Day 6 - Knoxville, TN

Today, Monday, we drove to Veritas Winery in Charlottesville before we left and had ourselves a little wine tasting of reds and whites. I admit it, it was like 11 am in the morning, but hey, it's always 5:00 somewhere right?? ;)

We ended up buying 4 bottles of delish wine to take home and we got a tour of their winery facilities






After the winery we drove to Knoxville and stopped at this ice cream parlor along the way.

It was a sweet little small town ice cream parlor and it was yummy!

We were in the middle of a very foggy area while we drove and it was crazy to see this white nothingness when we knew there was a huge valley/cliff off to the right. Kinda creepy!



We ate at this Downtown Brewery for dinner in Knoxville. It was recommended and turned out to be good. After dinner, we went to the movies (right next door to the restaurant!) to see the new X-Men movie.

Day 5 - Charlottesville, VA

We drove to Charlottesville on Sunday and ate at a little diner with yummy hamburgers and fries for lunch. Then, we did the tour of Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's home which was very cool. Yes - it was rainy ALL day and we were not prepared - or should I say I was not prepared for the crappy weather. I wore my white skirt and flip flops because when we left Norfolk it was nice and sunny. Then, we got to Charlottesville which was rainy and cold. We didn't have time to change so I just sucked it up (which for those of you who truly know me that is HARD for me to do sometimes, but I put my "big girl panties" on and had fun anyway!)


Good ole Thomas Jefferson and I had a moment with one another. I think I was way more into it than he was...shame. (that is trey's coat hanging on my shoulders - i was freezing!) ;)


Trey and Mr. Jefferson were having a very intellectual and serious conversation.

Jefferson's grave site

A very large area in which the estate grows everything you can imagine! Veggies, herbs, and all sorts of neat items.

Gorgeous flowers in the garden area

I want these in my front yard!

The back of Monticello

The front of Monticello

Front...

We took Kaitlin's suggestion and ate at Escafe for dinner which was fantastic (we did not have a single bad meal on our trip - pretty amazing!)

We tried their version of Mint Julep and it was to die for - we ordered two each! Mmmm...

Day 4 - Norfolk, VA

Wedding Day! We ate at No Frill restaurant which Kaitlin suggested in Norfolk and it was super tasty! This is the dessert we got to-go, Trey's favorite: Carrot cake!

The ceremony started at 5:30 pm so we drove around during the day and did some sight seeing. Then we came back to the hotel to get ready and we set off to find the church.

This Church was gorgeous outside as well as inside. Breathtaking! (I borrowed a couple of pics from Molly's facebook page because once again, I did not get a picture of the church or a couple of other things. Thanks Molly! :) )

It was a beautiful ceremony and Kaitlin looked perfect - such a glowing and beautiful Bride. I was honored to be there for their special day.

Here they are! The Happy Bride and Groom! (also courtesy of Molly)

This is Molly and Robin Poullath - our new friends!

Here we are at the wedding.

Kaitlin and I

The reception was so much fun! It was held at the naval base and it was beautifully decorated with pretty flower arrangements and her colors: green and chocolate were perfect (don't you just love those color choices?) We met more people at our table and had fun eating yummy food, drinking drinks (gin and tonic for me!) and listening to great music and dancing. It was so much fun to watch all of their families and friends get on the dance floor :)

It was then time for the Bride and Groom to take their exit and we stood outside with our large sparklers in hand as they walked down the lighted path to their limo. Ahhhhh - I LOVE weddings! It was so perfect :)


This is a photo of Kaitlin and I are my Rehearsal Dinner June 29, 2007. This was the first time we had seen each other since Montreat 12 years ago!!!

Day 3 - Norfolk

On Friday we drove to Norfolk, VA where Kaitlin lives and where her wedding would be. On our way, we used the fabulous Garmin and asked it for food suggestions and there were many restaurants on this little street in Lexington, VA. We drove down it and it literally felt (and looked like) a street from the movie Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. It was AMAZING and full of history! All of the buildings were so old - yet so cute - and there were little shops and cafes all up and down this road. We randomly picked this place called Bistro on Main and it turned out to be the best meal on our entire trip!

