7-22-16 thru 7-29-16 Roanoke, VA

Altec has a factory in Roanoke Virginia and I was invited out for a "train the trainer" event. The training focuses on tools that are available to the Quality team and how to use and implement them to other facilities. 

I flew to Roanoke and arrived at Midnight on Friday. I came back to the room a fell asleep. I woke early on Saturday and checked the forecast. 95 deg with a lot of humidity. I went out and walked along the greenway trail and climbed up Mill Mountain to find one of the lower trails. Definitely a warm day but I had fun exploring around the hotel on foot. Later in the day I walked to a bike shop to rent a bike so I could go Mtn Biking at Mill Mountain and Carvins Cove. While at the shop I found out there is an indoor climbing gym in the same building. 

The view from the hotel

Hiking on Mill Mtn

One of the trails on Mill Mtn

An air conditioned climbing gym

On Saturday night I decided to go out for dinner and checked Yelp for establishments nearby. I walked to the Wildflower Cafe which was about 1/2 mile away. A very warm walk and the AC in the Wildflower wasn't the coolest but I had a great meal. 

The dining area

The cake cases. They do a lot of catering/weddings

My burrito on the right

The front of the Wildflower Cafe. Tucked away in a historic neighborhood. 

After dinner I walked around and explored. Some amazing old homes in this city. 

An awesome garage apartment. 

On Sunday morning I woke up early and reviewed a map of Mill Mtn and started climbing. I climbed all the way to the summit and took these photos at the top. 

A road biker who had climbed up to summit with me. 

I had a good time riding down the mountain which allowed me to cool off a little bit and dry off. 

Mill Mtn at night

I spent some time at the hotel and then packed up the bike into the rental car and went to Carvins Cove to see the top notch trails of Roanoke. 

I rode for about an hour and did an out and back. There are around 50 miles of single track at Carvins Cove. The heat of the day was approaching and I was amazed again at how warm and humid it is out here. 

My rentals. The Santa Cruz Superlight was a nice bike. 

The temps rose to 98* in the afternoon and spent some time indoors. As the temp started to drop I walked over to HITS frozen treats on the greenway to get some ice cream. A classic establishment with homemade ice cream and a lot of different flavors.