Vacation * ~ :)

Vacation : Sun, waves, music and laughs!

We had an amazing vacation and I wouldn't trade those times for anything. I'll give you the basics of how it all played out. We had a plan, but it was fairly fluid and ended up working out much better than originally planned. Pictures coming soon, I promise.

Thursday- We drove 8 hours to DC, went to Wolf Trap and saw the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile in concert. The Indigo Girls were amazing, as always; but honestly I had not heard Brandi before and was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved her sound. She was a great addition to Amy and Emily's incredibly tight harmony. I definitely have a new favorite song- Brandi Carlile's "The Story" is spectacularly raw and intense. I LOVE it! (Apparently it became well known because it was played on "Grey's Anatomy"... with music like that in the background, it must be a great show! Almost enough to make me want to get cable~ lol. Really though, give it a listen -> incredible lyrics, amazing voice -> doesn't get much better than that.

We bought the cd and got the t-shirt.... been there, done that... would definitely do it again!

You have to see/hear her-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_3bYXAsmM

Friday- We drove from our hotel in Fredericksburg a little more than 3 hours to Virginia Beach. We stayed at the old Cavalier Hotel on the strip across the street from the beach. We took a walk down the beach from our hotel and played in the ocean waves. She was scared that a jellyfish might get her and kept swearing that she saw something in the water, so she would only go in the waves with me if I let her hold on to me. It was so funny. There was a really strong undercurrent, though, and it made it more difficult to go out in the water than it was worth to me... so we were content just to splash around and get knocked down by the strong waves. We had a blast. Later that evening we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We left the hotel in search of crablegs and came upon a restaurant that had a patio looking out over the ocean. We enjoyed a seafood buffet of crab legs, boiled shrimp, fish, scallops, oysters, mussells and many other yummy seafood concoctions. I'm pretty sure I ate half my weight in crab legs and the other half in boiled shrimp. I tried to get her to try oysters, mussels and scallops, but she was doing well just eating her crab legs- which she only recently agreed to try and now LOVES! So, we had a great dinner and then went for a walk down the beach boardwalk. We played a couple of carnival games and watched the bustling crowds walk down the main drag. We saw street performers, 'interesting characters from all walks of life' and even a skinny girl on stilts... what next, we wondered? We walked all the way down the main street back to where we had passed a building with a skull on top of it... we decided that we had to get a picture of it for our little man, Brandon, who loves skeletons! We walked along the beach under the stars until we reached the area where we parked the car. Then we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed some ice cream to settle the over abundance of seafood we were attempting to digest. ;)

All in all... one of the best nights we have had since last summer in Santa Barbara.

Saturday- We checked out of our beautiful, old hotel and headed west to Charlottesville, VA. We met up with a friend for lunch at a little downtown sidewalk cafe. Then, we followed him to the mansion that he is housesitting this summer and relaxed a little. We attended an opera at a local festival and returned back to our private quarters in the beautiful mansion. We visited with friends and played a little pool. It was a laid back day and we enjoyed relaxing together.

Sunday- We hung out at the mansion, swam in the pool, had a late breakfast, visited with friends and then all caravaned to lunch. We went to a really interesting restaurant that served South African food and I, of course, wanted to try it all but settled for ordering the sampler which included a little bit of everything that interested me on the menu. I had some really amazing food and it made me miss living in the city. It's impossible to find an eclectic menu much less anything remotely ethnic or authentic. This was a real treat. And, although I got myself into some curry that was so hot I went through three glasses of water, I couldn't stop myself from finishing it off because it was soooo good. I also had a few dishes that went really well with the peanut sauce and some stuffed mushrooms to die for. All around, best meal I've had in a long time. Car packed, mints in hand and a bottle of water on my mind, we headed back for I-64 that would take us home. It was a beautiful drive and we had a great time talking, singing, laughing and goofing off. We drove through a beautiful thunderstorm (that was actually threatening tornadoes and hail) outside of Charleston, WV but the rest of our trip was smooth and we arrived back home in good spirits and well worn around 11:30pm.

I am so glad that we were able to get away. It made me realize how much I love traveling and it also made me wish there was a way to live in the present without having to use the present to prepare for the future. I'm working on that. I'll let you know how it goes because lately, it's all I can think about. More on that later.

Amazing vacation~ best time in a long time. I definitely recommend running away from it ALL sometimes... everyone deserves some down time without worry, commitment, and stress.

I will post pictures of our adventures as soon as possible. Enjoy. Please comment. If you have ideas for great vacation... let me hear them. Next time I get a wild hair to do this again, I may need your input.