Quality Inn Charlottesville

Um....yeah. Red wine, pinot noir, is my new friend. Got rowdy with Aaron and Luca. Kelly and Ed made an appearance as well. Went to the UVA vs William and Mary because we got free tickets from a gentleman named Davies. He had walked in on us smoking and could not have been any cooler. And even though UVA lost we had fun anyway. Lots of ...

As we left Albany driving towards Charlottesville, i kept thinking how absurd it is that I have yet to ramble in my own backyard. I've lived in New York for years and yet, I've never traveled south of Philadelphia! Our first stop was Shepardstown, a beautiful college town with

Ooook, I am done with the summer research program! I gave my presentation for the last once time today at the Rotunda in front of all the faculty members and graduate students! I have finished packing! We all gathered in Mary's room and got all sentimental... but peace!

Of course, I was kidding when I said the highlight of my summer was a bottle of Efes. You guys were probably thinking, what about midnight viewing of the latest Harry Potter movie!?

That's right. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. Mary (the intern from UVA) and I bought the tickets a few weeks ago and even got a free song on iTunes. We made a trip to her friend's house to borrow ties, so we ...

... 8221; I mention my list of purchases because each one of these items will factor into the story in some way. Some of them were such excellent purchases that I couldn’t have done without them. However, many of these items were unused or a waste of money. There were other items I already owned and brought along on the trip that ended up being unused or worthless. If I can help somebody else to make a more informed decision before purchasing, I am glad.

... then took the shuttle up to Monticello... still a little early, so we walked around the garden area and took pictures around the observatory. And finally the 30-minute tour of the house began. Much of the historical background I already knew, but it was still cool to see the French influences in architectures, some of Jefferson's books, wine elevator, etc. All the rooms seemed very ergonomic.

I unfortunately could not snap ...

... at our usual Wendy's in Manassas, Va (were we always stop on I-66) and decided that the National Park just wasn't going to be a good idea for today.  So we pulled out the I-Phone and started looking for other activities to keep us busy till about 6pm, which was when our friends were expecting us.  

We picked a new route, route 29...it was a great scenic drive from Manasas to Charlottesville!  We ...

We finished DC touring and left around 1:00PM. Our ultimate destination today was Charleston, North Carolina, but we had to hit up this supposedly amazing road stand bbq joint. So we took a 2 hour excursion through the vast nothingness that is Virginia to secluded Charlottesville where Jinx's Pit Top BBQ is located. 3 Things went wrong. A- they close at 3PM and we arrived ...

... but a few more have trickled in throughout the night and I think the house is now full. One woman, Dee, is from California and is searching for a yoga community to live in on the east coast. She wants to pick our brains about Arizona and Utah tomorrow. After getting settled we walked down the street into downtown Charlottesville. It has a nice pedestrian street full of shops and ...

... for 6 from 10 on Saturday afternoon. Jules, Brian, myself and the two girls went off to watch our first live football game. It was lots of fun and reminded me a lot of school days and especially "derby days". All the STAB mums were standing on the pavilion, smacking spoons on pots and shouting for their team, reminding me of my own Mum, who also shouted from the side while I played hockey so many years ago now it seems. The Dads were all along the sideline ...