Blacksburg VA Remote Work Week 2021: Exploring Old & New - VT Nostalgia and Falls Ridge Preserve

Blacksburg Remote Work Week: Exploring Old & New – 6/14-6/16/21

The “work” part of our week in Blacksburg dictated our weekday mornings, but Jim and I took extended lunch breaks each day and/or knocked off early.

On Monday afternoon, we visited a small nature preserve in Montgomery County, VA. [Have you checked out the nature preserves in your home county? They may be a little under the radar compared to county parks. Go find those little gems!] 

Falls Ridge Preserve is extraordinary. On its 655 acres, the most prominent feature is an 80-foot spring-fed travertine waterfall; the stone looks like cooled lava, melted mud. There are also large sinkholes in the preserve suggesting underground caverns. Read about the property’s history, geology and natural features. Fascinating!

NOTE: We visited the preserve on June 14, 2021. This notice now appears on the website:

As of January 27, 2022, Falls Ridge Preserve is closed until further notice.

We are repairing the trails and allowing nature to recover following an extended period of high visitation and overuse of the trails. Want to help by volunteering? Contact: vapreservestewards@tnc.org. For all other inquiries about Falls Ridge please call:      434-951-0579.

On Monday night we carried lawn chairs and adult beverages to the front yard of our home-away-from-home and waited for sunset while soaking in the pastoral scene at Walnut Spring Stables across the way. Ahhhh.

On Tuesday’s lunch break, I introduced Jim to Heritage Community Park. We walked on mowed grass trails through the meadows down to Tom’s Creek. 

Tucked in a corner of the park is Nature Play Space, where several children and their adults were exploring the pollinator garden and interpretive signs.

When we were students at Virginia Tech, from time to time Jim and I would carry cheese and crackers, our backgammon board, a blanket, and a bottle of Lancer’s wine (don’t judge) to the campus Duck Pond. After dinner on Tuesday, we walked down this “memory lane,” enjoying the nostalgia of our idea of sophisticated interludes. We gave ourselves grace for our youth and gratitude for all the years between then and now. How lucky we were (are).

Wednesday was a full work day, except for Jim’s lunchtime bike ride. After the whistle blew, we strolled around another part of the VT campus (it’s a big place, y’all) including Burruss Hall and the April 16 Memorial Monument. 

Remember that dinner invitation? Bountiful hospitality, delicious Greek food, good wine and wide-ranging conversation on a cool evening in the Virginia mountains, all from a chance meeting at a brewery.

These experiences are giving us a lot to think about.

“You can’t force people to care about the natural environment, but if you encourage them to connect with it, they just might.” ~Jennifer Nini 

Blacksburg VA Remote Work Week 2021: Heritage Community Park & More

Blacksburg Remote Work Week 2021: Heritage Community Park & More – 6/11 & 6/12/21 

Summer 2021, Jim and I were casting around for a week’s escape from the shroud of COVID and had a light bulb moment: could we combine (aka justify) a week’s stay in a place we enjoy without taking vacation time?

Yes, everyone else had already discovered the remote work week.

Our favorite place on earth: Blacksburg, VA, home of Virginia Tech, the place where two freshmen fell in love…yada yada yada. We visit often and always wonder why we don’t live there. So let’s find out what it’s like to be residents while school is not in session. 

Airbnb found us a sweet cottage on a hillside overlooking a horse farm (Walnut Spring Stables) right outside of town. Jim could just hop on his bike and disappear for hours along rural roads, and there are local parks and trail systems to be explored.

Jefferson National Forest sprawls to the north and west of Blacksburg and the Appalachian Trail passes by less than 20 miles north of town. There are well-known hikes like McAfee’s Knob and Dragon’s Tooth, but a little research and living local revealed treasures of all sorts:

Heritage Community Park
Poverty Creek Trail System (hikers/horses/mountain bikers)
Falls Ridge Preserve
Brush Mountain Park
Huckleberry Trail
Hahn Horticultural Garden
And more!

[I was excited to explore Pandapas Pond Day Use Area but was thwarted by its closure the day after we arrived for extended trail maintenance and boardwalk repairs.]

On our first day we walked around the campus and downtown Blacksburg, noticing what was gone and what was still there. Our favorite bar was still a bar (different name) and a pitcher of beer, once $5, is now $22.

The next morning, while Jim pedaled away for his first daily blissful bike ride, I met up with my friend Diane for a walk. She introduced me to Heritage Community Park & Natural Area on Glade Road, formerly a dairy farm, now 169 acres of open meadows, flood plain and wetlands.  We met at the parking area on Glade Road, which is an access point to the Huckleberry Trail.

Diane and I walked westbound on the paved trail and then crossed Meadowbrook Drive to the Gateway Trail. We mounted a steep charge up Brush Mountain until I cried “uncle” and we turned around to retrace our steps. Back near the parking lot, Diane led me through the area where the Brown family farmhouse and outbuildings are being reclaimed by Mother Nature.

Jim and I spent the afternoon cruising down more memory lanes. We found an access point to the New River (is this the spot where we went tubing when we skipped class?) 

We drove by the apartment building I lived in my senior year (remember our “beach parties”
 in February when we’d turn up the heat and put a keg out on the balcony?)

Jim’s senior year apartment no longer exists – we couldn’t even find the street for it. A huge apartment complex has replaced it. (They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.)

The town was a little sleepy, with COVID restrictions unevenly enforced. We had dinner at Blacksburg Tavern, which didn’t exist during our heyday. It was a nice breather to kick back and relax looking out on Main Street.

Academic buildings still standing, the drill field still the centerpiece of campus, many familiar scenes, and so many exciting new places to experience. For instance: breweries!

Rising Silo Brewery is our kind of place, authentic, comfortable, not fancy, and filled with people of all ages. Enjoy beer and pizza and tell them what you had when you pay on the way out. Open Wednesday through Sunday, live music most nights. Tonight we enjoyed a jam session of local bluegrass musicians.

Ah, heaven. 

“Listening [to bluegrass] is like running down a mountain on a switchback trail, the sound of surprise generating its own momentum.”
 ~Greil Marcus

“I hope you came out to hear some
 bluegrass music. If you didn’t, we’re both in
 the wrong place.”
 ~Ricky Skaggs