DAY 5 -- A REAL SHOCKER, FIELDALE, VA

Views of the foliage from overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Granny's Corner with bins of a variety of apples.

Chateau Morrisette on our way out.

Everyone ribbed me about this being our overnight accommodations.

Reuben and Dianne were lucky, they had the honeymoon suite.

We sat watching football at the Virginia Home Inn.

Breakfast at the Virginia Home Inn.

This room was what we walked into and gasped at the Virginia Home Inn.

The Virginia Home Inn

DAY 5 – Fieldale, VA

After starting the day from a large Holiday Inn Express in Blowing Rock, NC. We started the day with a pretty good size breakfast; we packed up the cars and headed to our next destination, Fieldale, VA.

Back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the weather was not looking very cooperative. We made our way out of town with the tops down, but it wasn’t long before we had to pull over to put our tops up.

Our first stop other than a few overlook points was an apple/fruit stand, Granny’s Corner. There were apples of all variety and it was hard to choose which we wanted to not take home with us. We also were talked into fresh baked apple pies and pumpkin pies. They were delicious.

One of our fun stops was at a log cabin, where they chided me about using this as an overnight stop.

Chateau Morrisette was a quick stop for a wine tasting, which wasn't a bad thing to do with such nasty weather outside. The wines were different but not as sweet and unusual as I was expecting.

From there our mission was to get to Francis of Assisi at Rocky Mount for 4:30 Mass. Miles and I were separated from the group when a large blue truck came between us. Not being able to follow the group we put the address in the Garmin and followed a rather precarious route that took us off the Blue Ridge Parkway onto some unusual roads. One of the most confusing roads (which only had names and no designated state or county numbers) had white lines on both sides of the road and were not wide enough for two vehicles at one time. We arrived at the church about 15 minutes before the others. The worst was that we could never communicate with each other until we all reached the Rocky Mount community.

 It wasn’t long after Mass that we found our way to The Virginia Home Inn. By all online descriptions it was an elegant well maintained bed and breakfast. When we arrived we found an 18-wheeler moving van in the driveway. That made us a little leery, but when we walked into the living room we were literally flabbergasted. Boxes filled the living room, the dining room had several large dining tables, and at least 8 cupboards and cellophane wrapped boxes. The butler’s pantry that lead into the kitchen had a raised floor that resembled pallets.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we discovered that the two brothers that we communicated with had sold the inn to a lady from California who had just arrived 6 days prior. I was devastated. But at this time of the season it is impossible to find a last minute place to book. The house was noticeably not the quality that we were given, but suitable enough to stay. The new owner was very accommodating and it sounds as though she was duped as well as we were.

The pre-ordered dinners for that evening we had ordered with the Lewis brothers were honored but some substitutes were made. It was, however, very good and we had more than enough to eat.

Breakfast the next morning was not esthetically attractive but was tasty and plentiful. Then we were off the next day to our new destination.