Due to having an Aunt and Uncle living in Harrisonburg on the west side of the state I've spent quite a bit of time in Virgina. Trips consisted of hikes on the Appalachian Trail to visiting Presidential Plantations. Then there's Williamsburg and completely re-created colonial town. If you are studying in the South the University of Virginia is a great road trip destination. The University, designed by Thomas Jefferson, is a heritage site and also home to fraternity mansions and secret societies like the 7s, the IMPs, and a few others.
CHARLOTTESVILLE
Charlottesville is a quintessential college town along the same lines as a Chapel Hill or Ann Arbor. The town has a distinction as a UNESCO World Heritage site because of how well Thomas Jefferson designed the University of Virginia (although in my opinion UVA's Lawn doesn't compare to Wake Forest's Quad). The most prestigious rooms on UVA's campus are located on the lawn and come with their own rocking chair. The Corner is the prime dining and nightlife area right off the campus. The Virginian makes a great grilled cheese sandwich and GRIT Coffee around the corner is a good place for a caffeine fix.
Charlottesville is a quintessential college town along the same lines as a Chapel Hill or Ann Arbor. The town has a distinction as a UNESCO World Heritage site because of how well Thomas Jefferson designed the University of Virginia (although in my opinion UVA's Lawn doesn't compare to Wake Forest's Quad). The most prestigious rooms on UVA's campus are located on the lawn and come with their own rocking chair. The Corner is the prime dining and nightlife area right off the campus. The Virginian makes a great grilled cheese sandwich and GRIT Coffee around the corner is a good place for a caffeine fix.
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MONTICELLO
Monticello was Thomas Jefferson's house and the design reflects his intellectual curiosity. The plantation is a ten minute drive from Charlottesville and has a new (to me anyway) visitor center. A $20 entrance fee includes a shuttle ride up to the mansion and a forty-five minute tour through the first floor. I like Jefferson's "office" and his letter copying machine.
Monticello was Thomas Jefferson's house and the design reflects his intellectual curiosity. The plantation is a ten minute drive from Charlottesville and has a new (to me anyway) visitor center. A $20 entrance fee includes a shuttle ride up to the mansion and a forty-five minute tour through the first floor. I like Jefferson's "office" and his letter copying machine.
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WINCHESTER
Winchester, Virginia is an hour north on I-81 from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where an Aunt and Uncle live. I’ve been to Harrisonburg numerous times without a stop in Winchester, which turned out to be a pretty cool stop. I can only imagine my family hasn’t made a stop here in the past because, hey we were an hour away so let’s keep driving, but I liked the pedestrian walking street that was lined with restaurants, bars, and shops – there’s not enough of these old town walking streets in America. The Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum is in the center of this Old Winchester strip.
I stopped at a Target where about half the shoppers were wearing masks.
Winchester, Virginia is an hour north on I-81 from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where an Aunt and Uncle live. I’ve been to Harrisonburg numerous times without a stop in Winchester, which turned out to be a pretty cool stop. I can only imagine my family hasn’t made a stop here in the past because, hey we were an hour away so let’s keep driving, but I liked the pedestrian walking street that was lined with restaurants, bars, and shops – there’s not enough of these old town walking streets in America. The Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum is in the center of this Old Winchester strip.
I stopped at a Target where about half the shoppers were wearing masks.
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LURAY
Luray, Virginia, which I have visited before (to see caverns), is located in the western foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I targeted a microbrewery but the town was a little underwhelming so I moved on to Elkton, Virginia, a similar town thirty minutes south.
Luray, Virginia, which I have visited before (to see caverns), is located in the western foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I targeted a microbrewery but the town was a little underwhelming so I moved on to Elkton, Virginia, a similar town thirty minutes south.
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ELKTON
Elkton was similarly underwhelming BUT there was Elkton Brewing – you drop a good brewery in a town, that has a nice setting, that serves good food…and it turns underwhelming into awesome. I loved Elkton. I could have sat on the front patio of Elkton Brewing all night.
Elkton was similarly underwhelming BUT there was Elkton Brewing – you drop a good brewery in a town, that has a nice setting, that serves good food…and it turns underwhelming into awesome. I loved Elkton. I could have sat on the front patio of Elkton Brewing all night.
