While out in Abingdon recently, we decided to take our 3 year old granddaughter Cortlyn on an overnight trip.  A two-hour drive to Roanoke seemed doable, so we picked her up and off we went.

Strapped in and ready to go!

It’s an easy drive up I-81 and Debbie kept Cortlyn entertained while Bill drove. No in-car DVD players for us! Once in Roanoke we headed straight for Mill Mountain to see the famous star, take in the city from afar and go to the zoo.

The world’s biggest man made star

Mill Mountain gives a great view of the area

As we headed for the zoo, we wondered why there weren’t many people there. We soon discovered that the zoo was on fall hours and wouldn’t be open until the next day. So we made the best of it. Luckily there was a small playground and a pretty nature trail that entertained our 3 year old just the same.

Cortlyn loves a slide!

Our next stop was the Virginia Museum of Transportation. This is a really interesting museum with all kinds of transportation on display, from trains to autos to airplanes.

The media was taking advantage of “Back to the Future” Day

This will be familiar to fans of the movie

Cortlyn was able to climb into several trains and even a plane. They also have a model train display which no kid (including us) can resist.

Cortlyn was pretty tired after this full day, so we went to our motel, which luckily had a pool for Debbie and Cortlyn (too chilly for Bill) and a hot tub for Bill. After an interesting time getting Cortlyn to go to sleep, we all woke up ready to go to the zoo.  Happily it was open.

The Mill Mountain Zoo is fairly small, and several exhibits were under renovation, but still captivated little Cortlyn. She saw a Red Panda, Snow Leopard, and Red Wolves, among other animals. She posed with a tiger and again enjoyed the playground there.

Checking out the rare Red Wolves

After the zoo, it was time to head back home. We had a fun trip with Cortlyn in Roanoke, and look forward to a trip with our other 3 year old grandchild, Tristan. Happy trails!