Travel-U.S., Mountain Lake, Virginia

In last week’s Travel Thursday post I mentioned, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”…a famous line from the movie Dirty Dancing.  Well, during our Cross Country trip on our way back towards Washington, D.C. we spent our last night of our 23 day journey at Mountain Lake Hotel, or better known as The Kellerman’s, where they filmed this classic movie.  I remember being young and wanting so badly to watch Dirty Dancing, but my parents wouldn’t let me.  So after it came to the local video store and after much begging, my mom rented it on VHS and my sister and I eagerly awaited the screening.  Of course she sat closely to the T.V. with remote in hand fast forwarding through all the “bad parts”, but my sister and I didn’t care.  We just wanted to see Johnny and Baby dance!  Growing up and loving this movie, it was a dream of mine to see this resort and a day I will always remember as we walked the grounds and I relived each part of Dirty Dancing.

Arriving at the resort with The Kellerman’s up the hill in the distance.  This was the view that Baby and her family saw.

One of the greatest parts was that after we arrived, the receptionist gave us a map which detailed certain locations throughout the resort of where they filmed the movie.  So during the better part of the afternoon I dragged my husband from scene location to scene location, which took us around the entire resort as we relived Johnny and Baby’s love story.  Unfortunately, there were parts of the movie that weren’t filmed at this resort in Virginia.  Other scenes, such as the scene where Johnny balances on the tree in the woods, were filmed in North Carolina.

Look familiar?  This is the lawn where they played charades.

View of Johnny’s cabin

The gazebo by the lake where Baby took a dance class with Penny.

This stone was dedicated to Patrick Swayze for his starring role in Dirty Dancing and his courageous battle with cancer.

The boardwalk leading out to the lake where Baby and Johnny practiced “the lift”.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely no water in the lake when we visited…the lake was virtually non-existent.  But for more information on the lake, click here.  You can even spend a “Dirty Dancing Weekend” at Mountain Lake Resort filled with a film location tour, dance lessons, a trivia contest and even Dirty Dancing each evening, ha!

Pictures from the inside of the resort, where Baby and her family enjoyed many meals.

For a more complete tour of the Scene Locations, click here.

Here’s the Dirty Dancing Trailer from 1987…the Trailer I watched on T.V. when I was a little girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pGGBU8qLGY