Summer's almost gone -- Y'all come

barter 

One of my favorite places in Southwest Virginia is pictured above -- the Barter Theater, located in Abingdon, Virginia. The Barter is the state theater of Virginia, in case you didn't know. It gets its name from Great Depression days, when farmers paid admission with food. (Heck, old Salt Lick woulda' paid all his taters to see Marlene Dietrich if she'd have ever appeared at the Barter.)

Seriously, the Barter productions are usually first rate. And Steve's Abingdon is one of the loveliest little towns in all of Virginia to walk around. Here is a typical visit-schedule to Abingdon by my wife and I, before kids and dogs:

Eat at the historic and very cool Martha Washington Inn directly across the street from the Barter. Walk about town to clear the zinfandel from the head. Go to the theater. Get up the next morning and ride The Virginia Creeper Trail, which begins in Abingdon's downtown, to Damascus and back. Here's more info on the Trail and you can rent bikes here near the trail head.

So, inasmuch as the powers-that-be continue to ignore Salt Lick and Jerry's jeremiads against a tourist-based economy for Southwest Virginia, and inasmuch as it's summer and we are supposed to have FUN in summer, Salt Lick urges all you NOVA and Eastern Virginia types to bring your money down and enjoy Virginia's Little Switzerland.

Here's the Barter schedule. Y'all come.