I've been there visiting a friend. The downtown is lovely! We ate at a very cute café and then went a few stores down to a great kitchen supply shop. I'm sorry that I cannot remember a single name, but there is also a great farmer's market and street vendors in the downtown area. Here is a link to the downtoan business association's web page with the retail establishments listed. There's also a restaurant page. I had hoped looking at those lists and websites would spur my memory, but it was two whole years ago, lol, and those names are long gone. I went in mid December and everything was nicely decorated for Christmas. My friends who moved there (and LOVE it) say there are several v nice restaurants downtown.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roanoke downtown retail shops

kwsl - Thank you!
This coming weekend is Roanoke's restaurant week, according to your link! I have a Garden and Gun magazine article that suggests places for dinner but wanted to know if anyone had "must eat" places.
So glad to know that you enjoyed the downtown area. And that your friends love it there. We are also just starting to think about retirement locations. I am hoping for the Southeast; DH has his heart set on Arizona...maybe a few road trips like this will help.

I can only ditto about the downtown area. We were there about 2 years ago, and it struck us that there seems to be tons of $$ pouring in. The art museum there ( I think it is right across from the Hotel Roanoke - if not across then 2 blocks away short walk) is really quite good- It seems that the area has a lot more happening (I don't know about night life but I do mean in terms of places to live:) than one might expect.

One of my favorite museums is the VA Museum of Transportation You can also check out RR photography with the O Winston Link Museum.

Go up to see the Star.

I lived in that area, but I moved in 2006. There are some wineries near the Blue Ridge Parkway, but if the weather is bad, the Parkway is often closed. AmRhein's is probably the closest on Bent Mountain. We considered them for our wedding.

There is a family-style sit-down country place called The Homeplace. They do not take reservations and do not serve alcohol, but OMG the best fried chicken, and I don't even eat fried chicken. One of the places I really miss! We used to love to drive there on the back roads in my Mustang convertible.

Forgot to include the Grandin Theatre, an independent theatre. They are really close to Black Dog Salvage.

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: AmRhein Winery

This post was edited by gsciencechick on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 13:11

Thanks Shiela and GSChick! It definitely looks like there will be something to keep us occupied for a few hours. My BIL comes from a RR family out west so he will like the museum and if there is anything resembling shopping my SIL and I will find it! Wineries sound like fun too.
Our plans may shift to the following weekend as our area is expecting snow and if we get more than 6 inches my DD will have some difficulty getting the horses plowed out by herself.

By all means check out the Taubman Museum of Art. It is in walking distance of Hotel Roanoke, which was originally owned by the Norfolk and Western Railway. Today the hotel is connected to Virginia Tech.

Here is a link that might be useful: Taubman Museum of Art