I had the quiche of the day and a yummy salad with goat cheese, fruit, and nuts drizzled in a poppy seed dressing (to die for!) and Trey had the crab cake special which he loved. We shared a slice of key lime pie for dessert and it was the best key lime we have ever had! YUM! :) We were so impressed with the service as well. It was a great experience! The crazy thing is that I am sure there are MANY little towns like this that are all over the US with cute little Bistros that are tucked away for locals and the occasional tourist. We were so glad we stopped there to eat.

We made our way to Norfolk, VA after lunch and we did run into some traffic caused by an accident. Surprisingly, this was the only day on our vacation that we ran into traffic - how lucky is that?

Two pics as we are going over a bridge into Norfolk. Amazing views - so pretty!


This is the Rehearsal Dinner invite for Kaitlin and Ray and I am so upset I did not get a single picture of anyone on Friday evening at the dinner. (what was I thinking?!)

But we had a blast and it was so great to see Kaitlin and meet Ray and her family/friends. How special it was to be there and share this wonderful event with them. They sat at our table and we got to catch up a little during dinner. We also met another great couple: Molly and Robin from the DC area (Northern VA) and they were super sweet and we hit it off immediately. I told the story of how Kaitlin and I met at Montreat, NC when we were in 9-10th grade at a church retreat and we have written snail mail letters ever since - so for around 12 years about once a month or two months we send a letter and write about our lives and ask for prayer requests. It has been an amazing friendship and I am so blessed to have her in my life. :)

Day 2 - Nashville

We ate at our first White Castle and it was quite tasty! They cook their burgers on a bed of onions so they are steamed not grilled. It was pretty interesting because you could see the burgers cooking from a window into the kitchen. They are a lot like Krystal burgers but taste different. And they have crinkle fries which I love!

We went to the Belle Meade Plantation to take a tour and it was neat - we spent a couple of hours there and got some good pics. I just love touring historic homes, it is so neat to learn about the past. This particular plantation was the home of famous racing horses. Some of the best winners (like Seabiscuit) can be traced back to bloodlines of the horses that lived at Belle Meade - how cool is that? ;)

After the tour we drove to Roanoke, VA and stayed at a Doubletree there as well. It was surprisingly nice and very historic. We didn't expect much from Roanoke because it seemed small online - but it was gorgeous and the hotel was so neat! We didn't arrive until late Thursday night, but enjoyed our stay nonetheless. :)

ROAD TRIP!!! First Stop - Nashville, TN

Trey and I just got back from a vacation which was one of the best trips we have ever taken! My dear friend (and longtime penpal) Kaitlin got married this past weekend and we decided to make a road trip vacation since she lives in Norfolk, Virginia and we have never been there before. We borrowed a Radar Detector (ours are broken) and a Garmin from Bruce, rented a car from Enterprise, and set off to Nashville!

These two devices SAVED us on our trip! Mainly the Garmin which is a Godsend - I don't know how we survived before it - it is easily the best invention EVER - and happens to be my new BFF :)

So, on our way to Nashville, of course I needed some Starbucks and we got the little Garmin and asked it where a nearby Starbucks was. It found one and charted a new route for us. Well, it looked like it was very close by (might I add that this was BEFORE we realized that the arrows pointing downward mean you back to backtrack to the location) so we followed its directions. Well, 25 minutes later we are driving down little bitty two lane roads in tiny towns and we went WAY off track. We finally rounded the corner of a Farm and the clouds parted and there it was - Starbucks!! We pulled into the parking lot and raced to the drive-thru and then we saw it... there was nothing on the drive-thru boards. It was completely empty - and closed! We couldn't believe it - hopefully it had just closed a few weeks prior, but still. I was devastated and the only thing we saw was a McDonald's across the street. So - we went in and ordered two McCafe Mochas (they looked at us kinda funny when we ordered Venti, non-fat, no whip mochas) so we got large full fat mochas with whipped cream. Lovely. Anyway, we learned our lesson about the arrows on the Garmin.

The closed Starbucks - Boo

Mickey D's Mocha - not too tasty

We made it to Tennessee!!

We stayed at Doubletree in Nashville our first night which was very nice!

Meghan lives in Nashville now so she picked us up at the hotel and we went to an Italian Dinner downtown and then we walking and ended up at a bar for drinks.

Meghan and I

Yummy Shots! hey, we are on Vacation :)

Trey and I found this crazy large guitar - whoa!

It's ELVIS!

Trey, me, and Meghan

We had so much fun hanging out with Meghan and appreciate her showing us downtown Nashville! A fantastic start to our vacay!