Coffee Talk #155: A Stay at the Omni Homestead

It’s Tuesday! Grab your cup and let’s start talking.

Around this time of year, my heart aches for the fresh, cool, crisp mountain air. I love living by the water, but equally love visiting and hiking in the mountains. With the change of season, I knew this would be the perfect time to head up the mountains and experience the “fall colors.” We chose to spend a long weekend at the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA.

I have previously visited The Homestead, on a work conference trip. I spent 2.5 days here with the conference in Spring 2015, and I just knew it would be gorgeous to visit in the fall. We like going on trips to celebrate our anniversary, which is October 31. I’m so glad we chose this location!

Fall is the perfect time of the year to visit Hot Springs, VA. I think the area gets a lot of ski/snowboard visitors in the winter, and I imagine lots of families in the summer. This time of year wasn’t overcrowded, and everyone we encountered was so pleasant. And, this VIEW!

I had three things I wanted to do at the Homestead: 1) Hike 2) Get a massage/spend time in the Spa 3) eat delicious meals. We managed to hit all three items.

Hike – We listened to the Beyond the Tower podcast to get a sense of some of the best activities to try while we visited. One hike kept getting mentioned: the Cascades Gorge Hike. It’s led by a staff naturalist, who can point out all the flora and fauna in this semi-tropical environment and the medicinal and edible properties of the many local plants. We’d hoped to do this on our first morning at the Homestead, but it rained the night before, so we opted for a self-guided hike instead. We chose the North Trail, one of the three recommended trails accessible from the building. It gave us some breathtaking views of the Tower, and we got to climb up to the Ski area, around some of the neighborhoods, and into the forest. It was an excellent blend of challenging terrain and easily/accessible paths. When we returned from the North Trail hike (which felt like we were alone, no one else was on the trail with us!), we immediately decided to sign up for the Cascades Gorge hike the next day.

The Cascades Gorge Hike was such a great experience. We joined 6 others, as well as our guide Jeff, for a 2 mile hike alongside the gorge, which ended at the golf course. It was breathtaking. I will note – this time of year with all the leaves on the ground, the walk was extra slippery. I imagine since it’s a wet environment it can get slippery in the spring and summer, too. The best part was having a guide. Jeff stopped and showed us where valuable ginseng root grows, we talked about the various birds (and bears!) you can spot in the gorge, and he had us test birch (tastes like mint), and smell various medicinal plants. It was quite the educational walk. I appreciate people who know infinite details about plants and animals.

The scenery was amazing – I loved all the orange and yellow. We saw about 13 different waterfalls during the hike, and we walked over and around all of them. The path was rocky in some places, and others had bridges (super steep ramps) to walk over the falls.

Here’s a view looking back at the gorge from the golf course. The misty area is what we walked through – it felt like a rainforest in the middle of VA!

Massage – We really wanted to make use of the Spa at the Homestead. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a massage booked (they were full or maybe understaffed), but I put my resourcefulness to good use and booked us both appointments at Stone Mountain Massage. It is located literally steps away from the Spa at the Homestead, and the owner formerly worked at the Homestead as well. First, we visited the Spa to workout (me) and swim in the mineral water/indoor pool (husband), and then we walked a few steps to get massages. We opted for relaxing Swedish massages with lavender essential oils. It was phenomenal. I’m so glad our massages worked out the way they did — it was meant to be!

Delicious meals – We loved having options at the Homestead for dining. We both wanted to stay onsite for dining, but definitely heard great things about local restaurants just down the street from the Omni. We had brunch at the Dining Room each morning (with so many options, I’m glad we picked this spot). The first night, we also dined at the Main Dining Room for dinner. On the second night, we chose to dine at Jefferson’s for our Anniversary Dinner. I’m a very picky eater/have lots of food requirements, and there was something for me to eat each night at the Omni restaurants. My favorite meal was at Jefferson’s – I had the most delicious filet I’ve ever eaten, and they even surprised us with dessert in celebration of our Anniversary. The ambience at Jefferson’s was my ideal dining environment, too. The service at both places was excellent, and we even had live entertainment (a 3-piece band) on the first night.

Visiting the Omni Homestead was a perfect way to celebrate 4 years. We started dating on October 31, got engaged the next year on October 31, and got married the next year, on October 31. This time of year is super special to us. I love escaping to the mountains in the fall for the heightened oxygen levels, seeing all the colors, and spending time with my absolute favorite person.