Gail's Motorcoach Adventures: Virginia, North Carolina, St. Augustine Florida

Greenbrier, West Virginia

The Greenbrier is a Forbes four star & AAA Five Diamond award winning luxury resort located in West Virginia.

Most of its history, the hotel was owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (CSX Corporation). In 2009, CSX placed the hotel into bankruptcy.

Justice Family Group LLC, a company owned by local entrepreneur Jim Justic, bought the property. He returned the hotel to a five-star resort and introduced gambling to the resort for the guest.

A total of 26 presidents stayed at The Greenbrier. The last U.S. President to stay during his presidency was Dwight Eisenhower.

As you can see from the pictures, the Greenbrier exquisite interior design is so breath taking.

The property offers 710 rooms, including 33 suites and 96 guest and estate houses. The hotel had 10 lobbies, 40 plus meeting rooms and a complete conference center facilities.

The Greenbrier is widely regarded regarded as one of the finest luxury resorts around the world.

I want to go back and stay at this awesome resort. This place was stunning. The pictures really don't show the wow factor. The spa is supposed to be unbelievable.

The Bunker which is located at The Greenbrier.

This was planned as a top secret of the Cold War and was designed to accommodate both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in the event of a natural emergency. The bunker was planned by the Eisenhower Administration, the facility was built under the Greenbrier between 1958 and 1961. The secrecy of its location was maintained for more than 30 years until May 31, 1992, when The Washington Post published a story exposing it. The day after the story was published the government terminated their lease with The Greenbrier.

Some interesting parts to the bunker. They have a Power plant within the facility it is a self contained power plant that was capable of providing all power for approx 1,100 people for 40 days.

They have three 25,000 gallon water tanks and three 14,000 diesel fuel storage tanks.

Some of the other rooms in the bunker included:

• Communications Briefing Room

• Exhibit Gallery

• Extensive Security

• Dormitories

• Dispensary/Clinic

• Cafeteria/Kitchen (could feed 400 persons in 1 seating)

• Exhibit Hall/Meeting Rooms (16,544 square feet for Congress members to conduct business if necessary)

The ironic part of the exhibit hall is The Greenbrier rented this space out and guest never realized they were in a secret bunker for all those years.

This is one of the three entrance to the bunker. The concrete door is designed to withstand a nuclear blast approx 15-30 miles away and to prevent radioactive fallout from entering the facility when it is sealed off. The West Tunnel Entrance door weighs approx 25 tons and is 12 feet wide, 10 feet high and 18 inches thick.

This hidden piece of history was so awesome. It was well worth the stop even in the cold weather.

Grand Caverns, Charlottesville, Virginia

This tight area below is where people had to crawl though in order to go thru the cave. I couldn't do it, I am claustrophobic

Wilmington, North Carolina

We enjoyed 2 different independent film festivals One in North Carolina and one in Virginia. We saw approximately 12 films total.

When we were in Virginia staying at a RV park one of our friends, Lori & Paul from the Hoots were there. Small world. Their son just had a baby boy. We enjoyed a get together at their beautiful coach for wine and snacks. Their awesome sheltie, Regis was there.

I hate to admit but our one cats, TJ has turned into a couch potatoe. He wants to go the Africa for a Safari.

Jeff and I are in Sarasota, Florida. Enjoying the beautiful warm weather. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving was awesome, we had lunch with a group at the RV Park we are staying. After lunch we volunteered at the Salvation Army serving 500-600 homeless people. It was such a rewarding experience. I have been wanting to do this for years and never took the time. The people were so thankful and appreciative. I hope we can do the same for Christmas.

Some of the volunteers being trained.