Month: August 2017

Things I May Have Or May Not Have Said To The Clerk At Our Hotel This Weekend, The List:

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  1. We have reservations for tonight.  I booked through Expedia.
  2. Wait, what?  How can my reservation be cancelled?
  3. Look right here, on my phone–do you need my reading glasses to see this?–a confirmation from Expedia.  There’s the number.  There’s the paragraph stating that you will charge my credit card if I don’t show up.  I did show up.  I need my room.
  4. This is so f#@%ed up.
  5. And this is the thanks I get for supporting a small business versus a chain hotel.
  6. This is race weekend.  The closest available room may be an hour away in Raleigh.  Do you want to come with me as I break this news to my husband? It ain’t gonna be pretty.
  7. Wait, what?  I am one of many cancelled reservations?  Don’t you find that odd? Seriously, do you any common sense at all?  It’s race weekend–all the rooms around here have been booked for months.
  8. Ooooh, I am going to write a nasty review on TripAdvisor.
  9. So, do you have any non-smoking rooms available?
  10. A single?  A. Single.  Single?  Is that a twin mattress?
  11. This is rural North Carolina and we just drove by at least ten tobacco farms in the past ten minutes.  There is no damned way that your smoking rooms don’t smell bad.
  12. You’d better the hell give me a real good price on that single room.  And give me free breakfast.
  13. Husband and I haven’t shared a full-sized mattress since early in our marriage–and we both definitely take up more space than we did all those years ago, but OK, I guess we are taking the single room.
  14. I am going to need a stiff drink with my supper.
  15. Yeah, you have a good evening as well.

Things I Tell My Out-of-Town Guests About Charlottesville, The List:

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  1. When you book your ticket to come out here to Virginia, make sure it's for CharlottesVILLE and not just Charlotte, because people mix those up all the time and Charlotte is in freaking North Carolina, for heaven's sake.
  2.  Yeah, we know Founding Father Thomas Jefferson had his flaws, but he is nonetheless our hero and the most famous person to ever call Charlottesville home.
  3. Thomas Jefferson's estate–Monticello–and the university he founded here–the University of Virginia– are together a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Pretty impressive, huh?
  4. When you visit Monticello, be sure you take a selfie in front of the side of the building that you see on the nickel.  And then, every time you use a nickel after that, you will be reminded of Charlottesville.  Pretty cool, huh?
  5. If you pay for Monticello admission in cash, they will give you a two-dollar-bill with Jefferson on it.  It's legal tender, trust me, although it kinda looks like play money.
  6. I once almost hit Dave Matthews when he jay-walked in front of my car right in front of Barnes and Noble.  And I once stood in line behind Sissy Spacek at Whole Foods.
  7. Although our post  office address says "Charlottesville" and although our subdivision is right off the main commercial drag, we actually live in Albemarle County.  And the central grounds of the University of Virginia are in Albemarle County.  And the city government is not a subset of the county, but its own legal entity.  But one- tenth of one percent of our county taxes go to the city.  Go figure.  It's complicated.
  8. The Downtown Mall is almost entirely a pedestrian mall, so don't think you can drive on it.  There are a couple streets that do cross over the mall, but you have to be super-careful and proceed super-slowly, because people are walking along and generally not paying attention to cars.
  9. We were there, at the end of the Downtown Mall, to see and hear President Obama a few years ago. Lots of security, but we never felt threatened. It was awesome.
  10. Parking downtown is a bitch.  And so is parking near the university.
  11. It's sort of expected that you complain about the traffic on 29 North. And we do.  But really, it's nothing compared to driving in northern Virginia or in any big metropolitan area.
  12. The staff at UVA Hospital saved my husband's life, so we are always so grateful that we ended up living nearby.
  13. You have to eat at Bodo's Bagels at least once during your visit.  Totally affordable, totally delicious.
  14. There are way too many wineries and breweries around here for you to visit in a short time.  But we will be happy to accompany you to as many as possible.
  15. Make sure you notice the gorgeous mountains that surround us.  In less than thirty minutes from our house, you can be in Shenandoah National Park. Two hours to our nation's capital city, a bit over an hour to Richmond, and three and a half hours to the ocean.  
  16. Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County have gone "blue" in the past four Presidential elections.  Just sayin'.
  17. Charlottesville was a great place to raise our kids. We have absolutely no regrets about settling down here.  The area is beautiful, the schools are top-notch, the cultural activities are plentiful, and the restaurants are awesome. The people are kind and generous, and you will find lots of diversity and progressive-thinking. We are passionate about the good of our community, and we are strong enough to conquer any adversity that comes into our community.  nickel viewW