Impromptu Virginia Road Trip...and I was Kissed by a Llama

Stress...we all have it, but sometimes even after the stress has been relieved you still need some sort of action to reset...does anyone ever feel like this?  For us, our major stress last week was our a/c going out; we had just had an inside part replaced a month ago and now there were leaks in the outside unit as well.  We ended up having no a/c for 3 days, all of which were in the mid-90's, to say we were a bit stressed is an understatement.  My mom was gracious enough to let us stay with her for a couple of nights, but our cats had to stay in the hot house so we were very concerned about them and needed to check on them often to ensure they did not overheat.  We were so thankful to have a fixed a/c and a cooler home by Thursday evening :)

After dealing with that, our daughter was leaving for camp for the week early Sunday morning; after dropping her off I told my husband I just did not want to go home and he agreed.  We came home to quickly pack a couple of items, snacks, water and then headed out on an impromptu road trip adventure!

Since we had been in such warm temperatures all week I thought the mountains might be nice; we have been to the NC mountains a ton of times, but had never really visited the VA mountains much so we decided to head north.  While I am definitely a planner and list maker, I also really enjoy spontaneous impromptu trips where you just go and decide what to do along the way.  We had no idea what amazing adventures awaited us, but it was possibly one of our most favorite travel days ever!

We finally exited the highway in Fort Chiswell, VA; I thought maybe there would an actual Fort or historical something to check out.  Once we realized that was not the case we looked up popular attractions in the area and came across the Fort Chiswell Animal Park; with a 5 star rating on Trip Advisor, we decided it looked too awesome to pass up.  We love animals, so let me tell you, this was definitely one of the coolest places we have ever visited!  There are so many animals and you can get up close and personal with them too!  The Safari Bus ride is $12 per adult and a bag of food is $5; this was easily the best $29 we have ever spent.  The experience of seeing all of the amazing animals and getting to feed and pet most of them was simply incredible.

The variety of animals includes:

Birds

Monkeys

Alpacas

Deer

Gazelle

Water Buffalo

Goats

Giraffe

Camels

Zebra

Ostrich

Buffalo

Pot Bellied Pigs

Tortoise

If you are a fan of animals and are anywhere close to Virginia, you should definitely visit this awesome animal park!  I could literally go on and on, but I should move on...yeah, definitely move on :)

After we left we decided to stop by the visitors center in Wytheville, VA to decide where our next stop would be.  While there I spotted a brochure for Mabry Mill in Meadows of Dan, VA.  I had only been there once during the winter several years ago, and had never seen the Mill in the summer or had the opportunity to eat at the on-site restaurant.  Since we had enough time to drive an hour there and have an early dinner just before closing we decided that was our next stop.

Dinner at the Mill was super tasty!  We shared pot roast with mashed potatoes and carrots along with shrimp and grits.  I reluctantly pulled myself away from the gift shop as not to spend any money.  We then explored the Mill; I had no idea there were buildings, tools, a whiskey distillery and all sorts of cool finds just behind the Mill.  It was such a cool discovery!  After exploring the Mill grounds for a bit we decided to head toward home.

When I realized we would be driving right past Pilot Mountain State Park I knew we had to stop and take in the sunset from the mountain...and I am so glad we did!  Now, this is where it gets a little interesting...there were 2 llamas in the parking lot wearing hats!  I was so stunned I did not even get a picture of them, but nevertheless, they were there!  Of course, I had to pet them since, you know...llamas!  The female llama is trained to give kisses on your cheek...oh my goodness, she was just the cutest thing!  Ok, ok...back to the sunset :)

It was amazing to see the shadow of Pilot Mountain to our left and the actual sunset to our right!

 We met a super nice couple and had great conversations while awaiting the sunset; we also caught a glimpse of a rock climber who had scaled the 90ft cliff from down below.  He probably made that climb 3 times while we were there!

All in all, this was one of the absolute best days we have had in a long time!  We cannot wait to go back to the Fort Chiswell Animal Park to see the animals again and hopefully take some of our family with us.

Check out my YouTube channel for the full video of our adventure!