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For $3.50 you take home the souvenir glass your drink co-mes in (205 North Main Street, 540-961-2330).The Cellar Restaurant has a techno-industrial feel with stainlesssteel furniture and a concrete bar.The fare is inexpensive but creative,combining Greek and Italian favorites with new twists i.e.Greek Spa-ghetti with flame-grilled breast of chicken and many vegetarianchoices (302 North Main Street, 540-953-0651).Our Daily Bread Bakery and Café is a favorite lunch spot amonglocals.Started by a Virginia Tech graduate in 1980, the bakery has ev-ery kind of bread you can imagine, from lemon poppy seed to Portu-guese sweet bread, as well as daily specials of unique sandwiches(chicken salad with artichokes one day, with grapes the next), home-made soups, organically grown coffee, and made-from-scratch cakesand pastries.About once a week they make what some have called thebest Carolina barbecue in town.The daily menu is posted on their Website Monday-Friday (keep an eye out for that barbecue!).Open Mon-day-Friday, 7am-6:30pm, and Saturday, 8am-5:30pm.Located in theBlacksburg Square Shopping Center (1329 S.Main Street, 540-953-2815, www.ourdailybreadbakery.com).Any of the downtown Blacksburg restaurants can be hopping withcollege students at night, so if a quiet, adult dinner with candles and lin-ens is what you re pining for, take a trip to Christiansburg to dine at theFarmhouse Restaurant.Built in the 1800s as part of the RidingerEstate, the white clapboard farmhouse was transformed into a cozy,elegant restaurant in 1963.There s an old train caboose for a uniquedining experience, a rustic lounge and a 250-seat banquet facility (285Ridinger Street, Christiansburg, 540-382-3965, e-mail farmhous@swva.net).51Southwest Virginia BlacksburgLodgingThe Clay Corner Inn is a five-building B&B surrounding aheated pool.The rooms are themed: The Quilt Room hashand-embroidered pillows, the Sanibel Room features sea-shells and lace, and the Hokie Room is decked out in the team colors oforange and burgundy.The hospitality may be old-fashioned (ironedpillow cases), but the amenities are not 59-channel cable TV, sepa-rate entrances, full kitchens and living areas in each guesthouse.You llprobably meet resident Labrador retrievers Kent and Solomon (whohas authored his own book, Solomon Says Observations of an Inn-keeper Dog).The oldest building (1911) is the Huckleberry House, so-named because the Huckleberry Trail is just feet from the front door.You might run into one of the innkeepers walking Solomon and Kenton the trail.And, of course, pets are welcome (401 Clay Street SW,Blacksburg, 540-953-2604, www.claycorner.com, $$).The Best Western Red Lion Inn may be a chain motel, butyou d hardly guess it, nor that you were right off I-460.The 13acres of grounds have rolling lawns, trees, and even a streamwith a little bridge over it.There s continental breakfast and dining inthe Red Lion Restaurant.The décor and building design are German-influenced.The lobby has fireplaces, deep sofas and an old world at-mosphere.Pets allowed with notice (900 Plantation Road, exit I-460 atPrices Ford Road, Blacksburg, 540-552-7770, $).It s about 16 miles north of Blacksburg, but well worth the trip: Moun-tain Lake Hotel sits at the entrance to Mountain Lake Wilderness onits own 2,600 acres of mountain resort.There s hiking, mountain bik-ing, boating, fishing, swimming, tennis, carriage and pony rides, andlawn games.The film Dirty Dancing was filmed in the elegant 150-year-old stone lodge.Open May through November (Pembroke,800-828-0490 or 540-626-7121, www.mountainlakehotel.com,$$$$).InformationMontgomery County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Cen-ter, 1995 S.Main Street, 800-288-4061, www.montgomerycc.org.The merchants of downtown Blacksburg have a Web site at www.downtownblacksburg.com.Find information online at the Blacksburg Electronic Village, www.bev.net.52 InformationTIPDon t even try visiting on Virginia Tech ParentsWeekend (unless you re a parent, that is).It s thesingle busiest weekend, typically held in October,but all events are set after the football gameschedule comes out in February.Check with theMontgomery Chamber of Commerce ( 800-288-4061, www.montgomerycc.org).Side TripCatawbaJust seven miles off I-81 at Roanoke, about 20 miles northeastof Blacksburg, The Homeplace restaurant ( 540-384-7252) in Catawba seems worlds away from anywhere.At onetable sit three high school couples, gowned girls on one side,tuxedoed boys on the other.At the next table, two unshaven,long-haired young men fresh off the Appalachian Trail shovelin one helping of food after another.They may be headed inopposite directions the hikers to Maine and the high-schoolersto the Creek County High School prom but for a few hoursthey share a dining room at The Homeplace, a local Catawbainstitution and, by word-of-mouth, a much-anticipated desti-nation for hikers on the 2,167-mile AT that passes nearby.Hikers have been known to speed up their pace to make it bySunday dinner.The attraction aside from a beautifully restored century-oldhouse on just the prettiest spot in Catawba Valley, surroundedby mountains, rolling fields and manicured landscaping isthe food.The Homeplace serves up nothing more than themost delicious, down-home, all-you-can-eat, just-like-grandma-used-to-make meals.Outside, there are swings on the wrap-around porch, a gazebo and a pond.For someone who s beenon the trail since Georgia, reaching The Homeplace must besomething akin to heaven on earth. Ever been here before? asks the friendly waitress.We shakeour heads. Well, this is how it works [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]