We woke up this morning in Floyd, Virginia. Our night in the Hotel Floyd was relaxing and enjoyable. The internet problem they were having was frustrating for our logging of the trip, but they’re reduction of our final bill due to this was sure an excellent customer service step on their part, and one that made me willing to give them a try again in the future.
Melodia wrote about it, so I don’t need to, but I will say that the 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suites were smartly designed and definitely beg for us to return for a longer stay. The quietness of this small town and surrounding countryside offer fun and potential discovery for those willing to uncover it, but are definitely not the ready-made, cookie-cutter, this-is-where-to-go vacation that some places offer. I much prefer to discover my vacation rather than have it dictated to me.
We managed our way out of the hotel about 930am and headed out for the first of 3 legs today. The first, an hour drive to the Mountain Mill Zoo. I was a little skeptical when I placed this stop on the itinerary. The website doesn’t offer much in the way of really understanding this zoo. In fact, it sounded much like this could be a private, one-man-dream, backyard-adventure. The lack of a “physical address” when looking at their website for directions, raised my concerns and suspicions. It was also clear from the googling that this was a small zoo.
Now, I don’t want to knock small zoos. In many ways, small zoos have an advantage or a middle-sized or large/mega-zoo. Their advantage is that the customer understands going in, this will be a limited zoo. The expectations are set lower, and in many ways, it leaves room to be surprised.
Nonetheless, we contemplated crossing this leg off in order to make better time, as we had 3 legs totaling 7+ hours of drive time today. A big haul, but we needed to cover some ground. Still, we resisted, deciding to stick with the plan and see what it had to offer.
This zoo is set up in the mountains behind the city of Roanoke, VA. Arriving at the mountaintop, we pulled off into the little parking lot that serves the zoo and took off on what was a rather long walk to the entrance. Though I didn’t mind it much, for the size of the zoo (I.e., knowing it was a small zoo, having a larger zoo’s distance from car to front door was disconcerting).
At the front gate, we checked the prices. I wasn’t sure, well, I was pretty sure that our zoo pass would not get free admission to this zoo based on what I’d read. The zoo prices were such that it’d have cost us $20 bucks to enter (paying for myself, Melodia, and Wil – McKinley and Izzabelle, as 2-and-unders, were free, so it’d be even more for us in the future!).
Now, that would have turned me around right there. But, I decided to see what the discount on the zoo pass was. Turns out, our pass entitled us to 50% off their admission rates, so it ended up being just under $10 bucks. That was fine in my opinion, I don’t mind donating some money to their bottom line. So we paid and entered.
I could go on here describing the exhibits, but I will spoil the ending right now and just blurt it out. This was, for us, one of those little gems. Sometimes, we find coal; sometimes, we strike upon a diamond. This little mountain-top zoo was a gem and worth the experience (albeit, I still wouldn’t have dished out $20, or $30 when all kids require payment -I.e., are 3 or older). That cost would have likely held me back. But as little zoos go, this was a great one.
The layout of the zoo made for quick and easy travel to the next exhibit of interest. There were no long winding, indirect paths to tire us out and annoy us. Many of the exhibits were accessible from multiple ways, allowing for one to travel one’s own path through the zoo to the animals of most interest.
The zoo featured a Wolverine, which we hadn’t seen in any of the zoos recently, so that was a treat. And it featured one of Papi’s favorite animals, the Red Panda. The Chattanooga Zoo, another small zoo, showcases these, marketing itself around its Red Panda exhibit; and Melodia and I visited that zoo when we lived in Tennesee.
The Mountain Mill Zoo also had snow leopards in an exhibit that allowed them to be easily viewed (and viewed by the kids easily), rather than hidden in some cave. Snow Leopards are also the type of cat that Tai Lung was in Kung Fu Panda. And Wil really likes Tai Lung, so getting to see those Snow Leopards up close was great.
The zoo features a decked mountain overlook peering down upon the city of Roanoke. What a wonderful vista from a zoo. In addition, as a mountain-top zoo, this zoo wasn’t flat, something that adds interest to me in traveling to zoos. I like zoos with elevation changes, they make the experience more adventurous. Hiking up or down to an exhibit gives one the “what’s coming around the next corner?” experience.
The kids saw several animals worth attending for, in addition to those mentioned, there were black buzzards, a red wolf, and porcupines.
Now admittedly, there were a couple of animals whose exhibits allowed them to hide largely from view, and those 2 exhibits were a little disappointing. But the rest was interesting. One other disappointment, but only for us that day, their train was not running. It was in for repair.
The Mountain Mill Zoo has a little train that runs the perimeter of the entire zoo. Much better than a small track in the middle of a medium zoo, in my opinion. We’d hoped to let the kids ride this, as we had planned a bit of a train day theme. But alas, we’ll have to visit again to test this train out!
There was a small (we mean tiny) play area featuring 3 slides and a couple of climbing features. But, this was excellent.
One of my complaints about other zoos’ play areas is usually the congestion and/or that the area is too enclosed to allow parents to easily get to their kids (think McDonald’s play structure). Having just this one little area, open and exposed, coupled with the low attendance at the zoo, made it a wonderful stop for our kids to enjoy the slides for a bit.
Now, one critique about Mountain Mill Zoo’s slides…. Why do playgrounds insisted on installing “bumpy” slides. These slides were steep and had two bumpy and one smooth slide. The bumpy slides are a little much for kids 2 and under in my opinion, I.e., kids who might not be able to slow themselves. I wish one of those would have been replaced with something simpler. The other slide was steep, but designed such that there was absolutely no chance a kid would slide right off the end.
As a dad, I liked this, too. I hate having to “catch” my kids at the bottom of a poorly designed slide before they fly off into the dirt.
