoops! Out of order! The perfectionist in me hates this, but I can't figure out how to change the order, so I'm just going to take a deep breath and go with it...

July 2010
Road Trip to Roanoke, VA

My BFF Britty and I have a great relationship with our 7th grade English teacher. She and her husband lived down the street from BFF when we were in middle & early high school. We would go over to their house for hours and complain about how awful our parents were--hah! Anyways, they moved to Roanoke our Senior year and we still manage to see them about once a year. Either they come to us, or we go to them. We always have the most wonderful time when we are with them.

This was a short weekend trip because Britty had to get back to school, but a special one nonetheless. We spent a lot of time talking and relaxing at their house and of course "Krogering" with them  to learn about all of the things we should and shouldn't be eating. Roanoke is absolutely beautiful! It is set right in between the Blue Ridge Pkwy and the Appalachian Trail.

One evening we took a drive to the Chateau Morrisette Winery. We explored the store there before enjoying a scrumptious dinner at the restaurant there. The winery is very unique in that it is dog friendly. One of their wines is actually called, Black Dog.  The employees all have their dogs hanging out in the store. Very cute! On the drive home we probably saw 50 deer along the sides of the mountain roads.

Roanoke is very organic and local farm friendly.  I wish our area was better about this.  We went to Isaac's Mediterranean Restaurant where I discovered black bean hummus (which I have been obsessed with ever since) and had a fresh gyro. All of the food was very fresh and you can definitely taste the difference.

While downtown, we also checked out the Taubman Museum of Art. It was a unique experience. We'll leave  it at that. I'm just not artsy enough for modern art. We also went to the Hotel Roanoke. It was built in the 1800s and has a beautiful historic value. Our last stop of the day was Virginia Museum of Transportation 
where we learned all about trains.

We had a wonderful time with our friends! The road trip highlights included introducing BFF to Five Guys
which she was afraid had been overhyped. It wasn't. It can't be. We stopped on the way there and the way back.  We also did some serious damage at a teacher supply store along the interstate in Memphis. There is nothing like a quick roadtrip with your BFF!