Mountain Lake Lodge-A Series-Part 4-Christmas Decorations

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What does "House of Moody" mean? I'm glad you asked!:

"Calling Mountain Lake his family’s summer home since 1918, William Lewis Moody Jr. of Galveston acquired the property in 1930, and built the large stone Lodge which still stands today. Stone quarried from the surrounding mountain property was used to construct the Lodge. Lumber and hardware from the original hotel was repurposed and used in construction of several cottages and the car barn in 1937.
Mary Moody Northen developed a love of Mountain Lake as a young girl spending her summers at the resort. Upon her father’s death she purchased Mountain Lake. Upon her death in 1986, trustees of her estate established the Mary Moody Northen Endowment which presently owns and operates the resort. Mrs. Northen’s final wishes were to maintain the Lodge and surrounding land as a place where future generations could connect with nature as she had as a young girl."

You can read more about Mountain Lake's interesting history RIGHT HERE

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The lodge looks so pretty decorated for Christmas! We're getting our tree tonight. I'm so late this year on getting things done. Christmas really snuck up on me! Are you ready? Tomorrow afternoon Christian and I are going to go out and get a little shopping done. Hopefully I'll get the majority of it finished.

Christmas activities start this weekend at the Lodge. CLICK HEREto see all the fun they have planned, including a brunch with Santa!

Linking with Signs, Signs

Mountain Lake Lodge-A Series-Part 3- More Friendly Staff

So now it's Saturday. We slept wonderfully in our super comfy beds. Our daughter Ashlyn and her boyfriend Chris were able to drive over and spend some time with all of us. What a treat!

So we took them back to the lodge to see the beautiful arhchitecture and came across Marcus:

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I didn't get a chance to talk to Marcus much since I was visiting with my daughter but I think my husband talked his ear off....sorry Marcus ;)

We had dinner reservations for 7:30 and had Ashlyn and Chris join us. The boys stayed back in the cabin with pizzas. Yeah, that's how they roll....

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This is Joel. Joel specializes in "pre-prohibition-era cocktails"...how cool is that?! He made us a Sazerac, which is known as "America's First Cocktail"! It was pretty yummy....in fact, we ordered another round of Sazeracs! You can read the history of the Sazerac RGHT HERE!

Ok, now it's time to grab a bite to eat so we head into the dining room:

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Food, glorious food! I ended up getting the Rockfish. I had never tried Rockfish before and I think it's a Virginia thing...I was feeling adventurous after my Sazerac(s) and I'm glad I picked it! Oh YUM! Nick ordered the Rib Eye because he's more of a beef kind-a-guy. We decided to go halvsies on our plates, him and I, so we could get the best of both worlds. Ashlyn ordered the Pasta dish, which was a Risotto with Crab, Lobster, Shrimp and Scallops (I think, don't quote me!) and Chris ordered the Shrimp and Grits. We were all beyond pleased with our meals! Not one complaint!

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Group photo! Our waitress was Ree, which was short for Rhiannon (I hope I didn't butcher her name) but she said we could call her Ree! Then there's Cindy! Cindy is the one hugging on Nick's neck! Cindy just made you feel at home and was hilarious, and fun, and nice, and wonderful!

Another photo of Cindy:

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This photo, though you can't tell by looking at it, had us all laughing so hard we were crying. Nick was telling Cindy about the Triathlons he's competed in and showed her his Triathlon card. The card, in big letters tells us that Nick is an "adult" and I can't explain the whole scene like it played out but take my word, we were all laughing hysterically over it!

Sorry for the blurry pictures by the end of the night...after a Sazerac or two it looked good to me! To check out a menu CLICK HERE!

Oh and Cindy, if you are reading this, remember you are supposed to be my Candy Crush Friend!

Mountain Lake Lodge-A Series-Part 2-Friendly Staff

After we checked in and got settled in our room, we headed to the lodge to walk around. And the very first person we met was:

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Chef Michael! Chef was SO nice and fun to talk to. We all enjoyed his company! Thank you Chef!
You can read his interesting bio RIGHT HERE!

He then took us on a tour of the kitchen:

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Another Michael. My husband loved the Cajun Peanuts he made!

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Miss Kate the Pastry Chef...I didn't get a chance to try any pastries...next time!

This is Fidel with my husband Nick. Fidel has been working with Chef for 15+ years!
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My husband ESPECIALLY loved the tour of the kitchen. He's a total foodie! Some of you know he plans our trips according to food ;)

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Oh wait a minute, look at that! Some yummy appetizers heading out!

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Our super nice bartender for the evening, Elizabeth!
It was raining buckets when we decided to head back to our room and Elizabeth went to the desk and brought us all umbrellas to use. Didn't I tell you they think of EVERYTHING?!

Don't go away, more Lodge talk tomorrow!
CLICK HERE to read about the FREE Open House this weekend!

Mountain Lake Lodge-A Series-Part 1-Accommodations

Remember on Friday I was telling you how we had fabulous plans for the weekend? Well this is what we did...We spent the weekend at Mountain Lake Lodge! Some of you might remember my first time there, just a couple of months ago for the Appalachian Festival. You can find my pictures of that day Right Here. Anyways, I had to come back and stay, it's just so beautiful there!

Today I will take you on a tour of our home away from home:

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You can see how big and spacious the rooms are. We stayed in Blueberry Ridge. These cabins are fully loaded with everything you need to feel at home! You can read about all the different types of lodging Right Here.

The name of our cabin was the Fincastle. We thought that was pretty cool since we live in Botetourt County and Fincastle is our neighboring town!

Mountain Lake Lodge is under new management and is now open through the winter for the first time in like 70 years! They have lots of fun stuff planned for Christmas and New Years so check it out! I will introduce you to the friendly staff tomorrow.

I apologize for any typos in this post. It's icy in my world today. School was even cancelled. I wanted to share with you a lot more in today's post but the ice has affected my internet connection and every little thing is taking forever, even little things like fixing typos! So join me tomorrow for more Lodge talk!

Virginia Tech - Burruss Hall

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Burruss Hall's original building was completed in 1936. Other wings have since been added. Named after eighth president Julian Ashby Burruss. You can read more HERE.

The buildings on campus are built using "Hokie Stone", a limestone that comes from Virginia Techs own quarry. You can read more about that RIGHT HERE and HERE.

Here's a few more angles of this beautiful building:

Have a great weekend! We're in for some winter weather, mostly ice it looks like. Not happy about that at all. We've had super nice weather this week and now of course the weather turns bad for the weekend and we have some pretty fabulous plans for it too darn it!

Signs, Signs - the Lyric Theatre

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The Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg. Opened April 17, 1930. Read more about the Lyric's history and current stuff going on RIGHT HERE

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Virginia Tech - War Memorial

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While touring the campus on Sunday, there was some sort of constuction going on at this memorial. It was taped off so I couldn't get any closer. I didn't know what this was till I got home and researched. You can read more HERE