#63 New River Trail State Park, VA

We had a good weather forecast last Sunday: pleasant temperatures, sunny skies and low humidity.  We decided to take advantage of that and ride our bikes on a section of trail in the New River Trail State Park.  This trail is built on an old abandoned railroad track. It has been turned into a trail that can be biked, walked or even used by horseback riders.  We found it's smooth, graveled surface very easy to ride on. We researched online and found that the part of the trail from Fries to Fries Junction was mostly shaded and followed closely along the New River.  I packed water and snacks for a picnic, Ronnie checked the air in our bike tires and off we went.

We had great views of the New River and there were benches along the way where we could rest.

 At Fries Junction, we came to a fork in the trail.  One branched towards Galax and the other towards Pulaski.  We could see that the fork going towards Galax spanned a trestle and that looked way more interesting so we chose to go in that direction.

Once we rode over the trestle we continued a mile or so farther until we came up upon the Grayson Tunnel. 

It wasn't a long tunnel, but it was very dark inside it.

On the other side of the tunnel there was a bench that over looked Chestnut Creek. That's where we enjoyed our picnic.

We rode about 15 miles that day.  We were a little bit tired but not too bad and now we're hooked.  We had forgotten how much we enjoyed riding bikes and hope to try a few other bike trails in the future.

 Later in the week, we visited The River Company Restaurant and Brewery in Fairlawn.  Ronnie and I like to sample different breweries wherever we are traveling and this looked like an interesting place to try.  It was a $2 pint night and that works for us.

The brewery and restaurant was located high on a bluff overlooking the New River.  The dining room was very nice with the exposed beams giving it a rustic, log cabin feel.

Ronnie selected the Southwest "V" India Pale Ale and I chose the Farmhouse Hefeweizen.  Excellent!

Our reuben sandwiches came with hand-cut sweet potato fries.  The fries had an unusual cinnamon infused dipping sauce.  It was so good...

 There are just so many great choices of fun outdoor activities and interesting places to see and visit in southwestern Virginia.  Even though we have been stationary for the past several weeks there seems to be something new to do or see each time we decide to get out. More later..