We spent 6 days and 5 nights at Boar’s Head Resort, which is located near Charlottesville, Virginia. It sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is about 2.5 hours from our home in West Virginia (that ridge passes near the Eastern Pandle, with the AT going over it). A straight shot down I-81 and across the Blue Ridge on 64. The resort is run by the University of Virginia Foundation.
My MIL took our family and my BIL’s family to enjoy the week. My BIL and SIL had been to the resort before, they live within an hour of it. They are also big into tennis, pickelball and such. If you are into that or love to golf, it is a great choice. I’m still recovering from the trauma of when my brother made me be his sparring partner when I was 15. I had to take extensive tennis lessons. At the time, I had a mowhawk and hated the sun. Tennis, I am actually good at, but no thanks. Walker likes pickelball (it’s Washington State’s official sport) but was wilting when his uncle wanted to play in 95* temps… outside.
It did have one thing I enjoy: hiking and walking paths. So we all had something, I suppose.
On my own, I wouldn’t have picked the resort. It’s nothing against Boar’s Head. It’s just not what I prefer. While I can enjoy the finer things in life, I am a casual person. And we have two teenagers. But one doesn’t complain (too much) if they are being treated!
The real issue is that the East Coast “heat dome” hit us the day we headed out. It was even warmer in Virginia than in West Virginia and topped at 99*. It was very hot, and I felt like a sloth 🦥 the entire week, doing nothing more than chugging ice cold water all day. The hotel and resort sit on a lot of land (500 acres, I believe), and walking is outside, in the beat, everywhere. My MIL stayed in the main hotel, and we all stayed in the Ednam wing.
The first night, once the sun dipped, we set out to walk as many trails before it got dark. It was still hot in the mid-80s. But at least I wasn’t dying in the sun.
The resort has three pools. Two are at the sports club, the other is by the spa. That one is adult only and closes at 7 pm. I never used it, as the teens were with us,but slso it was pretty far away from our room. We did use the other pools when open. Our first night, the pools closed early, being a Sunday, which I thought was not cool. It was also closed one day, mid week, for competition use, most of the day. The boys were not happy, and with the severe heat, it was the only thing to do there. We did take them to a cool retro arcade in old town Charlottesville to beat the heat, where you pay a set fee and can play nonstop.
We ate dinner one night at the resort, the prices were very high. While well presented and delicious, $40 and up per entree were expensive. I had prime rib on Sunday. The smaller serving was $50. It was very good, but that was a bougie treat. Spending $250 a dinner isn’t sustainable. For me. I just cannot justify that.
Lunch was far more affordable. Even a fancy dish capped at $22, and a number of items were $15 and under.
We got take out the other nights from outside the resort and met up for dinner at my MIL’s room. Unfortunately, it was very hot due to being on the top floor and baking all day. The AC couldn’t keep up.
The Sports Club has a café with lattes and smoothies, I did try a couple of smoothies that Walker wanted, but I skipped the coffee.
If I were to stay at the resort again, I would bring a camping stove and gear. On the patios/decks are a metal table and chairs to sit at. I could have cooked quite easily out there. Once the sun set, it became more tolerable to sit outside. The hotel rooms had small refrigerators and a desk to sit at, making food prep doable.
Instead, we drove into the outer areas of Charlottesville and found places to eat at. This made it affordable to feed two very hungry teens.
I went outside early in the day and in the evening as the sun set. Kirk can’t go into the sun, especially in pools. He’s a ginger and has had multiple skin cancers removed, including melanoma during the Covid years. So we would swim from 7 pm to 9 pm. When it was safe for him.
Overall, I found the resort to be nice enough. Most employees were pleasant though we found cracks in it: one evening requested towels were not delivered to our boys’ room, and two nights in a row, our room’s AC broke. It took many hours both days to fix it. We couldn’t be in the room until fixed. The heat was awful in it. No apologies were offered for this and we were not contacted with updates. That left a sour note with me. I am only partially acclimatized to the East Coast heat. 79* in a hotel room is still Lizard People temps. Maybe next year I’ll be ready for that.
On a positive note, if you work remotely, the Wi-Fi worked well in common areas and the rooms.
We enjoyed our week away from the grind, but I really wished it had been cooler so I could have hiked more trails 👣.
– Sarah