Philly may be The City of Brotherly Love, but Virginia is for Lovers! Our Spring Getaway numero dos was a weekend adventure in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Saturday, we went to visit James Madison’s Montpelier, which is located about 20 minutes from Charlottesville in Orange, Virginia. The home’s exterior underwent a massive renovation in 2008, and the curators are still working hard to re-construct the interior and appoint it so that it closely resembles the period when James and Dolley lived there. Like many of our founding fathers, Madison was basically broke when he died (thanks to his stepson, who liked to drink and gamble away the Madison wealth), and Dolley had to sale the mansion, furniture, slaves, etc. just to pay off the massive debt they had accumulated. 
Montpelier was sold in 1901 to the Du Pont family for $75,000. In today’s dollar, that is equivalent to approximately $1.4 Mil. Out of my price range, but a pretty sweet deal for 2700 acres and a 12,000 sq ft mansion!
We were famished after our tour, and made it back to Charlottesville just in time to be turned away by the acclaimed Take it Away Sandwich shop…..the kiddo behind the counter told us it closed at 3:00 pm. We were pretty bummed, especially when we looked at their website when we got back to DC and found out they really close at 4:00!!! SHADY! Regardless, we had a delightful sandwich at another cute restaurant, the Bellaire Market. Yuuumm, my mouth waters just thinking of it. Gourmet sandwiches served on fresh baked French bread with lots of interesting extras…… The restaurant is really cool because it is housed in an old Exxon station which has been converted into a trendy lunch stop for locals. It's apparently even a favorite spot for visiting celebs (so naturally we fit right in).
After re-fueling (no pun intended) we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the University of Virginia campus, which is just gorgeous. The Darden business school was like a mini-university in and of itself.
Saturday night we went to dinner at the Ivy Inn Restaurant to celebrate a very special occasion….Trav turned 27 on May 13th! Happy Birthday Hubby! The restaurant was cute, historic, and the food was elegant and well prepared. We headed down to the Pedestrian Mall after dinner for a leisurely stroll and dessert; fried banana bread with ice cream and caramel sauce.
Sunday we visited two more presidential residences: Ash Lawn, former home of James Monroe, and Monticello, former home of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello was incredible, lovely inside and out, and we really enjoyed learning about Mr. Jefferson and his country life.
After our tours, we spent a few more hours browsing around Charlottesville, and then headed home late Sunday afternoon. We wrapped up the trip with a visit to Wal-Mart (what a treat; we don’t have Wal-Mart stores in DC!) and a Dairy Queen burger. Life is good!
A study performed by the Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life concluded that people actually get a greater boost in “happiness” by planning a vacation vs. actually taking one. Not sure that I totally agree with the findings, but this Spring/Summer Trav and I are semi-testing that theory by taking several mini-vacations vs. one big vacation.
We spent the first weekend in May (which coincided with my 27th birthday, woo hoo) visiting Philadelphia, PA. Philly is only a short drive from DC, and in my opinion is the perfect place for a weekend getaway. We walked a countless number of miles, but saw so much of the city in 2 days, including UPenn and the Wharton Business School; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the National Constitution Center (of which we are now members, thanks to my adorably geeky husband who didn’t get his fill in one day!); the Liberty Bell; the famous Rocky Steps and Statue. We also had some amazing food: dinner at Matyson Friday night, lots of yummy samples from a variety of restaurants at the Rittenhouse Row Festival on Saturday, and my favorite for the weekend, dinner at Alma de Cuba Saturday night. We also had birthday brunch at Distrito Sunday morning, a Mexican restaurant by Iron Chef Jose Garces. I indulged in Tres Leches French toast, which was sinfully good! (For those of you unfamiliar with “Tres Leches”, it is Spanish for “three milks” and happens to be the name of my father’s favorite dessert, which he first tried when visiting me in Houston. Churrascos of Houston has by far the best Tres Leches Cake, but here is a link to a pretty tasty knock off recipe from the Pioneer Woman Blog.) But I digress….brunch was divine and it was all and all a great birthday weekend. 
April and May have been busy busy busy. I had to be in Knoxville on April 16th for the University of Tennessee Young Alumni Council’s bi-annual meeting. Although the meeting coincided with the Spring Young Alumni weekend and Orange and White football game, I skipped out on the festivities to spend some much needed time with my family and dear friends. I spent Thursday night with Travis’s sweet family, and got to see my adorable niece, sister, brother-in-law, and dear friend Valerie after my Friday meeting.
My wonderful parents (who are by far the best chauffeurs a girl could have) then whisked me away to Cookeville, where I spent some time with my cousin and grandmother. It was so nice to be “home” and see some of my favorite folks!
Before I flew out on Sunday, I got to meet my new “nephew”, the precious son of Lauren and Casey Beaman. Isn’t this little guy just a doll?! His name is Baylor and he is such a sweet baby.
