Sandee and Gini's Excellent Adventure

Today we continued our 2012 Fall Foliage Tour with a short trip from TN into VA.  Our destination?  Gretna, VA.  This small town is our jumping off point to explore both Smith Mountain Lake and Lake Leesville.

We've been told that Smith Mountain Lake is the best kept secret of Virginia.  I'm beginning to believe that myself.  We couldn't find it.

We spent at least two hours within five miles of the shore and could never find our way down to the water.

When we finally wound our way to the Smith Mountain Dam--where we were told a lady worked full time handing out maps and giving tours--the aforementioned lady was leaving the offices and locking up.  We stopped long enough to snap one picture off the bridge leading up to the dam.

We did find Lake Leesville.  They are currently in the middle of a building project to add a 60 foot fishing pier and beef up some shore line.  We know this because we toddled down to the lake's edge to see the water quality and were quizzed by the workers and informed that the public lake access was closed to the public for this building project.

The team leader was a little bored, so he chatted with us and told us all about the lake, the water quality and the impact of changing water levels as water was released into the river below.

The foliage was beautiful and we had the picnic area all to ourselves... mostly because it was closed to the public.  Not that there were any signs that told us that.  We just followed the signs to the lake, parked our car and walked down to the water.

Us and the guys in hard hats got to enjoy this glorious scenery.  Tomorrow, we will try to suss out the secret of Smith Mountain Lake again.  But until then, please enjoy our vistas of Leesville Lake.

--  Sandee Wagner