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ROANOKE
A theme of this trip is to visit the places that are slightly out of the way, places I’ve wanted to check out, primarily out of curiosity rather than a specific site, but due to time constraints, etc. I continued past to my primary destination. Enter Roanoke. I’ve driven past the I-581 exit for Roanoke numerous times and finally decided to stop for breakfast on this trip. Scrambled was located in the town’s City Market section and a quick walk around this area before the restaurant officially opened was all it took to like Roanoke. Roanoke’s population grew post WWII but unlike other cities along the Blue Ridges the population has held steady around 100,000 for the past seventy years. Roanoke has some substance, some business still operating in the city center.
As for attractions? I settled for a drive up to the Mill Mountain Star which had a lookout of the city below.
A theme of this trip is to visit the places that are slightly out of the way, places I’ve wanted to check out, primarily out of curiosity rather than a specific site, but due to time constraints, etc. I continued past to my primary destination. Enter Roanoke. I’ve driven past the I-581 exit for Roanoke numerous times and finally decided to stop for breakfast on this trip. Scrambled was located in the town’s City Market section and a quick walk around this area before the restaurant officially opened was all it took to like Roanoke. Roanoke’s population grew post WWII but unlike other cities along the Blue Ridges the population has held steady around 100,000 for the past seventy years. Roanoke has some substance, some business still operating in the city center.
As for attractions? I settled for a drive up to the Mill Mountain Star which had a lookout of the city below.
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RICHMOND
Circa 2017/2018 Lonely Planet wrote a blurb about Scott’s Addition being this hip, cool neighborhood in Richmond. The seed was planted. I made it here in 2021 and I understand Lonely Planet’s glowing review. Maybe I should have gone on a microbrewery hop tour the night I arrived. I didn’t. I’m not feeling too regretful about that.
Circa 2017/2018 Lonely Planet wrote a blurb about Scott’s Addition being this hip, cool neighborhood in Richmond. The seed was planted. I made it here in 2021 and I understand Lonely Planet’s glowing review. Maybe I should have gone on a microbrewery hop tour the night I arrived. I didn’t. I’m not feeling too regretful about that.
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I do regret not seeing Richmond earlier. I’ve driven past the city waaaaay to many times to not stop. And what an easy stop it is. You either eat breakfast (The Dairy Bar Diner) or lunch or dinner (Supper) in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood. Then zig, zap, loop around this neighborhood to the Arthur Ashe monument. Then drive down the rest of Monument Avenue to see what remains of the Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis (which contains the following: “Exponent of Constitutional Principles” and “Defender of the Rights of States” not “White Supremacist and Traitor to the United States” because we as a country embrace Lost Cause narratives and can’t teach the actual facts of our country’s racist past…I digress), Robert E. Lee (which was still up as of June 2021), and J.E.B. Stuart monuments (which are all in a really nice part of town who’s residents should have taken these monuments down waaaay before protestors got to them). Then down Broad Sheet then a left on 11th Street to try and find the White House of the Confederacy which is now surrounded by the VCU Medical Center.
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WILLIAMSBURG
It was 11 am and the humidity was brutal. There was no shade. It was a very, very quick visit to the Duke of Gloucester Street and Colonial Williamsburg but a mental note was made that whenever we do visit Williamsburg with kids it will be during the Spring or Fall.
It was 11 am and the humidity was brutal. There was no shade. It was a very, very quick visit to the Duke of Gloucester Street and Colonial Williamsburg but a mental note was made that whenever we do visit Williamsburg with kids it will be during the Spring or Fall.
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YORKTOWN
It was 12 pm and the humidity was brutal. There was no shade. It was a very, very quick visit to Yorktown. There’re some fortifications. There’s a Victory Column. There’s an historical Yorktown town area which seems to be a quasi-beach side resort as the people we saw were carrying inner tubes and walking to a beach front area on the York River. I was expecting there to be just a little more here. It is a large, park like setting and that had me thinking there’d be more to drive around and see, similar to Valley Forge. But other than the fortifications, victory column, and two museums, there’s not much to the actual battlefield
It was 12 pm and the humidity was brutal. There was no shade. It was a very, very quick visit to Yorktown. There’re some fortifications. There’s a Victory Column. There’s an historical Yorktown town area which seems to be a quasi-beach side resort as the people we saw were carrying inner tubes and walking to a beach front area on the York River. I was expecting there to be just a little more here. It is a large, park like setting and that had me thinking there’d be more to drive around and see, similar to Valley Forge. But other than the fortifications, victory column, and two museums, there’s not much to the actual battlefield
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