Sherman Shifflett
If you have never been to Mountain Lake Lodge (where “Dirty Dancing” was filmed), it is worth a visit. Ava and I spent last Thursday night there.
Mountain Lake is seven miles up a mountain off Rt. 460, west of Blacksburg, in Giles County. The lake sprung a leak and doesn’t have much water in it now. I understand that it drains about every hundred years or so. It’s a natural lake. Lots of biking/hiking trails, I believe they have about 2600 acres. The address is Pembroke, not far from Blacksburg.
Thursday night we dined at Palisades Restaurant in the village of Eggleston, VA, about 15 or 20 minutes from Mountain Lake. It’s hard to imagine a restaurant like this in the middle of nowhere. It’s located in an old store and “THE PALISADES RESTAURANT” is painted on the big glass window. Shelves still line the walls inside and are filled with books, dishes and old country-store stuff. I think the kitchen is in the basement. Most of their customers come from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
The food was superb. I ordered chicken that had been marinated in “Virginia Ale” (don’t know if that is ginger ale or beer). The chicken was smothered with a spicy BBQ sauce and sprinkled with diced apples. It was so good I felt like jumping up and slugging someone. For dessert I had homemade chocolate ice cream. A friend from Ferrum College lives in Pearisburg (Giles County), so he and his wife met Ava and me there. The four of us also shared a bottle of wine. The tab for the four of us was just under $100. Not bad.
On Friday morning, Ava and I had a hearty breakfast at Mountain Lodge. Good, but a little pricey. We didn’t eat until about 9:30 AM and I’m surprised we were hungry after the night before. But, we loaded up with eggs, sausage, biscuits covered in sausage gravy, home fries (really good), bowls of fruit (they gave all the diners that), apple juice and coffee. Ava ordered bacon and did not get the biscuit. Our tab was about $40.
The waitress seated us by the window and we enjoyed the scenery and watching the birds at the feeder. It was a most pleasant morning.
We had visited Mountain Lake during the mid-80’s, when the lake was full, and Ava and I visited again in early April of last year when we woke up with two-inches of snow. It was absolutely beautiful. But there was no snow at the bottom of mountain. If you haven’t been, put it on your “to do list”.