Travel Blog: Roanoke, VA (2)

For the first time in awhile on a travel day I awoke at a normal time without an early flight. This time my flight to Roanoke for Thanksgiving was scheduled to leave at 6:50pm on a Tuesday. In comparison to last year's trip I wasn't traveling on actual Thanksgiving this time.

Sadly delays struck as I got an email at 2:37pm delivering the bad news.

Flight 1057 scheduled to depart St. Petersburg / Clearwater International (PIE) to Roanoke Regional-Woodrum Field (ROA) on Tuesday 26 November 2024 at 6:50PM has been delayed.

Departing: St. Petersburg / Clearwater International (PIE) at 8:17PM Tuesday 26 November 2024

We didn't end up leaving Florida until 9:07pm local which sucked since I rarely have good experiences with Allegiant. However, I cannot argue with their business model of creating direct flights to cities that the big name flights don't visit. Flying direct from St.Pete to Roanoke is immensely better than taking Tampa to Charlotte to Roanoke.

Once arriving I was happy I was in row 2 as it meant I de-boarded quickly and passed folks walking as I made my way to the cars. An army of cars awaited just waiting in a massive line around the airport. I was surprised seeing this, because no way in Tampa you are allowed to just form a line and wait for your arriving party/person. If you aren't actively loading a car - you are getting yelled at or ticketed. Thankfully this wasn't Tampa and a family member was sitting in one of those cars waiting for me.

It was around midnight when I finally arrived to my destination and it was straight to bed. The morning brought visibility to the dogs & farm animals.

This wasn't Tampa anymore and the temperature floated around 28 to 40°F with even little bits of snow falling every once in awhile. Though even with the cold weather we had to take a break and explore a nearby trail.

Turns out we were in the midst of the Jefferson National Forest and the Hoop Hole Hike.

This park had two loops with the lower loop completing in 3.8 miles, but you could join on the upper loop to make it a 9.7 mile loop. You could also optionally tack on the Iron Ore Trail once on the upper loop to make it a 14.5 mile hike.

We did none of that and basically walked a mile down the lower loop trail and turned around and came back. The temperature was bouncing around freezing so it was pretty cold to be hiking on a trail. The stream was extremely low compared to other visitor's videos, so I had a chance to jump into the stream bed for some close up photos.

As Thanksgiving came and went it was time to drive into Roanoke to spend the day before my flight home. We went up the little mountain to Roanoke's prime attraction - The Mill Mountain Star. For a brisk "feels like" 26°F the visit was rough with a blistering wind coming across the mountain into your face.

However, despite the cold weather we successfully experienced the attraction and learned all about the history of this massive structure. We weren't the only folks visiting the star in the cold weather, so I'm guessing the other visitors were also temporary Thanksgiving arrivals. We probably spent under 5 minutes in the wind and went off for a drink at a local place.

This next place is a bit insane to explain. It previously was a fire station and was converted into a boutique hotel. However, it offered not only drinks and food, but the furniture you sat on was Txtur brand, which was sold in the same building. A manufacturer based in Roanoke selling furniture out of a fire station, bolstering a full bar was a sight to see.

So of course we had to sit down and try a drink. I wanted a bramble, but none of the normal berries (black, straw, blue) were available so I experimented with a lingonberry. It packed such a unique taste it was definitely a drink I'll have to try and replicate again.

As time passed we were approaching my final dinner in Roanoke and that was a dinner reservation at Bloom. This was another restaurant only opened for a few hours a day and rocked a menu that depended on the season & farmer's deliveries. We arrived at the opening alongside a handful of other parties waiting to eat.

With another fancy set of drinks ordered we picked a solid amount of little dishes to share. Unfortunately the menu is probably different every night so no amount of screenshots of the menu will help here. We had some bread, mushrooms, fish, beef, potatoes, pasta and a pear salad in little dishes like pictured below.

As each dish came out in a steady stream our table of 5 quickly devoured each dish each sharing a little portion of each entree. It reminded me of omakase sushi, but instead little plates of farm local food. Each dish paired flavors together I wouldn't expect, but they delivered a powerful flavor punch to the mouth.

Unfortunately as time went on we were nearing the time of my flight and had to cut the dining short to get me to the airport. Once I made it through security I heard the staff call out "row 1 & 2 boarding now" and that was me! I was a bit confused as I was zone 8 (nearly last for boarding), but I was in row 2, seat F.

On the way there I boarded near last, but had a seat in the front of the plane (2F) and unfortunately no bag storage existed for me. I was a bit mad as I was convinced someone put their bags in the first available slot they found, causing me – someone actually sitting in row 2 to have to place their bags in row 8.

I wasn't going to sit around and figure out why I was given this chance, so I boarded the plane first and set my bags perfectly up in the bin on row 2. The only downside is I then had to sit there for 20+ minutes while the rest of the plane slowly boarded.

A short 1hr 30 minute flight later I was on the tarmac in St Pete and walking out to meet my girlfriend awaiting my arrival. That set the end of the Thanksgiving travel and this blog post.