Mountain Lake, located in Pembroke, Virginia, is well-known as the setting for the movie, Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.  This beautiful, 2600 acre mountaintop resort is bustling with activity in the summer and offers rental cabins as well as traditional hotel rooms.  The large banquet facilities host numerous weddings, receptions and other special events throughout the year.  For more information on Mountain Lake Resort, click here. 09/09/2009

Pandapas Pond From Blacksburg - 460 West to Pandapas Pond, From Giles - 460 East to Pandapas Pond, , VA Pandapas Pond is a gem just four miles from Blacksburg VA. It's a popular hiking and mountain biking spot, with trails that head off into the Jefferson National Forest. A lot of people just like to hang out on the banks of the scenic 8-acre pond, however. A man-made body of water, it serves as the headwaters for Poverty Creek. Hiking trails surround the lake, with several more that head off into the Jefferson National Forest. The trail around the lake is nice and flat, and offers a scenic view of native fish, amphibians, birds and more. You can fish at the Pond (bass and bluegill, mostly, with some trout), but make sure to have appropriate licenses. There are picnic tables and benche... 10/20/2008

Tonia Moxley (the Roanoke Times' best daily contributor, in my opinion) wrote a story on Wednesday regarding the natural draining of 50-acre Mountain Lake in Giles County.  If you haven't been to Mountain Lake, it's the site where Dirty Dancing was filmed.  Yawn ... but it's a gorgeous drive up the mountain and there are some really cool trails and things surrounding the resort.  Anyway, the lake is one of only two naturally occurring lakes in Virginia, and one of only a handful in the world that naturally drains and then fills back up.  It has been draining for the last several years, to a point where it now holds a small amount of water that continues to recede, and is at levels unseen before.  The draining effect is supposedly a natural phenomenon, due to a large crack that formed, a... 09/11/2008