Family Friendly Day Trips
Seeing the wild ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park is a must. (12 miles from Foxfire)They can be found all over the park, but are most often found on the balds at Massie Gap. Pro Tip: Before you hike, stop in the office or the visitors center and ask where the ponies are being spotted. It could save you a lot of steps.
All the trails at Grayson Highlands State Park are wonderful, but Twin Pinnacles and Cabin Creek are our favorites. The best views can be found on Twin Pinnacles trail. Little Pinnacle is only ¼ mile up the trail. If you have kids who want to hike but can’t do the full 2-mile loop, a trip up to the little pinnacle and back is ideal. (Be mindful to keep kids away from the precipice if you climb up onto the big pinnacle. You can finish the trail without climbing up on the Big Pinnacle if you have very small children and you're worried about safety.) For water play, Cabin Creek trail is our favorite. We like to hike in water shoes, bring a towel and change of clothes and play in the icy pool at the base of the waterfall. The rocks are slippery so play with care. Both trails can be challenging. Pack plenty of water.
Fifteen miles away in the town of Independence, you will find Peachbottom Falls, also known as Powerhouse Falls just outside Grayson County Recreation Park. Have a picnic at the park then move to the falls for waterplay. www.independenceva.com
Hungry Mother State Park (35 minute drive) and Bear Tree Lake at Forest Service Managed Bear Tree Recreation Area (also a 35 minute drive) both offer lake swimming. Hungry Mother, by far the largest, offers the more traditional beach experience with a big sandy beach, lifeguards, diving boards, snack station, changing rooms, etc. Paddle boats, kayaks, paddle boards and canoes are available for rent. The trail that wraps around the lake is a full 6 miles long. There is a nice playground beside HMSP lake.
Bear Tree is more modest. The trail around the lake is gentle, about a mile long. The beach area is smaller and more shallow, great for little ones. Bear Tree is a stocked trout water location. Pro tip: Fish, hike or swim at Bear Tree Lake in the morning, then drive the few short miles on into Damascus for lunch and play at the Damascus Town Park. www.visitdamascus.org, www.dcr.virginia.gov, www.fs.usda.gov
Grindstone Campground Recreation Area and Campground. (16 minute drive) Tucked in the Fairwood Valley and surrounded by the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, this is our family’s favorite spot for a day of gentle adventure. Whispering Waters trail, just half a mile long, gives little hikers a manageable taste of backcountry adventure. The trail has a lot of character with wooden bridges spanning mountain streams, huge boulders, hollow logs, thick carpets of moss and varied plant life; it’s the perfect catalyst for imaginative play. The picnic and play area has a singularly unique feature: a natural stone pool that is fed by a mountain stream. At its deepest, it is about waist high on my 10-year-old son. Mountain stream aquatic life such as native trout and crawdads share the pool with the kiddos. It’s icy cold, full of life and magical. Pro Tips: Bring bug spray and pack your lunch. Also, bring cash for the day use permit. The Grindstone campground is also a great place for kids to ride bikes.
Saltville Virginia, a small middle-of-nowhere town about a 45 minute drive from Foxfire Ridge Retreat, is a true hidden Gem. The Museum of the Middle Appalachians, a tiny museum in downtown Saltville, chronicles the towns absolutely fascinating history all the way back to the Pleistocene Era. The unique geology of this little town makes it a true hotspot of history. Natural salt and other mineral deposits drew the attention of human and animal life for thousands of years. History buffs will find the native American, Civil War and industrial past of the town irresistible. Saltville regularly yields well preserved Ice Age fossils. Once every summer, the MMA offers an amazing day camp. Paleontologists from ETSU partner with the museum to provide a fossil dig day camp. For a day, your child gets to work alongside scientists as they dig in a drained saltwater pit to find actual ice age fossils. The fossils have to stay with the museum at the end of the day, but the opportunity to pull a real mastodon tooth or short face bear fragment from the mud is an experience your child will never forget. Coordinate with the museum to plan your trip around this event. You can also work with the same paleontologists at the Gray Fossil Site in Johnson City. This museum is also devoted to the ice age and you can schedule longer digs and multi-day camps, but these are more expensive and the drive is about an hour and a half. www.museum-mid-app.org, gfs.visithandson.org
Saltville is also home to our area’s only wave pool. The waves are fun, the salt water is buoyant and refreshing and there is a little kid splash pad area. Pro Tip: See the Museum of the Middle Appalachians at around 11:00 in the morning. It doesn’t take too long. Then have lunch in town because the pool doesn’t allow outside food. We like the little Chinese restaurant on Main. Then head on over to the pool for an afternoon of fun in the sun. www.saltville.org
