The Lake that Wasn't There

We had a very busy day yesterday. Since it was almost all about dancing, it was all good. We had breakfast on the patio. This is the same area that the Houseman's had breakfast when Baby's father told them they were going home early. We had a great view of the front lawn and where the lake used to be. The weather has been very good this year. It was mostly sunny and warm during the day and cooled off nicely in the evening.

Later in the morning, we went on the tour of the grounds. I think that there were more people taking the tour this year than last. We went from the front of the hotel to the cabin where Baby's family stayed. Then we went to the gazebo where several scenes were shot. Who can forget the one where Baby told off her father. After that went back to the hotel to go through the dining room and out to the kitchen. Everyone had to get their picture taken in the same spot where Baby found Penny crying. At the rear of the hotel the chef told us some of his stories from when the movie was made. He had worked at Mountain Lake that year. He told us about the time he gave Patrick "Buddy" Swayze a ride down the mountain on his motorcycle one night.


After the tour we proceeded directly to the Activities Barn for the Dirty Dancing Trivia Contest. I am happy to report that we were at the winning table the second year in a row. The contest is a group effort. It is very similar to BINGO, but called DANCE. The emcee called out a number and a letter then give a question about the movie. We would write the answer in a block on the answer sheet. We had one row almost filled when they asked what song was playing when Baby and Johnny were dancing on the log. It had us all stumped for a while. Kathy and Randy came to our rescue when they remembered "Hey Baby" by Bruce Channel for the win.

After lunch we went with Sharon and Paul to see what was left of the lake. The tour guide earlier told us that the reason the lake had all but disappeared was that they haven't had any snow for the past 5-6 years. So the boat dock was high and dry. The sign with the Rules of the Water looked kind of out of place since there was no water.


Later in the afternoon we headed back to the Activities Barn for some group dance lessons. A group of instructors from the Sapphire Ballroom and Dance Center gave lessons on meringue, foxtrot, and mambo. It's always good to review the basics. I picked up a new step in the meringue and a pointer on technique in the mambo. And it is always fun to dance.

After dinner we were back in the Activities Barn for the show and more dancing. We got there early to get a good table. We managed to get our lucky table from the trivia game. The DJ was warming up so we took advantage of the empty floor to get warmed up ourselves. The show started at 8:30 with the group from the Sapphire dancing selections from the movie. Like the show last year it was choreographed and executed very well. At the conclusion of the show the DJ cranked it up again and we danced until they shut down at 11:00.

After such a busy, but enjoyable day we slept like logs. We went down fairly early for breakfast and met Kathy and Randy going into the dining room. So we had a nice breakfast together again on the patio.

We made good time driving home. We took the Interstate to Charlottesville then went up Route 29. The weather was pretty much perfect as it had been all weekend.

Good accommodations, good friends, and good dancing. We truly had "the time of our lives."

Dirty Dancing at Mountain Lake 2

We enjoyed our "Dirty Dancing" weekend at the Mountain Lake Hotel so much last year that we decided to do it again. We had spoken about our plans to some of our friends that also dance and we ended up a group of us here. With us this weekend are Kathy and Randy, Sharon and Paul, along with Joy and Tony. It's great to be able to share good times.

We left home fairly early and took the scenic route down Route 29. We made a stop at the Burnley Winery. We hadn't been there for several years, but always remember their Spicy Rivanna as one of our favorite wines. The weather was good although we did get a little rain along the way.

We checked into the hotel about 4:00. Everyone had arrived by dinner time. We were seated next to a picture window and were treated with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains complete with a rainbow. There was a bird feeder on the lawn outside the window and several pretty yellow birds who must have had dinner reservations the same time as us.

The dancing began at 8:00 in the Activities Barn. The hotel had put in a new wooden floor since last year. There was a DJ who played all the favorites from the movie along with a good mix of other music. Everyone was having a such a good time that the DJ went over the allotted time so we danced until 11:00.

We slept real well last night.

Dirty Dancing at Mountain Lake

We traveled to Mountain Lake Hotel on Friday to participate in their Dirty Dancing weekend. Mountain Lake Hotel is one of the locations where the hit movie Dirty Dancing was filmed 20 years ago. The hotel is located in southwestern Virginia just outside of Blacksburg. It's kind of rustic; my cellphone didn't even work and there was no TV in the room. I did find the alarm clock, though. It took about 6 hours of driving to get there. Late in the afternoon there was a terrific thunderstorm. Lots of lightning and loads of rain. We were glad we were staying in the hotel proper and not one of the cabins. We would have gotten soaked going to dinner. We had one of those package deals where the price included the activities and meals for the weekend.

By 8:00 PM the weather had cleared and we were able to go to the dancing in the Activities Barn. They had a DJ who started out playing the songs from the movie. Lots of swings and a couple of Rhumbas, Mambos, and Hustles. We danced from 8:00 to 10:30, which was good because dinner was great and we needed to burn off a couple of hundred calories.

We took a Dirty Dancing tour on Saturday morning. The guide had been working there when they filmed the movie and had a lot of insights and information about the filming of the movie. You might recognize the bungalow where Baby's family stayed and the "No Guests" sign from the movie. The bungalow has changed somewhat over the years. They added the stone wall and moved the staircase.




After the tour we went back to the Activities Barn to play Dirty Dancing Trivia Bingo. Our table won free Dirty Dancing T-shirts. During the trivia game, hotel staff passed out copies of the hotel register page where Patrick Swayze and several other cast members signed in. We noticed that Cynthia Rhodes, who played Penny, stayed in the same room that we did. I can honestly say that Penny and I slept in the same bed. OK, it was twenty years apart, but I can still say it. Quickstepper got her picture taken with a special someone, also.


A local dance studio, Sapphire Ballroom & Dance Center, came up and gave dance lessons during the afternoon. They had beginners classes on Mambo, Meringue, and Foxtrot. It was a good review for us and we got a couple of hours of practice. The instructors from the class had a showcase after dinner. This showcase was based on music and scenes from the movie. The showcase was followed by a couple of hours of general dancing. All-in-all, we got almost 5 hours of dancing in on Saturday.

On Sunday, we ate breakfast and hit the road for home. We took the southern route home; I-81 to I-64, then up Route 29 at Charlottesville to Route 17 toward Fredericksburg. We saw plenty of rain, but the only significant traffic was on I-95.