Their web site – www.virginia.org – reveals 40 FREE ways to have fun exploring the unique beauty and adventure the Old Dominion holds. These include birding/wildlife trails, biking/hiking trails, Civil War trails, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Westmoreland Berry Farm and Orchard and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

You’ll be glad to know Fort Monroe, the Virginia Beach boardwalk, Great Dismal Swamp and Mount Trashmore made the freebee list.

Most of interest to me was the inclusion of Crabtree Falls in Nelson County, an absolutely gorgeous part of the state where rolling countryside and small towns mingle with wineries – Cardinal Point, Veritas, Afton Mountain Vineyards, Wintergreen Winery and Mountain Cove Vineyards to name a few – and mountain resorts.   

Just last week I booked a rustic cabin – Annie’s Cabin by name – at the base of Crabtree Falls. A childhood friend, Mike Wingfield, kept mentioning to me and fellow friend Hal Weaver that he wanted to climb the 3-mile, steep trail to the top of the falls, said to be “Virginia’s best kept secret.” It is the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi.

Mike has undergone several surgeries in the past year and is battling cancer. He is in his early 40s. The Weave and I thought we’d grant Mike’s wish and make this happen. We’ll be headed up for the first weekend in April.

We hope to reward Mike – even if he can’t make it to the adventurous top of Crabtree Falls – with a visit to Devil’s Backbone Brewery, a new micro-brewery at the bottom of Wintergreen. They brew German-style beers, which is also perfect because Wingfield lived in Berlin and Heidelberg for a few years in the early ‘90s.

Richard Lewis over at Virginia Tourism informed me a Scotch distillery will be opening in late summer in Nelson County. “They are importing their distilling equipment direct from Scotland,” he said. “They’ll be the only American distillery with authentic Scotch equipment.”

That’s indeed good news as Scotland is a favorite stomping ground for Hal and myself. You can check out the future distillery at www.eadeswhisky.com/home.php.

I’ll post another blog detailing the adventures we’ll experience in Nelson County.

Also included on the free travel adventures list was Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. Ironically, Mike, Hal and I tackled the expansive park last year, a couple months before Wingfield’s first hospital trip. While the hike to the top of Mount Rogers – the highest peak in Virginia – wasn’t as difficult as we had envisioned, but some of the side trails proved challenging – I’m talking boulders – and made the effort quite rewarding. An additional surprise was that we were hiking amongst wild ponies. This was much better than viewing horses from a distance at Chincoteague.

See you on the trail.