We were going a little stir crazy with all the snow and tried to plan a quick trip to Florida but it proved logistically not happening. Also, the thought of putting Miss H on a plane these days did not sound fun for anyone. We quickly surveyed the possibilities within a few hours of here and ended up picking Charlottesville, Virginia for closeness, less snow factor and availability of places to stay and things to see.
The plan was to leave after Hadley’s swim lesson on Saturday and come back on Monday afternoon. So, off we went to the pool but someone was not having any part of swimming. The problem is that the swimming lesson falls right in the middle of morning nap time so after the meltdown at the pool- the very nice swim lesson coordinator moved us into a later class starting next week. We left the pool shortly after we arrived and got on the road to Charlottesville.
Kerry left the hotel searching to me and after many recommendations- I picked the Clifton Inn. We stayed in the Blue Ridge Suite and luckily we had some extra room for Hadley to explore. Her favorite part was the one step that went from the hallway into the bedroom- I think she went up and down 1,000 times while we were there! If we never left the room- she would have been fully entertained by the one step.
And, we had our own entrance.
But, not to worry- we did leave the Inn. We explored downtown Charlottesville, visited Monticello and the Michie Tavern, enjoyed a nice dinner (without Hadley- she was happily sleeping and being watched by a very nice babysitter), had some other nice meals, Kerry got a massage and we just relaxed.
We went to downtown Charlottesville on Saturday afternoon and wandered through the shops and gave ourselves a tour of UVA. After the car ride- we all needed some fresh air and it was the warmest it had been in days. Then it was back to the Clifton Inn for the arrival of the babysitter and Kerry and I off to a nice dinner. The nice dinner was only a few steps away from our room 🙂 The dinner was several courses and very good! Of all the courses- our favorites were the pear and romano raviolis and the cheese platter but everything else was yummy too.
After a lovely breakfast at the Inn we headed to Jefferson’s Monticello. The grounds and home were very cool to see and the view was amazing. Jefferson definitely picked a nice place to build his home! Besides the tour guide being a total jerk- we had a nice time exploring the house, seeing all his gadgets, walking through the woods and just seeing all the outlying buildings. Kerry liked getting a $2 bill as part of his change from the gift shop.
After the house tour- we went down the road to the Michie Tavern and had fun wandering the tavern. Hadley had fun exercising her vocal chords. Luckily, the other visitors were amused by her noises and giggles.
By this point, Hadley was tired of history so it was off to get pizza. We were given the recommendation to try Christian’s Pizza- I love college towns because we got 3 huge slices of pizza and two drinks and it was $10. Kerry continues to point our how much cheaper it was than our previous evenings dinner 🙂 The place was packed and we could have picked everything from asparagus to avocados to red onions to broccoli to meatballs to italian sausage to whatever we desired on our pizza. It was great and we were boring- Kerry got pepperoni and I stuck with cheese but we were both happy.
We were exhausted from our day of exploring so it was back to the inn for an evening of catching up on the Olympics. Then we packed up this morning and headed to our last Clifton Inn breakfast. Yummy! Hadley turned 11 months today and her breakfast treat was fresh fruit cut into mini pieces. Our super nice waitress even found her a perfectly sized oyster fork just for her.
Our stay at the Clifton Inn was very nice- our room was nice, the staff was beyond nice and helpful, the dinner was very good, the grounds are beautiful and they have the best cookies I have ever had. Seriously, I might go back just for the cookies. We got delivered cookies before bedtime both nights and got a box to take home today. They are so good! Luckily, Kerry does not like chocolate and Hadley is too young for sweets- so they were all for me 🙂
We headed home today and along the way stopped at Luray Caverns. I had been there many, many years ago with Dad but I did not remember the place being so big! We had a great tour guide who pointed out all sorts of cool things and she was also amused by Hadley displaying her outside voice for the echo factor.
The path through the cavern is a little over a mile long and we got to see some cool formations.
We finally took the one and only family photo from this trip.
And, if you are looking for a unique wedding location- you can actually get married in the ‘chapel’ room of Luray Caverns with the Stalacpipe Organ playing the music. Hadley tried to compete with the music from the organ and had an interesting rendition of the sounds. Not sure if she has a musical future (50% of her genes come from a completely tone deaf family- luckily, Kerry is musical) but she sure loves to mimic the sounds!
Tomorrow it is back to work for me while Kerry enojys his break between jobs. All in all- we had a great time! we would definitely recommend a trip to Charlottesville and we have a list of things we would like to do on our next visit.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend!
all three of us 
