Explore Park (Roanoke, Abingdon, Bedford: how much, restaurants, bus)

[VALOVE]

Has anyone been to Virginia's Explore Park near Roanoke, and would you recommend going? The website looks very interesting. We will driving through Virginia in October, spending one night in Abingdon and the next night at the Peaks of Otter Lodge near Bedford. We want to arrive at the Peaks of Otter no later than 3:00 so we can do a little hiking before dark, but are trying to decide what to do in between. We will probably arrive in Roanoke around 11:00 a.m.

How much time do you need to really enjoy Explore Park? It looks like a whole day event from what I can see. Although I'm sure on a limited schedule you can pick and choose what you want to do and/or see there.
Any suggestions?

Also, if we decide not to go to Explore Park at all, is there anything special we should see in Roanoke? How about suggestions for lunch?

[seanpecor]

For lunch I'd definitely head to downtown Roanoke and the City Market (Downtown Roanoke Inc. - Roanoke City Market). The market is a real thriving and colorful place with a whole bunch of neat restaurants. I'm a HUGE fan of the burger joint inside the Market Building (Burgers on the Square). Best burgers in town, in my opinion. Explore Park is nice but I wonder if you would have more fun in downtown Roanoke for 4 hours. You could do lunch and then check out the Museum of Transportation, which has alot of neat old trains and exhibits tell the story of Roanoke's founding. It would be a nice transition from Abingdon which is a quaint thriving historic town, to a small and thriving historic city, to your hiking trip at Peaks of Otter.

If you arrived at 11am then spent 2 to 3 hours at Explore Park, I think you could get through the whole thing. It's not an overly large park but it's really worth a visit. You'll walk through small encampments and such representing different cultures and time periods, beginning with the native tribe (Totero?) and moving onward. I love that sort of stuff and really walked away from the park having learned alot. Not sure if you wouldn't feel hurried though and if the weather is poor Roanoke is a nice fallback.

The Peaks of Otter is a fun hike and the view at the summit is very nice. It's not too rigorous and October will be quite a time to visit due to the foliage that would likely have begun to shift by then. The lodge has a good family style restaurant and is very peaceful. If you hit the trail by 4pm and were in good shape you would reach the summit and return with enough time before sunset in October (about 7:15pm). On the other hand their bus may be running which could shrink travel time for one of the legs.

Hope this helps,

Sean

[VALOVE]

Thank you Sean. That's very helpful. I checked out the website for Downtown Roanoke and I think that will be a better choice this time, since we will already have spent a day hiking in the Smokies and will be hiking again at Peaks of Otter. Spending a little time in the city will be a nice change of pace. Great suggestion!

[Erin1264]

Another suggestion is to eat lunch at Fork in the Alley and drive up to the Mill Mountain Star to check out the view over the city from up there.

Sean's suggestion is good too, the downtown area is nice.

[roanoker 4]

If I were a newcomer to the Roanoke area, I would skip the Explore Park. It is a total waste of time, in my opinion. For those who are inclined to hike or wander in the woods it might seem like a treat. For the rest of us who have always found it to be extremely boring just forget this place!