Peaks of Otter

There are only two lodges on the Blue Ridge Parkway: one in North Carolina and one in Virginia. The Pisgah Inn in North Carolina is one of our favorite breakfast spots, as it sits high on top the mountain and has commanding views all around. On this trip, we spent one night at the Peaks of Otter Lodge in Virginia.

People have been coming to the Peaks for 10,000 years to hunt and more recently as a travel destination. The log building below was known as Polly Woods' Tavern, also called an ordinary. She provided necessities to travelers as early as 1840.

This is where we stayed. The rooms are very basic and not quite modern, but they are comfortable and the lake view is lovely. Each room has a private porch overlooking the lake. We enjoyed the peacefulness in the evening as the fireflies danced, and again in the morning as the mist lay across the water.

An easy trail circumnavigates the lake and we enjoyed walking it in the evening. 

We don't see many signs like this in Florida!

We knew we had a long way to go to get to Baltimore, so we were first in for breakfast. 

Here was our view while we ate. Across the lake was a grassy area and we watched three deer grazing on the hillside.

Others were comfortable nibbling grass around the parking area.

This little guy with his mama was trying out his legs, running all around and jumping, It put on quite an entertaining show.