Almost heaven, West Virginia,
Blue ridge mountain, Shenandoah river,
Life is old there, older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
...
- John Denver
Tonight we are in West Virginia and today we traveled country roads most of the day - just the way we like!
Let me back up a bit. After we left our son and his family, we went to Charlottesville, VA to visit a good friend. Y is doing well and we enjoyed catching up. We enjoyed dinner at Bella's! Everything is served family style and the servings are huge. We had garlic bread, gorgonzola grilled salad ( grilled romaine lettuce salad), ragu bolognese, and tiramisu. If we lived close, we would just work our way through the menu!
While in Charlottesville, we did stop by Cottonwood, a great quilt shop with some very nice ladies working. I didn't buy much but I did enjoy seeing all of their sample quilts.
We also spent some time shopping in the Historic Downtown Mall. I found a great yarn shop, The Needle Lady. I restrained myself and didn't buy any yarn!
We stayed at The Suite @ Caty Lane , an airbnb.com rental. We were in the carriage house and it was so luxurious - we were spoiled with treats chocolate chunk cookies, croissants, Greek yogurt, sparkling water, apples, bananas,... and extra touches. We'd love to return there again.
Yesterday we drove to Durham to visit the rest of Y's family - A, J, K, and L. This family is separated geographically due to work right now and we pray that will change one day soon. We had a great visit but it is never long enough. We are hoping that next time we can see them all together on a weekend rather than a school night.
While getting caught up on things, we ate at Chai's Noodle Bar and Bistro. It was another amazing meal. I had Thai noodle salad with chicken. I really wish I could duplicate it! After dinner, J was really hungry for Krispy Kremes so she and Ray picked up some on their way back to the house. Warm doughnuts are so good!!!
We found a new place to stay while in Durham - another airbnb.com rental. This place is in the country, just outside of the city. Our apartment was above the garage. We loved being in the country and did not have enough time to explore the whole place so we have to go back!
The trees are changing and we have enjoyed some beautiful days this week. As much as we'd love to drive country roads tomorrow, we have to compromise because we need to arrive in Champaign, Illinois sometime Sunday afternoon. So I think we are going to drive a different route and try to avoid cities.
Sounds like Airbnb has worked out well for you. It sounds like they all had food/snacks for you. I guess maybe because otherwise they wouldn't really qualify as a "bnb"? I have to say that seeing your back road trips, I wonder about trying that when we travel. Unfortunately, we're usually in just too big a hurry to get to our destination (the beach!!!) that we give in to the highways. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou find some of the best looking places to stay and eat! Thanks for taking us along and safe travels to you.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that your trip is progressing splendidly!
ReplyDelete