Overview
Roanoke in 2007!
By Phil Bloom
Logging on to my Internet provider the other day, I saw one of those teaser
items in the upper-right corner. It was for a list of the top 10 scenic drives
in America. Somewhat partial to scenic drives, I took a closer look, and guess
what was No. 1? The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. How appropriate, I
thought. Appropriate because next summer OWAA’s annual conference will be in
Roanoke, Va. (June 16-19), the largest city on the 469-mile drive connecting
Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It takes but a
little digging to see what Virginia has to offer OWAAers in 2007. The Blue Ridge
Parkway is just a start.
Here’s what else you can look forward to in Roanoke:
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Easy access. Roanoke is within a day’s
drive of half the U.S. population. Interstate 81 touches the northwest edge
of the city, and it’s a quick trip down the I-581 spur to the Hotel Roanoke
and Conference Center, our conference headquarters.
Furthermore, Roanoke Regional Airport provides nonstop service to and from
such major cities as Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, New
York, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (Dulles). Major airlines
servicing Roanoke include US Airways, Northwest, Delta and United.
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Accommodations. The Hotel Roanoke, our
headquarters hotel in 2007, is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Originally opened in 1882, the hotel changed ownership and underwent
a multi-million dollar renovation before reopening in 1995. The “new” Hotel
Roanoke features a 63,000-square-foot conference center with
state-of-the-art technology and gobs of meeting space.
Room rates ($118 single, $128 double) are comparable to what we paid in Lake
Charles. The hotel provides free shuttle service to and from the airport – a
mere 10-minute ride. (Speaking of ground transportation, it’s 15 minutes
from Hotel Roanoke to the Breakout Day site, and 20 minutes to the Shooting
Program facility.)
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The Internet. An ever-increasing issue
with OWAA members at recent conferences has been easy access to the
Internet.
Although there is a $9.95 per day charge for in-room access at Hotel
Roanoke, numerous free options for ‘Net surfers are available – 11
touch-screen kiosks for checking e-mail, weather and flight information;
free use of two desktop computers in the conference center and one on the
hotel side; and free wireless connection in the hotel lobby. Downtown
Roanoke also is a wireless hot zone.
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Attractions. Start with downtown
Roanoke, which you can reach from the headquarters hotel via a skywalk. In
five minutes, you can stroll through the farmers’ market (in operation for
more than 100 years), shops (including an Orvis store) and restaurants
galore. In fact, Roanoke has more restaurants per capita than any other city
in Virginia. Roanoke and the surrounding area are home to lots of
kid-friendly attractions – the Science Museum of Western Virginia, Mill
Mountain Zoo, O. Winston Link Museum and Explore Park. A short jaunt up I-81
will get you to Natural Bridge and The Toy Museum.
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History. It’s everywhere, and we’re
not just talking Civil War and the Revolutionary War. In fact, 2007 marks
the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English colonial
settlement in the New World.
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The great outdoors. Where do you
begin? Smith Mountain Lake. The Appalachian Trail. Jefferson and Washington
national forests. You can fish, hike, bike, camp, canoe, kayak and more.
Make sure you ask Local Co-Chair Bill Cochran about Virginia’s brook trout.
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Conference program. With assistance
from OWAA members with good ideas for sessions and newsmakers, the agenda
will be packed with great sessions.
The traditional events – Breakout Day, Shooting Program, Becoming an Outdoor
Communicator, Scavenger Hunt Photo Contest – will be supplemented with an
emphasis on Sections-related programming and discovering the newest
technology.
The proximity to Washington, D.C., should make it easy to attract major
newsmakers from federal fish, wildlife and land agencies, as well as
representatives from some of the top outdoor groups headquartered in the
nation’s capital and nearby. So, it’s on to Roanoke in 2007. You won’t want
to miss it!
The above article first appeared in the August
2006 issue of Outdoors Unlimited. |
