The drive to Charlottesville was cluttered with historical site signs. Some of them might have been interesting, but pulling into a ditch on the side of the highway to read them wasn’t high on my priority list. There is also a Civil War battlefield trail that crisscrosses the area. I would have found that to be fun, but Katie made it clear that Civil War battlefields were an inappropriate activity for her birthday weekend. There was also a collection of wineries along the way that would probably be fun when the weather was warmer.

We arrived in Charlottesville Saturday afternoon and headed straight to Monticello – the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was very important we visited Monticello on Saturday because on Sunday the “spring/summer” season began and ticket prices went up by $5. I already wasn’t happy about having to pay $15 per person – $20 would probably have put me in a foul mood. As it was, I think I was able to tweak out $15 of fun to make the experience worthwhile.

I have been to Monticello before as a child, but remember nothing of the experience. Obviously it didn’t make an impression – either positive or negative. Monticello is probably teetering on the edge of what I call a “fun-neutral” location. Typically these are interesting places that are a bit too expensive/hot/crowded/etc. for you to come home and write an extensive blog about what a great time you had. That said, there’s not much I can add to Monticello that you can’t read on their website or wikipedia entry.

After Monticello we wandered around downtown Charlottesville. Downtown has a nice feel, or rather it will have a nice feel when they finish construction on the street. The downtown area is a pedestrian-only street about 4-5 blocks long with a good many shops and restaurants. It also has a good many empty shops – the economic recession that is essentially invisible in DC was quite prevalent in Charlottesville. Book shops appear to be Charlottesville’s specialty. We visited 3 different bookshops and would have gone into more had the business hours not come to a close during our excursion. Katie picked up an Anne of Green Gables Cookbook at one store and an equally uninteresting book at another. I found a couple books that piqued my interest, but nothing I can’t check out at the local library for free. I have no idea how Charlottesville can support so many used book shops. Katie suggested it was probably because UVA was an “English nerd” university. It takes one to know I suppose.

Another exciting stop – for Katie, that is – was the Mudhouse Coffee Shop. Apparently it was a local haunt for Lauren F. Winner – one of Katie’s favorite authors. They did make a pretty good hot chocolate and had a jazz band playing while we were there.

On Sunday morning the weather had deteriorated to a cold mist but that didn’t deter us from walking up to the UVA campus. We walked around the old academic village and inside The Rotunda. This old section of the university – called The Lawn – also has rooms that students can apply to live in. Outside each of the rooms was a stack of firewood, which I’m assuming is used as their only heating source. I can’t decide if living in one of those rooms would be fun or annoying. I suppose as long as it had high speed internet it would fall on the “fun” side.

Before heading out of town Katie purchased a UVA t-shirt. One of her Breadloaf instructors is a UVA professor so she feels justified in wearing it. We got back to DC well in advance of the “huge” snowstorm.

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