I'm back again to share the rest of my snapshots from our anniversary weekend away - I don't have quite as many pictures on this post, but the pictures I do have are beautiful! After sleeping in on Saturday morning (isn't it lovely to sleep in) - we headed about twenty-five minutes up the road to Pembroke, Virginia to hike the Cascades Falls trail.
The trail was a four mile round trip trail - approximately two miles to the falls and two miles back to the trailhead. You can take the upper or lower falls trail; we chose to take the lower falls trail for the first mile since it meanders along the edge of the stream and is more scenic and we took the upper falls trail back down because it was more of a straight shot down to the parking lot. Both trails were incredibly well maintained - it's easy to tell that quite a lot of time and effort is put into keeping this trail well kept.
The lower trail did stay quite close to the stream for the first mile - and the views were incredible! There were so many places where we were literally right at the edge of the stream; I even took a rest on a huge rock that jutted out into the stream, with water rippling and tumbling past it. It was the nicest spot and I can imagine this trail would be even more stunning in the Spring; it's covered in Rhododendron, so I'm sure when it's in bloom - it's like something out a fairy tale!
The second mile didn't seem quite as long as the first - although the up and down on the steps that were hewn out of the rocks were a little trying. However, it did seem like the waterfall appeared around the bend much sooner than I thought it would! The waterfall was absolutely beautiful and it was much cooler at the falls with the spray coming off the falls! The hike was well worth the rewarding view - and I imagine hiking it in the summer, you'd be able to have a picnic and enjoy the cool waters on a hot day!
After spending some time just viewing the falls, snapping some pictures and; on my part, watching Ryan scramble and climb around the rocks and out into the stream, we began our trek back to the car! It took a lot less time to get back down the trail then it did to get up the trail, ha-ha! The lower trail was - as described - a mostly straight shot down to the parking lot, on a fairly flat trail, so it was pretty quick going! Our reward for 13K+ steps was a late lunch at Bluegrass BBQ in Pembroke!
Once we got back to our cabin, we actually ended up taking a little nap and then set out to explore the grounds of Four Fillies Lodge to see the other cabins and the other amenities that the lodge provided. Unfortunately we encountered a flat tire on the truck shortly after we began our explorations but my handy hubby is a mechanic by trade and he went into mechanic mode and took care of that within about twenty minutes! Once we finished exploring, we headed back to the cabin and got fancied up to go our to dinner at Mountain Lake Lodge!
Mountain Lake Lodge is where Dirty Dancing was filmed - and I wish I'd have been able to take more pictures! The exterior of the resort was incredibly dark and so it was hard to see the resort and get any good idea of what it might look like in the dark of night! The pictures I've seen of the resort look beautiful and maybe we'll have to go back one day! We had dinner at Harvest Restaurant and they were sweet enough to make our dessert extra special - and the Reese's Pie was pretty tasty too!
We slept in on Sunday and then headed out for home shortly after 9:15! We stopped for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel and arrived back home shortly after 2:00 and had a lovely Sunday afternoon - we even whipped up a really lovely anniversary dinner for ourselves: delicious grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and baked potatoes! It was truly the most wonderful surprise anniversary weekend!
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I would highly recommend Four Fillies Lodge to anyone - the cabin was clean, neat and so well-kept and the property itself is lovely! I would note that if you book a stay at Four Fillies Lodge, you should be prepared to drive to anything that is considered "in the area" as a sight to see. The closest shopping area is about twenty minutes away and the closest places to eat/do activities are within thirty minutes to an hour drive away from the property!
We would absolutely return to the property again - but we would go a little more prepared, knowing the drive times that are required to get to certain "sights". Regardless of that - the drives are pretty lovely; through the mountains and through small mountains towns.
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