A Trip to Virginia

Gary and Jenny gave us more than enough reason to venture to Charlottesville, VA...they decided to have their simple, yet beautiful wedding there over Memorial Day weekend.  Not sure how they ordered up the weather to be in the mid-70's each day nothing but sunshine.

Andrew and I dropped Joel off with my parents (where he learned to drive my dad's mid-life crisis) in GA then drove to VA.  Only problem...the A/C in my car went out when driving to GA.  Good news was that it was the coolest it had been in weeks.  Bad news was that we had to get up at 3:30am (CST) to drive home from VA and from GA to MS.  Those were some super early morning.  Oh and we had to replace the entire A/C system.  After 140,000 miles, I will take a new A/C system as my first major expense with my car.  We also managed the trip with Joel and Tucker in the back seat of my car.  Don't you know people were laughing at us.

Anyway, we had a blast hanging out in Charlottesville.  It is a very walkable city if you stay in the UVA/Downtown area.  We stayed halfway between campus and "downtown", which was also a block from Gary and Jenny's house and less than a mile to all the wedding activities.  We had a great, small dinner on Friday night.  Then on Saturday morning, Jenny talked a group of us into running a 5K.  In an apple orchard.  Through the orchard, not on a road.  Up a mountain.  We survived, but I'm not sure how.  Andrew and I spent the afternoon with his parents visiting James Monroe's house and another orchard.  It was beautiful!

The very small wedding was at the UVA Chapel then we moved to the reception and partied the night away.  You know Andrew and I do not stay out late.  We shut the place down with Gary and Jenny at 1am.  Insane.  But so much fun.  Nothing like a wedding with 50 of your closest friends and family.  The food was great, the beer was cold, the "Slo-Mo" booth was a blast, the bacon cupcakes were incredible, and Andrew danced.  That was a good night.

Sunday, they arranged for us to go on a guided wine tour of two vineyards.  Andrew actually enjoyed tasting the wines and found a few that he likes!

If you are thinking about a weekend away, Charlottesville is an awesome spot.  Reasonable priced, the local food is fantastic, and there is plenty of things to do (3 President's homes to visit, not far from Appomattox, tons of wineries).