Randolph Park in Dublin is our favorite family outdoor public pool. It’s 1 hour and 15 minutes away, but it’s so nice we make the drive anyway. It’s the perfect place if your kids are a range of ages. A zero-entry pool with lots of fun features for little ones; there’s a frog you climb up to slide down his tongue into shallow water, a pirate ship with a gentle slide into shallow water and mushroom splash feature. A big twirly waterslide serves intermediate swimmers and a separate deep pool with basketball goals gives advanced swimmers a space of their own. The snack bar is good but you are allowed to a bring picnic lunch here if you wish. Randolph park also has a good playground. www.randolphpark.org
For those willing to range further from home base, the NC Zoo is a must. The NC Zoo, a 2.5 drive from Foxfire Ridge Retreat, is the largest natural habitat zoo in the world. www.nczoo.org
Younger adventurers will find Greensboro North Carolina perfect. Only 1 hour and 45 minutes away, The Greensboro Science Center and Greensboro Children’s Museum combine to make an ideal day trip. The Greensboro Science Center has an aquarium, zoo, children’s play museum and nature science museum all on one site; each section is sized so that little ones can enjoy without getting overwhelmed. Pro tip: Allot the Science Center 2.5 to 3 hours in the morning, then have lunch before moving on to Greensboro’s Children’s Play Museum. Pro Tip: When you transition to the Childrens Play Museum, you will be across from the Greensboro public library. Take the alley to the left of the library and follow it out back to find a small park with a pet play area, a toddler splash area and a couple of fantastic food trucks.
Older kids will love WetnWild Emerald Pointe Water Park, also in Greensboro. www.gcmuseum.com and www.greensborosciencecenter.org and www.emeraldpointe.com
Winston Salem NC has a good children’s play museum, Kaleideum. Drive time is just under two hours. Moms might like to give the kids a nice morning at the play museum then spend the afternoon shopping the 172 stores in Hanes Mall. www.shophanesmall.com www.kaleideum.org
Take the kids to Just Jump Trampoline Park in Bristol TN and let them jump away some energy! (One hour and 15 minute drive) Afterwards, the family can enjoy shopping for the rest of the day at The Pinnacle, the region’s largest outdoor shopping complex. After dinner at one of the many restaurants, kick back in the luxurious padded, reclining seats to take in a movie at the Pinnacle 12-Marqueee Cinemas Megaplex Theater. www.thepinnacle.com, www.marqueecinemas.com, www.justjump.com
All the trails at Grayson Highlands State Park are wonderful, but Twin Pinnacles and Cabin Creek are our favorites. The best views can be found on Twin Pinnacles trail. Little Pinnacle is only ¼ mile up the trail. If you have kids who want to hike but can’t do the full 2-mile loop, a trip up to the little pinnacle and back is ideal. (Be mindful to keep kids away from the precipice if you climb up onto the big pinnacle. You can finish the trail without climbing up on the Big Pinnacle if you have very small children and you're worried about safety.) For water play, Cabin Creek trail is our favorite. We like to hike in water shoes, bring a towel and change of clothes and play in the icy pool at the base of the waterfall. The rocks are slippery so play with care. Both trails can be challenging. Pack plenty of water.
Fifteen miles away in the town of Independence, you will find Peachbottom Falls, also known as Powerhouse Falls just outside Grayson County Recreation Park. Have a picnic at the park then move to the falls for waterplay. www.independenceva.com
Hungry Mother State Park (35 minute drive) and Bear Tree Lake at Forest Service Managed Bear Tree Recreation Area (also a 35 minute drive) both offer lake swimming. Hungry Mother, by far the largest, offers the more traditional beach experience with a big sandy beach, lifeguards, diving boards, snack station, changing rooms, etc. Paddle boats, kayaks, paddle boards and canoes are available for rent. The trail that wraps around the lake is a full 6 miles long. There is a nice playground beside HMSP lake.
Bear Tree is more modest. The trail around the lake is gentle, about a mile long. The beach area is smaller and more shallow, great for little ones. Bear Tree is a stocked trout water location. Pro tip: Fish, hike or swim at Bear Tree Lake in the morning, then drive the few short miles on into Damascus for lunch and play at the Damascus Town Park. www.visitdamascus.org, www.dcr.virginia.gov, www.fs.usda.gov
Grindstone Campground Recreation Area and Campground. (16 minute drive) Tucked in the Fairwood Valley and surrounded by the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, this is our family’s favorite spot for a day of gentle adventure. Whispering Waters trail, just half a mile long, gives little hikers a manageable taste of backcountry adventure. The trail has a lot of character with wooden bridges spanning mountain streams, huge boulders, hollow logs, thick carpets of moss and varied plant life; it’s the perfect catalyst for imaginative play. The picnic and play area has a singularly unique feature: a natural stone pool that is fed by a mountain stream. At its deepest, it is about waist high on my 10-year-old son. Mountain stream aquatic life such as native trout and crawdads share the pool with the kiddos. It’s icy cold, full of life and magical. Pro Tips: Bring bug spray and pack your lunch. Also, bring cash for the day use permit. The Grindstone campground is also a great place for kids to ride bikes.
