Things to Do in Christiansburg

With more than 28 years of dance-studio experience, Director Karen Stemen and her agile staff strive to instill her students with both technical dance training and a palpable passion for movement. An array of classes direct the feet of all age levels and abilities. Youngsters can hone ballet and tap skills, and adults can come to the studio seeking a challenging workout or serious training in techniques such as hip-hop and pointe, ideal for those who have trouble reaching the cereal on top of the refrigerator.

In the 1850s, the Norfolk & Western Railway made its way to Big Lick, Virginia, transforming the sleepy town into a locomotive hub of the south. The Virginia Museum of Transportation walks visitors through this industrial change with its historic steam and diesel engines, cabooses, model trains, and rail collection, which features more than 50 pieces of rolling stock, including some of the most advanced Roanoke-made steam engines ever built in the Norfolk & Western Class J-611 and Class A-1218. Railway exhibits recount the exploits of the industry’s most renowned names and provide an opportunity for visitors to hop aboard an actual diesel locomotive and complain loudly about the lack of complimentary peanuts. Additional engine-powered attractions include a century’s worth of automobiles and the recently reopened Wings Over Virginia Aviation Gallery collection.

From tents perched on either side of Main Street, 15 local vineyards dispense wine samples to festivalgoers during the annual Budbreak festival, now in its third year. Guests amble from spot to spot, pausing between tastings to peruse glass art, sculpture, and custom jewelry crafted by local art vendors. Pleasing sips can be paired with grub from food vendors including 13 Bones and Maples Restaurant at Olde Mill. Guests can stand up and shake their tail feathers to live music, or take in the tunes from a shady seat while sampling a favorite bottle. Among the festival's performers are veteran Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, known during his touring days for fermenting an entire orchard of pinot grapes with a single magnificent C note.

Curlicues of painted flame seem to crackle white hot from the mouths of dragons that come to life on the walls beneath the black lights at Glow-A-Rama. The echo of clacking billiard balls drifts past the painted knights, monsters, and underwater vistas, reaching the ears of players batting ping-pong balls back and forth. Patrons tap incandescent spheres across the 18-hole mini-golf course, which was designed and constructed by the owner and is free of the sand traps that slow traditional golf and attract nesting Jimmy Buffetts. Black lights also extend into the game room and party rooms.

Birthday-party guests master the lost art of golf bowling, which involves tapping a golf ball into 10 glowing, diminutive pins. Around Halloween, visitors run the spooky gauntlet of a haunted house festooned with shimmering graveyard murals and pictures of the wolfman without his makeup.

Every year, thousands of visitors wander the paths at the National D-Day Memorial, where 88 acres of verdant grass and lush forests at the foot the Blue Ridge Mountains stand in for the coastlines of Normandy on June 6, 1944. After passing beneath a 44-foot stone arch inscribed with _Overlord_—the official name of the military operation—visitors immerse themselves in a re-creation of the beach landing on that fateful day. A reflecting pool commemorates the battle itself with statues of soldiers marching through the water, struggling along the beach, and standing to face the enemy. A military plane sits nearby, emblazoned with markings of the Allied Forces. Plaques also dot the grounds, honoring the soldiers and sharing more about World War II history. Though the scene may be solemn, lush gardens and rippling flags remind visitors of the world that the soldiers fought to protect.