Day-Tripping To Escape Ennui

by Fayeruz Regan 01.2022

Is there anything more American than exploring the open road? Europe has its trains with wide windows, but here, it’s a winding two-lane highway with the windows down. Perhaps it’s the Jack Kerouac or Hunter S. Thompson in us all, or maybe it’s the vastness of this country, but it’s hard to resist the lure of a good old-fashioned road trip.

Most of have entered 2022 with a collective ennui, wondering how we’re going to get through winter’s headlines, variants and gloomy weather. If getting out of the house is a form of self-care in itself, imagine the benefits of leaving for some adventure.

Dinwiddie is a town that feels exactly how it sounds: a little hokey, a little country. It’s also a musical word, and Dinwiddie is a harmonious mix of ingenuity and old Virginia. We jumped in the car to explore and encountered road trip gold. Here’s what we found...

Lucky Lake Gem and Mineral Mine of Virginia

Crystals have made a big comeback since the 1990s, and you can stop here to mine some gems of your own. When the family on this property were digging a lake on-site, they uncovered colorful rocks and realized that their property ran along a thick vein of pegmatite. Discovering the treasure through sheer luck, they renamed the property Lucky Lake.

No need to go spelunking – not many would don helmets and wield picks for a handful of rough pegmatite. Instead, the family turned their luck into an enterprise, allowing visitors to do some “light mining” for semi-precious stones. We each bought a pail of earth, and took our seats along an outdoor water flume. We were given screens, and began sifting our bounty through the water.

Though a realistic experience would have visitors uncovering one type of gem, this family leans toward the fantastical. Customers will uncover a delightful assortment of turquoise, jasper, amethyst and more. All along the water flume, treasure hunters squealed with delight. Adults and children alike compared notes and traded stones, which are guaranteed with every sack.

A family member on-site will name each of your stones and their properties. There’s a gemologist that can cut your stone for custom jewelry, and a gift shop to make a New Ager’s heart flutter.

Route 1 Country Store

Route 1 Country Store is an Amish mecca, with fresh-baked breads, cakes and the best part: homemade sandwiches. They are custom made to order, so while they’re slicing the meats and cheeses, you can peruse the aisles for their homemade soup mixes, dips and a wall of old-fashioned candy – some of which you haven’t seen in years.

We enjoyed our haul on the covered porch, where we sat on Amish-hewn tables and chairs. If we had a dollar for every time a smiling, pot-bellied man in suspenders walked out with a homemade cake, we could have bought something at our next stop!

Yellow Gate Place

Some antique shops are precious, others are whimsical. Yellow Gate Place falls into the latter category. This mercantile is so packed with rare finds that it spills out onto the property. For that I was thankful, as I caught sight of old street signs and a giant Smoky the Bear through the trees.

The owner and his wife seem to run the place for fun rather than income. We were left alone to peruse the vast building. The aisles were dark, and heaping with antique furniture and bizarre figurines. The place was lit by Tiffany lamps and their replicas – bursts of color like fireworks throughout the building.

We stayed a while, getting sucked into a world where the Marlboro man was epitome of macho, and women would gaze into hand-held mirrors. We got a great deal on a plant stand, and the owners gave my son a free vintage Hot Wheels car.

Throughout our drive were stretches of Dinwiddie that time forgot. For every perfectly preserved historical home, there was a log cabin overrun with kudzu. Many mom and pop convenience stores with cheeky names sat shuttered, hinting that this little town had been overtaken by a nearby superstore. Luckily, Dinwiddie is laced with winding country roads, and there’s nary a strip mall in sight. In fact, wild turkeys darted in and out of the road causing an uproar in the car as we scrambled for our phones. It made for a nostalgic drive, and a day to remember.

Happy new year.