If you live in DC (we’ll count those of us on the west side of the river in that group – blaspheme!), you know you need to escape on the weekends to soak up all the area has to offer. This weekend escape was hatched from a confluence of ideas. We ain’t no strangers to Charlottesville and, unrelated, we bought tickets to Overland Expo East back in the spring as soon as we found out we were moving. Mix those two things in a bucket and you get a weekend trip to the central portion of the state.

On the way to Charlottesville, we swung by Monticello and spent the afternoon soaking up a bit of history. I don’t know that the place has the same allure all 365 days of the year but Monticello is pretty beautiful on a sunny, mild day in October. If anyone wants to gift me 5,000 acres in the Piedmont area… I’ll take it even if it doesn’t have an expansive villa on it.

Getting into Charlottesville in the evening, checking into the hotel, then finding out it was homecoming weekend at UVA threw a wrench in our dinner plans. Fortunately the kids were patient and the weather was beautiful so we strolled Main Street for a bit before settling into a cosmopolitan 9pm dinner slot at The Fitzroy. The following day it was off to Overland Expo – East where we strolled the rows and rows of tricked out rigs. We did have a few targeted items of interest that we were able to put eyes on to hopefully make a better informed purchase. There were a couple of surprises in there that got our wheels spinning but I think the biggest takeaway for me was that there is a good chunk of people that spend way too much money on THINGS and don’t leave themselves any money to actually take adventures. Expo complete, it was off to have a beer at Pro Re Nata, throw some corn hole bags, then slide into a better planned dinner at Orzo.

Monday was a slow roll back to NoVA with a stop at Carter Mountain Orchard along the way. Early morning coffee and cider doughnuts puts smiles on everyone’s’ faces! Here’s to the next adventure.