So we enjoyed the Mountain Mill Zoo. We headed out about 1230pm, enroute to Clifton Falls, home of the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society.
This was one of those google finds that I was hoping would also be a real gem. I’d called a week earlier to verify that the society’s stockyard and tourist center would be open on Memorial Day. They were very helpful in responding to my phone request and eager for more visitors to see their exhibits.
They even provided me with the phone number of the manager who had said that, if for some reason they had closed early, we could call him and he’d come down and open it for us, and give us the tour. Now where in the world do you find such personalized service these days? And for something that’s free? Not many places.
We arrived at the C & O Historical Society around 145pm. The kids were immediately excited to see the trains. It was all they could think about, “Papi, can we go in the trains?” We were greeted by the station master, who brought us into the station and took us on a full tour of it. He explained some of the history and facts surrounding the C & O railroad, and showed us their working Model Railroad, a recreation of route taken by the original train. He also let Wil ring a train bell that they had on display. McKinley like learning about “Chessie,” the cat that became the mascot for the C & O.
Now admittedly, we are not “train buffs,” and someone did ask us this when we were there! I bought my own model railroad at about 26, while living alone in Pasadena, CA, and really enjoyed having O-Scale trains for a few years. I had also traveled on Amtrak, and read several books on trains, both passenger and freight, during my days of living in Miami, FL. Trains have always fascinated me, with that sort of “child’s fascination” that trains capture many of us with.
It was real joy to take my kids on the auto train at this age to help them build train memories. And this visit was yet another opportunity to connect our children with trains. But I have to admit to not understand our railroad heritage to the degree which I probably should, and perhaps which we all should.
It is, after all, important for us to understand our history, especially as we try to build a future. We forget that often. And we need to be reminded.
But, while not train buffs, this stop proved incredible. It immediately goes on my list of “must-sees” if you are traveling this way.
The staff’s care and education of visitors is unparalleled. Seriously, we felt as if we were getting a private tour of the entire place, and in truth, we were. There was one father and child on their way out as we came in, and one elderly couple who came in at the end of our tour. But these staff members were just as happy to give the 5 of us, one family, the grand tour with talking points in full docent style.
After our inside tour, another staff member took us outside to see their real rolling stock. He started in their model shed, 
showing us their rideable model train, one of which we’d be riding on at the end of our tour. The kids couldn’t wait.
Then he showed us some historical pieces. Wil and McKinley and I were even allowed to ride one of those handcars or pumper trolleys down a few feet of track and back. It was a neat experience.
We then toured some of the larger rolling stock, a full educational tour of 2 cabooses, a rare C & O Combination Car (#458) which is a half-passenger, half-baggage car., a Gadby’s Tavern, a C & O dining car. These cars have been fully restored and set up with props inside to model their look in use.
I mean, who doesn’t love looking inside old train cars? Seriously. We all loved it, the kids, and the kid in Melodia and I!
We then were taken up into JD Tower, and educated about the purpose of such towers, how they worked, and where this particular tower had originally been, how and why it was restored, etc.
And then finally, we were treated to 4 loops around the track on a live steam miniature train. It’s hard to explain this little train and how cool it was. I just have to show some pictures. Now, I must admit to originally finding these types of trains more for the children at zoos and so on, and for 35 year old, single males, still living in mom’s house.
But we were given the rundown on this locomotive before we rode. The driver, who was also our tour guide of the C & O stock, had explained that he owns one of these at home. I asked him a good deal of questions about the hobby and his interest in it, and what others in the hobby do. I mean, I was curious, and looking for someone to bust the stereotype for me.
He gave me tons of info about these little trains and about the clubs that exist for them, and encouraged me to check out the website www.discoverlivesteam.com to learn even more. I’ll admit, he had my interest.
We then rode the train. The kids sat in a hopper car and had a blast! Melodia and I both then admitted to an interest in this hobby. We asked a few cost questions. The big cost is the engine. So how much for one of these? The cost: (hold your breath, sit down, all that)…. $14, 500. Ok, and then the additional cars, how much, about $600-800 per car.
I looked at Melodia for final approval. “What do you think, honey? Can we get one and get into this?” To my surprise, she said yes. You know, we may just be geeks after all. I mean, we play board games regularly in a group, and well, that could be seen as geeky. And this live steam hobby? Well, if we embark on this path, besides possibly crimping some travel, it would put us into another geeky area, I’d imagine.
Still, take a look at that website. I mean, seriously, what is not to love there?! It’s quite incredible really.
We headed out about 330pm and spent 4 hours driving through the windy, mountainous backcountry of West Virginia. Though long for our travel standards with the kids, it was quite a relaxing, beautiful, adventurous ride. We traveled up and down numerous winding (some with 180 switchbacks) roads that reminded M and I of some pre-kid adventures we had in the mountains of Tennessee. It was awesome, the kind of drive that made us wish we didn’t have to go so far, and could stop off for a while.
It was 930pm before we made it to the hotel, with dinner and snack stops. The Waterfront Place Hotel was another gem I’d found online. I had previously booked some 4-hours of spa treatment in the WP’s 2nd floor spa for M as a present for her, in lieu of flowers for her on Wil’s birthday (the one thing she asked for when we had kids… flowers from the kids on their birthdays).
I figured she wouldn’t mind the missing flowers, and that the spa would be an acceptable substitute. We had a room on a private access floor with a private lounge serving continental breakfast, lunch, and evening o’dourves. Melodia was amazed at the hotel, it’s service, and our room. It was definitely fitting to book something a little more high class for our last evening on the road. I thought we all needed the treat.
Total Travel today: about 7 hours and 300 miles (the backcountry miles really slowed us down, 25 MPH at times!)
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