Saltville Virginia, a small middle-of-nowhere town about a 45 minute drive from Foxfire Ridge Retreat, is a true hidden Gem. The Museum of the Middle Appalachians, a tiny museum in downtown Saltville, chronicles the towns absolutely fascinating history all the way back to the Pleistocene Era. The unique geology of this little town makes it a true hotspot of history. Natural salt and other mineral deposits drew the attention of human and animal life for thousands of years. History buffs will find the native American, Civil War and industrial past of the town irresistible. Saltville regularly yields well preserved Ice Age fossils. Once every summer, the MMA offers an amazing day camp. Paleontologists from ETSU partner with the museum to provide a fossil dig day camp. For a day, your child gets to work alongside scientists as they dig in a drained saltwater pit to find actual ice age fossils. The fossils have to stay with the museum at the end of the day, but the opportunity to pull a real mastodon tooth or short face bear fragment from the mud is an experience your child will never forget. Coordinate with the museum to plan your trip around this event. You can also work with the same paleontologists at the Gray Fossil Site in Johnson City. This museum is also devoted to the ice age and you can schedule longer digs and multi-day camps, but these are more expensive and the drive is about an hour and a half. www.museum-mid-app.org, gfs.visithandson.org
Saltville is also home to our area’s only wave pool. The waves are fun, the salt water is buoyant and refreshing and there is a little kid splash pad area. Pro Tip: See the Museum of the Middle Appalachians at around 11:00 in the morning. It doesn’t take too long. Then have lunch in town because the pool doesn’t allow outside food. We like the little Chinese restaurant on Main. Then head on over to the pool for an afternoon of fun in the sun. www.saltville.org
Randolph Park in Dublin is our favorite family outdoor public pool. It’s 1 hour and 15 minutes away, but it’s so nice we make the drive anyway. It’s the perfect place if your kids are a range of ages. A zero-entry pool with lots of fun features for little ones; there’s a frog you climb up to slide down his tongue into shallow water, a pirate ship with a gentle slide into shallow water and mushroom splash feature. A big twirly waterslide serves intermediate swimmers and a separate deep pool with basketball goals gives advanced swimmers a space of their own. The snack bar is good but you are allowed to a bring picnic lunch here if you wish. Randolph park also has a good playground. www.randolphpark.org
For those willing to range further from home base, the NC Zoo is a must. The NC Zoo, a 2.5 drive from Foxfire Ridge Retreat, is the largest natural habitat zoo in the world. www.nczoo.org
Younger adventurers will find Greensboro North Carolina perfect. Only 1 hour and 45 minutes away, The Greensboro Science Center and Greensboro Children’s Museum combine to make an ideal day trip. The Greensboro Science Center has an aquarium, zoo, children’s play museum and nature science museum all on one site; each section is sized so that little ones can enjoy without getting overwhelmed. Pro tip: Allot the Science Center 2.5 to 3 hours in the morning, then have lunch before moving on to Greensboro’s Children’s Play Museum. Pro Tip: When you transition to the Childrens Play Museum, you will be across from the Greensboro public library. Take the alley to the left of the library and follow it out back to find a small park with a pet play area, a toddler splash area and a couple of fantastic food trucks.
Older kids will love WetnWild Emerald Pointe Water Park, also in Greensboro. www.gcmuseum.com and www.greensborosciencecenter.org and www.emeraldpointe.com
Winston Salem NC has a good children’s play museum, Kaleideum. Drive time is just under two hours. Moms might like to give the kids a nice morning at the play museum then spend the afternoon shopping the 172 stores in Hanes Mall. www.shophanesmall.com www.kaleideum.org
Take the kids to Just Jump Trampoline Park in Bristol TN and let them jump away some energy! (One hour and 15 minute drive) Afterwards, the family can enjoy shopping for the rest of the day at The Pinnacle, the region’s largest outdoor shopping complex. After dinner at one of the many restaurants, kick back in the luxurious padded, reclining seats to take in a movie at the Pinnacle 12-Marqueee Cinemas Megaplex Theater. www.thepinnacle.com, www.marqueecinemas.com, www.justjump.com
