Say you have a bunch of bored kids in the house and you’d like to offer some healthy and inspiring entertainment. Then, load ‘em in the car and head for Madison, Virginia. There, you will find a slew of birds and animals and you can feed them by hand. Yoder’s has billy goats, peacocks, chickens, pigs, ponies, rabbits, ring-neck pheasants and many others. And these critters love nothing better than … [Read more...]

  People like to fish for trout where there actually are trout. Makes sense to me. That’s why fee-fishing areas are gaining in popularity. One of the crown jewels among Virginia’s Fee Fishing streams is the Clinch Mountain Fee Fishing Area on Big Tumbling Creek. The Game Department historically stocks big fish here, often trophy sized fish. The Clinch Mountain fee fishing area … [Read more...]

  I needed a couple frogs for our small lily pond. Last year’s resident, Uh-Huh The Frog, skedaddled in the fall and chose to live elsewhere. I had offered the neighborhood kids a $5 bounty if they could catch me a small frog, but no one claimed the money. Only one thing to do: Last Sunday, Nancy and I drove across the mountain to Greenville. We went to Springdale Water Gardens, one … [Read more...]

  Sherwood Shifflett   Looking for a vacation in addition to the beach? Do you enjoy the great outdoors and spectacular scenery? Want to see lots of wildlife? Do you appreciate great food and service? Then I have a trip you need to put on your "bucket list". For years, my two brothers and I have talked about a train ride across Canada. Recently, we decided that "We … [Read more...]

In the bible, God once told Moses to take off his sandals because the place on which the Great Lawmaker was standing was holy ground. There is a spot in West Virginia’s Grant County that I feel that way about. It’s holy ground, indeed, where God did some of his very best work. In fact, I think maybe He was showing off a little. This is spectacular country. The South Branch of the North Fork of … [Read more...]

Charlotte and Dick Forester from Richmond told us about this special place – Smith’s Red & White in the little town of Dortches, near Rocky Mount. Each summer on their way to Topsail Beach, Charlotte and Dick pulled off I-95 at the Hwy. 43 Exit and stopped at this grocery store, where they loaded their trunk and coolers with beach food. With all the great places in Richmond to buy food, why … [Read more...]

By Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries Hog Island Wildlife Management Area is one of Virginia’s coastal wildlife treasures.  Located in in Surry County, Hog Island WMA is well known to hunters, birders and fishermen because of its unique location on the James River, which attracts a variety of waterfowl and other wildlife. Hog Island is actually a peninsula jutting out into the James, which … [Read more...]

Over the Christmas holidays, many families will be taking road trips to see friends and relatives and – no doubt – there will be food involved in the travel plans. Cold food means ice and heavy coolers – or maybe not! Your daily newspaper can help eliminate much of the need for ice. Years ago, I was hosting a Fourth of July pig roast and I had to pick up the pig the day before. This was about a … [Read more...]