Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Dirty Dancing

"That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's."

I came, I saw, I carried a watermelon!

On Thursday I picked up our rental car, picked up Amie and by 11pm we were on our way to Pembroke, Virginia. We were on our way to a Dirty Dancing themed weekend at the legendary Mountain Lake Resort - otherwise known as Kellerman's. After 4 hours of the worst rain EVER in Indiana, a car-sick navigator, loads of music, breakfast at THEE Bob Evan's ACTUAL farm, and a whopping 15hrs in the car...we pulled up to Kellerman's. The sun was shining bright in the sky... it was just as if we where in the opening scene of the movie.

Virginia is beautiful. Kellerman's is fantastic. The employees there, wonderful. It proved to be an amazing weekend.

We stayed in a lodge room with a fireplace.

Instead of napping after arriving we went on a search of the grounds. We showered and explored. I will post pictures, but blogger is not letting me at the moment.

DAY ONE: After exploring, we went to eat up in the dining room. THEE dining room. The dining room that Baby first peered through the door to see Johnny talking to Max and the staff. Amie and I sat in the spot where we later found out that the Houseman's ate at in a scene of the movie. Four course meals were served at lunch and dinner. I got the ribeye, well-done, it was delish.

MORE LATER....

Okay, I'm back. And since my break from writing this....Patrick Swayze has passed away! Are you kidding me? I'm so glad that I made the trip to Virginia before his death. It'll be surreal to be there next year, knowing that he's no longer alive.

My weekend at Kellerman's was full of stories from the staff, amazing food, HOURS AND HOURS of dancing, the movie, trivia - which we WON, and so much more. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it was actually very much like the movie. Not that I found a hot dance instructor and go busy or anything. Ha! You know me better than that anyway! Although, the dance instructor was REALLY REALLY hot! Ironic. But it was just as the movie set it out to be - a vacation retreat. It was as if you were actually living in the 60s....in the times when families took vacations together and you met friends that you'd only really see once a year. That's what happened!

Amie and I met a great couple there who we're keeping in touch with and planning to meet up with next year for the weekend.

All in all, it was an awesome vacation. On the way back, with a completely hungover Amie in the passenger seat, we went an hour out of our way in Indiana so that I could surprise Amie with the birthplace of James Dean. She's a huge fan. We took loads of pictures and eventually found his gravesite. Which ironically isn't even marked that well. We had to walk most of the graveyard before we found it...just as the sun was setting.

With all honesty I can say that "I've had the time of my life", AND "I carried a watermelon."