A Weekend in Charlottesville, VA
Last Saturday, Drew and I got up (relatively) early and made the 3-or-so hour drive to Charlottesville, VA to hang out with Aaron and Jaimie for the weekend. Drew had seen these two less than two months ago when he drove up to help them move into their new apartment, but my mom and sister were in Raleigh that weekend, so I missed out on that East Coast reunion. Consequently, a good, long double date was in order.
We got to Charlottesville just after noon, hungry and a little seasick from the narrow, winding roads that connect our apartment and theirs. So, first things first, we headed to a little Thai restaurant in The Corner, a string of restaurants and shops located across the street from the University of Virginia. The Corner is actually part of Charlottesville's historic district, and it definitely has that quaint-and-happening-downtown-in-a-little-city feel about it. Even (or especially) on a Saturday, the district was overflowing with students, making it a really fun and lively place to be. Lunch was delicious - we haven't been able to find Thai food in Raleigh yet, so in addition to having our favorite Asian-restaurant-going friends with us, the food itself was a real treat.
After lunch, we went back to get our cameras, so let the pictures begin. The weather was nearly perfect that day - fallish, but still really warm in the sunshine - so doing anything but wandering around Charlottesville on foot seemed like a waste. After The Corner, we got started with the campus of the University of Virginia, where Aaron goes to grad school. The campus is beautiful - all brick buildings with white trim; big, old trees; an expansive, green quad - everything you'd expect from an old, southern university.
After the Apple Barn, Jaimie fed us her signature beans and tacos for dinner, and then we headed out again to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall to meet up with some of their other friends and get dessert. The Downtown Mall is an outdoor, pedestrian mall with lots of neat stores and restaurants with outdoor seating. We got ice cream while everyone else got gellato, and then we all sat around outside talking for a while. The rest of our stay involved watching the new Star Trek, staying up too late, sleeping in, and waffles for breakfast. When Aaron and Jaimie left for church on Sunday afternoon, we got back on the road Raleigh-bound. In spite of its tendency to induce nausea at some points, the drive between Raleigh and Charlottesville is really enjoyable, so much so that the radio becomes little more than an annoying distraction from the scenery and sights. We made the drive in both directions in partial quiet, just chatting and watching the farm houses and trees go by. For whatever reason, our GPS brought us back a different way than we went, which was fine by us, since there was always something new to see.
I realized on our trip that Drew and Aaron have been constants in each other's lives for a while now, in multiple states and on multiple continents. They met in Argentina, were roommates in Provo, UT, and now they're both starting new phases of life on the east coast, just 3 hours apart. The next time we see Aaron and Jaimie, they'll be parents, having welcomed little Isabella into the world, and we're oh-so-excited for them. Although we certainly empathize with their feelings about being so far from their homes on the opposite coast, we're glad that our respective family paths have put us close enough to each other to make a few more good memories together.
We got to Charlottesville just after noon, hungry and a little seasick from the narrow, winding roads that connect our apartment and theirs. So, first things first, we headed to a little Thai restaurant in The Corner, a string of restaurants and shops located across the street from the University of Virginia. The Corner is actually part of Charlottesville's historic district, and it definitely has that quaint-and-happening-downtown-in-a-little-city feel about it. Even (or especially) on a Saturday, the district was overflowing with students, making it a really fun and lively place to be. Lunch was delicious - we haven't been able to find Thai food in Raleigh yet, so in addition to having our favorite Asian-restaurant-going friends with us, the food itself was a real treat.
After lunch, we went back to get our cameras, so let the pictures begin. The weather was nearly perfect that day - fallish, but still really warm in the sunshine - so doing anything but wandering around Charlottesville on foot seemed like a waste. After The Corner, we got started with the campus of the University of Virginia, where Aaron goes to grad school. The campus is beautiful - all brick buildings with white trim; big, old trees; an expansive, green quad - everything you'd expect from an old, southern university.
:: Monroe Hall - Aaron's econ building ::
:: Checking out a secret garden ::
:: On The Lawn, aka the central quad ::
:: Inside the Rotunda, designed by Thomas Jefferson himself ::
^This chemical chimney, remnant of an old lab, was discovered a few months ago during
Rotunda renovations. You just never know what's lurking inside the walls of old buildings. ^
:: Back on The Lawn, outside the Rotunda ::
After a good, long walking tour of the UVA campus, we got back in the car and headed just a short drive to Carter Mountain Orchard for some more time in the lovely out-of-doors. We skipped the apple picking and pumpkin patching, but we did invest in frozen apple ciders, which were both tasty and refreshing. We also soaked up great birds-eye views of the Charlottesville area and Appalachian foothills.
After the Apple Barn, Jaimie fed us her signature beans and tacos for dinner, and then we headed out again to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall to meet up with some of their other friends and get dessert. The Downtown Mall is an outdoor, pedestrian mall with lots of neat stores and restaurants with outdoor seating. We got ice cream while everyone else got gellato, and then we all sat around outside talking for a while. The rest of our stay involved watching the new Star Trek, staying up too late, sleeping in, and waffles for breakfast. When Aaron and Jaimie left for church on Sunday afternoon, we got back on the road Raleigh-bound. In spite of its tendency to induce nausea at some points, the drive between Raleigh and Charlottesville is really enjoyable, so much so that the radio becomes little more than an annoying distraction from the scenery and sights. We made the drive in both directions in partial quiet, just chatting and watching the farm houses and trees go by. For whatever reason, our GPS brought us back a different way than we went, which was fine by us, since there was always something new to see.
I realized on our trip that Drew and Aaron have been constants in each other's lives for a while now, in multiple states and on multiple continents. They met in Argentina, were roommates in Provo, UT, and now they're both starting new phases of life on the east coast, just 3 hours apart. The next time we see Aaron and Jaimie, they'll be parents, having welcomed little Isabella into the world, and we're oh-so-excited for them. Although we certainly empathize with their feelings about being so far from their homes on the opposite coast, we're glad that our respective family paths have put us close enough to each other to make a few more good memories together.
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