Sunday, July 21, 2013

Camping in Whitetop, Virginia

We spent the weekend in what I consider one of the most beautiful places in America.
Whitetop, Virginia.

Miles and miles of mountains, Christmas tree farms, rushing river and the Virginia Creeper Trail.
My first visit to this area was 2-years ago when we stayed in Abingdon and rode the trail during the Spring.

Having enjoyed it so much, we decided to make Whitetop our destination for this year's annual Summer camping trip with our friends Katie and Josh, and Aaron and Craig.
After doing some research, and a request by Brad that it NOT be hot where we camped, I decided on the VA Creeper Trail Campground.
The reviews seemed to be good and it's at the very tippy top of the mountain, literally right across the street from the trail head.
It's a local Christmas tree farmer who has converted part of his land into a campground.
It was more scenic than I ever imagined.
This was the view from the front of our camper.

We all took a 1/2 day at work and made the trek up the mountain on Friday.
A little harder with our camper because the campground sits at 3500-feet.
It didn't take us girls long to break out the wine and cheese.
And, get ready for dinner.
Don't think for a second that I left my travel Vinturi at home.
It came in pretty handy!
We made everything festive and fun and got ready for our annual fish fry!
All while taking in the view.
As the evening went on things got pretty rowdy with a few games of C-R-L.
Has anyone else played this game?
I'm not a huge fan of games, but this grew on me.
Good times!
The next morning we got up and ready to hit the Creeper trail!
Except that it literally rained all morning long.
We tried waiting it out.
We even headed up to the campground store to talk with owner Ohlaf about the weather and to get his opinion.
He told us that it was suppose to rain all day and that if we did the trail to expect our clothes to get ruined because of mud.
We made a group decision to bag it.
Bummed out, we decided the next best thing to do was to head into town and hit up the local winery.
This was our 2nd visit to the Abingdon Winery.
Such a cute little place along the river.
People come right off the trail to enjoy a little vino.
The guys skipped the tasting and sat outside at one of the tables.
They joked at just how funny they must have looked!
LOL!
Then, we joined them.
Wouldn't you know, the weather down in Damascus was gorgeous.
Go figure.
After the winery we headed to a local pizza place for lunch.
Our drive through Abingdon was gorgeous.
Not sure what's up with the guy at the bar.
After lunch we headed back up to camp.
We made friends with some of our neighbors who happened to be from Charlotte too.
Such a fun weekend!
We all agree, that we were bummed we didn't do the trail but we still had a GREAT time none the less.
If you're ever in Southwest Virginia I suggest you visiting this area.
There is also Grayson Highlands State Park nearby too.
Click here for the post I did on it a couple of years ago.

What did you all do this weekend?

14 comments:

Southern Living: Preppy Style said...

Very fun! I love Virginia! We drove through there (but never stop) on the way to Kentucky over the 4th. Lallie said "If we don't get out of here soon, I might just fall in love!" She loved all the trees and hills! Glad you had a fun time, I will be adding that as a place to stop next time we drive through.

Ashley said...

I LOVE how festive and fancy you make your dinner time when camping!!

Jordan Cole said...

Nice table spread!! Any weekend with wine and cheese is a good weekend! It's always so nice to see so much green in photos. As much as I have learned to accept the different terrain, that's the one thing I miss most.

Happily Ever Parker said...

I like the way you glamp! That scenery is gorgeous and I couldn't agree more. When we go camping it has to be cool weather!!

April of Smidge Of This said...

I've been to Abington and that's such a charming little town!

MCW said...

I've been commenting every post. However, I just realized that when posting a comment on Blog Lovin' through my iPhone they don't post!!!

Anywho...I want to go camping now. But when it's cooler and in a camper like yours and with you so you can cook for me and pour me wine :)

Monica said...

Looks like a great trip!

Jamie Sefcik || Hello Little Scout said...

This looks like so much fun! How beautiful are those views!?

Anonymous said...

Looks like you made the best out of it, even without riding the trail! What a gorgeous place!

Anonymous said...

That looks like a lot of fun: it actually makes me want to go camping! I'm not very outdoorsy really, so that's a big deal. ;) I do love a good view!

starnes family said...

Yall camp in style. Love that table. Beautiful!

Unknown said...

I now find my husband secretly searching for camper costs online when I'm not looking.....l

Leigh Powell Hines said...

I love your new camper. That looked like fun.

From Foothills to Fog said...

Wine tasting AND camping?! Sign me up!