BLACKSBURG & CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

THE STAY

We arrived at the Holiday Inn to find out our reservations were randomly cancelled. How bizarre is that? We tried to find another hotel, but all the hotels were booked because everyone is in town to see the game. They did finally figure everything out, although we were not off to the best start!

DINNER / BREAKFAST

It was getting late so we went to the Red Lobster by the hotel. They had the best bread, EVER!

We also went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We usually go here or to IHOP depending on where we are located. Cracker Barrel's in the south are the best. Did anyone say biscuits and gravy?? YUM.

THE GAME - Virgina Tech (vs. Florida St.) - Lane Stadium / Worsham Field

Some fun facts from wiki! VA Tech was ranked #1 in homefield advantage in all of football in 2005. They were also ranked #2 on ESPN's "Top 10 Scariest Places To Play." It is also at the highest elevation of any Division I football subdivision in the eastern US.

We decided to walk around Virgina Tech's campus and check it out before the game. This is where to school shooting was back in 2007. So sad, they have a memorial for all the people that lost their lives. Its a nice campus overall, parking to get to the game was a little bit crazy!

The game was a lot of fun, people love their football here! The mascot is funny looking, its a maroon colored turkey with bright orange feet. Its suppose to be a wild turkey, which is called a hokie. So if you hear people shouting Go Hokies!!, you know what they are talking about!

The coolest thing I've seen to start off any game was here in Blackburg. They have this traditional called the "Blackburg Bounce". The team comes out to the song "Enter to Sandman" (Metallica Song) and the entire stadium just jumps up and down. Its the CRAZIEST thing we've ever seen at a game, you can't help but get caught up in the spirit of everything. If you go to see a game here and don't have fun, then you are probably dead!

They also fire a cannon ball after each score, and have fireworks go off next to their big board. We ate the stadium food, and routed for the home team!! Unfortunately VA Tech lost, but we still had fun! The final score was 22-28. Greg was all happy because he won his bet (he had VA Tech +13.5).

THE STAY

After seeing the game at VA Tech, we packed up and headed off for Charlottesville. We stayed at the Courtyard. Much better overall experience than the first hotel!

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S HOME - MONTICELLO

This is like getting a real up-close and personal view of Jefferson - way more so than reading about him in history books.

People were definitely shorter back then! His bed was small! They won't let you take pictures inside the house, although you can find a bunch online. He actually passed a way in his bed.

He tended to (way) overspend, had slaves and seemed to be a "keeping up with the Jones' type. He passed away with a ton of debt.

They restored the rooms as close to the originals as they could. They even got a wallpaper company that is still in business today to reproduce a wallpaper that was in one of the bedrooms.

They also tried to keep paint colors as accurate as possible. There is a paint by Ralph Lauren called "Monticello Yellow" that they use it in the livingroom. It makes the entire room pop. They had the paint put in in February 2010. Before 2010, the walls used to be a blue color. They suspected the color was not accurate, and after a bunch of analysis they discovered the yellow, hence Ralph Lauren's Monticello Yellow!

Outside you'll see beautiful views of rolling mountains, you'll see the gardens and the areas the slaves worked (he had a "slave roll"). If you walk down to the cemetery, you'll find Thomas Jefferson's gravestone. It looks like the Washington Monument. Its huge!

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINA - CARL SMITH CENTER

The game was great, and well - U of VA won, which definitely helps!!! They are known as the Cavaliers! This is the only stadium I've ever been to where you can rush the field. For the record and technically, you are not suppose to, but well, who cares??

In front of the big board there is open grass the goes right onto the field. This is the student section. The Cavaliers won by scoring in the final seconds of the game. The crowd went wild!!!

The police tried stand in front of the student section to keep them from going onto the field. It didn't last long! The students stormed the field! The officers finally gave up and moved out of the way.

We were watching from the stands. Technically you can get arrested for running on a field, but well, there is safety in numbers! Plus, when else would we get a chance to do that?? I went to jump over the side of the stands first (you had to jump b/c they had stadium workers blocking the stairs to the field). I looked down, and well - its a lot farther down that it looked a few seconds ago! I sat on the edge and jumped, and made it to the ground in one piece.

Greg was behind me and decided not to sit and jumped off the edge from a full stand. Problem was, the ground was a little slippery! After that he was seeing stars for a while. We did manage to get a great picture of us on the field, with the scoreboard in the background. After that, I had to keep an eye on Greg because he was not looking so good!!

In the end we decided it was totally worth it. We stormed the field at the University of Virgina!!!

MORE FOOD

We had a not so great experience already with a restaurant in Charlottesville, so we were skeptical of online reviews. It was pretty bad, even the pasta wasn't cooked right for Greg, and my scallops were raw. When I sent them back, they tried to tell me that they are suppose to be raw and its a Sushi-scallop. Seriously? I'm not in the mood to end up at the hospital! Last time I checked, pan seared scallops are suppose to be cooked. Never going back to that place - bad food and bad service and overpriced! I'd avoid the Tavola. They must be giving themselves all of those ratings because it doesn't make sense!

We ate at an amazing French restaurant, Fluerie. They had the best apple tart we've ever had. Everything we ate was amazing. I'd highly recommend this place. They cooked everything perfectly, and the food was sooo good! Great service and great food! Would love to go back on a food trip and stop here for their apple tart!!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I always have fun in VA. Even when we lived outside of DC in VA it was fun. I give both teams a thumbs up! Highlights of the trip were definitely the "Blacksburg Bounce" and rushing the field at the University of VA. Oh, and Fluerie, I could eat their food everyday! Monticello, super neat to see it. Learned a lot about Jefferson!