Salem has a pleasant little downtown area that offers enough to allow you to while away an…read moreafternoon. We were there with our daughter recently. She wanted to check it out as she was considering a post-doc assignment in the area. We met her there as we thought it might be a good opportunity to catch up with her. None of us had been to Salem before, and we had no idea what to expect. What we found was a nice little Central Business District featuring several shops, a lovely Liberal Arts College and a couple of intriguing-looking restaurants. There is a great little bookstore (Walter & Co.) and a Vintage Gift Shop (Blue Moon) that provided us an opportunity for browsing. There is also an Antique Mall and a Farmer's Market that were not open when we were there, but looked interesting. The picturesque little Roanoke College campus is immediately adjacent to downtown, and was pleasant to wander. Mill Mountain offered us the chance to take a break for a coffee and a treat. There were also a couple of restaurants that would have made great dinner spots to try had we planned to stay that long. While Salem is not going to make anyone's vacation list, it is still a nice understated spot to spend half a day if you're passing through or live nearby. If you like exploring the day-to-day and the underlying culture and lifestyle of Western Virginia, the Near South and the Appalachia area, this is not a bad place to include on your itinerary for such an exploration.

Mariners Landing is a community of homes off of Smith Mountain Lake that offers a small marina…read more Signage is excellent. In order to make your way to the lake you will need to wind your way through the neighborhood, but it's an easy two mile or so drive. Once you arrive at the resort their is plenty of parking. My son participated in an open water event and swam the 5k or 3.1 miles. The event was the East Coast Open Water Championships sponsored by ISCA and held in October. A chilly morning in 68 degree water for around 100 youth. Certainly not ideal water temperature but overall safe for experienced competition swimmers. Later in the afternoon younger swimmers participated in the 1k. Great venue for boating and swimming. Most certainly a beautiful location if you get the opportunity. My son finished top 5 with a time of just over and hour.

Very clean resort, everyone was very nice and friendly. We stayed there through and Airbnb last…read moreweek.

Located in downtown Roanoke opposite the courthouse and near some municipal offices, this monument…read morecommemorates local residents who gave their lives in conflicts from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and though to the Iraq Conflict. Three large tablets are engraved with names and quotes. There are 755 names listed. The tablets were erected in 1982 updated and cleaned recently to remove staining and corrosion. There has been some controversy and in July 2020, the marker to General Robert E. Lee is in the process of being removed. I would imagine that "Lee Plaza" will be officially renamed as well. Stop by and pay tribute to those who made it possible for us to have our freedoms. There are metered street parking and parking decks nearby. [Review 13793 overall, 1114 of 2020, number 1227 in Virginia.]

Beautiful scenic ride up the mountain to breathtaking views of Roanoke…read more Dragged my husband there and he said he was glad because it was something totally worth doing. Takes about 10 minutes to drive up. The star is massive and way better than visiting the "HOLLYWOOD SIGN"

World's largest freestanding illuminating star also dubbed the Roanoke star. It really does shine…read moreon Roanoke. Nested in Mill Mountain, you can take some hikes or you can actually drive to the star. There's a nice vantage point that has restrooms and even a vending machine with soda. The parking lot has a couple of spots maybe around 20, but if it's full, you can also park at the discovery center, and it's a short walk on a paved mostly flat path to the star. When I say you're at the store, you are legitimately right in front of the star. There is a platform for a nice overlook view of the city and some of the mountains that you could potentially hike. One of the ones that I ended up doing, and that was marked was McAfee's knob If you're a biker, you can also fight up no mountain, is even a bike lane and even some bike repair tools at the discovery center

I was walking around explore and I came across this Terrapin Station of a turtle, swimming and…read moredoing what they do best. It's a nice little piece public art go find when you're in the area.

Global harmony is a cool sculpture/statue that we found next to an expressway in downtown part of…read morethe city. It was easy to find as it's a fairly large statue and it was cool, and I had a nice meaning behind it.

Commissioned to celebrate the City of Roanoke's diversity and ten years of public art, this…read moresculpture stands in Entranceway Park at the corner of Williamson Road and Wells Avenue Northeast. Created by Arizona-based artist Stephen Fairfield, the steel and fiberglass work contains LED lights that can be programmed to shine in different colors for special occasions. The image is of an arm raised from the ground, holding the globe. You can see the outlines of the continents. It does not revolve but the lights on the arm and hand do change color. It's striking. [Review 13782 overall, 1103 of 2020, number 1216 in Virginia.]

I lived about 40 miles outside Roanoke in Christiansburg, Virginia and really enjoyed the times we…read morewould go to Roanoke! Usually, I drove to Roanoke to play tennis. I was USTA rated 4.5 and 4.5 rated female tennis players were hard to find in both Christiansburg Virginia, where I lived, and Radford, Virginia where I went to college at Radford University. There was at least one female 4.5 rated player in Roanoke and we would play tennis in Roanoke. On special occasions we would have dinner in Roanoke which was always a nice treat! Compared in population and size to Christiansburg, Roanoke felt gigantic and was always a great change of pace from the small town feel of Christiansburg and the college town feel of Radford!

Roanoke has some amazing and sad parts. The Roanoke Star is worth seeing. You can see it from far…read moreaway or hike to it. We enjoy having picnics there in the summer. The Hotel Roanoke is a fun venue location. It is beautiful all year, but even more so during the holidays. If you need physical therapy or a doctor, there are lots of options. The police were extra kind when a family member with dementia was missing. They posted a silver alert and located her in 24 hours. There are lots of restaurants. Shopping isn't as exciting as it used to be but there are strip malls and shopping centers. There are areas that are run down and a bit scary. We try to avoid that part of town. There are lots of activities, including an escape room. There is something for everyone.

We went looking for a bunch of public art while we were in the area. We came across the welcome to…read morelane stadium Miral. His located behind the gate in the football stadium.