Friday, April 26, 2013

Charlottesville, VA

Well I will tell you what I learned...traveling for work is not all that it is cracked up to be. Especially when 3 out of your 4 flights are delayed, you miss connections because of delays, you then end up missing the cool social team building event and really only thing you were looking forward to about the trip. You end up spending only ten minutes outdoors in the glorious sunshine and 70 degree weather because the rest of the time is spent in meetings or sitting at the airport waiting. You get hardly any sleep or down time and are pretty much working from 4am Tuesday to 11pm Wednesday. 
So now I shall show you a bit of what that amazing trip I just described was like :)

While I had 4 hours to kill at the Atlanta airport, I started by grabbing a quick breakfast since I had been up since 4am and hadn't had anything but coffee and a banana. I got this fruit and yogurt parfait with granola. Low fat vanilla yogurt, it was pretty good actually.

The two people I was traveling with wanted to get lunch a while later since we had plenty of time. We went to a new restaurant at the ATL airport called the Atlanta Braves bar & grill...I knew there wouldn't be much for me,  but I got a grilled chicken and lettuce wrap and fresh fruit. AND I tried honey dew melon for the first time, while the airport might not be the best place to try a new food, it was actually pretty good, I would eat it again. 




 When we finally got to Charlottesville, which is gorgeous by the way, and the weather is so nice right now, we went to the University campus which is where we were staying and having our meeting. That building right there is where the Inn at Darden is, my room is one of those windows on the second floor.

Here is my room. Small, a little old seeming, but the bed was comfy, and since I spent only about 7 hours total in this room it was good enough.

OH look what I found! Why yes I will make a wish :) 

Can you see the little things floating away? I won't tell you what I wished for but I will tell you if it comes true.


While walking around campus I realized this was the first time in like 7 months my bare feet had been outside, heeey pale skin!


 Flowering tree, smelled heavenly



 Flowers were blooming everywhere here, it really puts perspective on WHY in the HECK people stay in MN when you could live somewhere like this.

Here is the main building and the big green patch of grass.


 Front of our guest house building

Lewis and Clark statue 

My fancy dinner at a fancy restaurant called C&O, I got steak chinoise, I know it was not the healthiest of choices but of the things I was comfortable eating off the menu...there wasn't much left. By the time we ate dinner that night it was like 8:30, I was so hungry, I didn't eat any of the appetizers (because they were all so weird) I didn't get anything to drink besides water and I didn't order dessert like everyone else did, so I'd say I made some good choices here...but really I just wanted to go to sleep.

I got the bf some sea salt caramels, a favorite of his.

We were stuck sitting at the Charlottesville airport for 3.5 hours, the smallest airport I have ever seen, but how adorable they had rocking chairs in the lounge areas, so cute and southern. 

I finally got back home after 11pm on Wednesday, the bf stayed up to greet me, had some food warmed in the oven and was simply amazing because he personally knows how hard traveling is, I don't know how he could do this on a regular basis, I am too much of a home body to like that very often. I like my house, my dogs, my routine and then once in a while seeing different parts of the world.
I have so many blogs I want to catch up on, I feel like I have been gone forever and really it has been a few days, ah well it's time for the weekend.
 Hope everyone had a great week and is planning fun for the weekend!

15 comments:

  1. i love those colonial-style buildings. and charlottesville looks so pretty!

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    1. Yes the campus had so many buildings like that, so much history there! We don't have buildings like that where I'm from, I loved seeing them

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  2. Oh these pictures are great! Yeah, I'm not a fan of traveling for work and thankfully haven't had to do much of it in the recent years. My husband travels more often and for a big guy it is not an easy thing. Your bf sounds like a keeper!

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    1. Yeah those airplane seats are FAR from comfortable, the only good thing for the bf is he now has status and gets 1st class upgrades a lot, but still its tiring! and yes, he's definitely a keeper :)

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  3. Beautiful photos Robyn! Thanks for sharing them. And may all your wishes come true!! (with our without the dandelion!)

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    1. awww thanks :) hope you have a warm and sunshine filled weekend!

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  4. Beautiful place! Living in Oregon, I'm surrounded by Lewis and Clark history. I find exploration fascinating and would love to check out their other discoveries.

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    1. Yeah I was disappointed I didn't get to learn more about the L & C history or the Thomas Jefferson history while I was there, guess next time!

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  5. Love your pics - blog - and hey, good choices for restaurant eating!

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    1. :) thanks, I'm usually pretty nervous about making good choices when eating out but I had a plan and stuck to it!

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  6. I'll be in Charlottesville on Monday!

    I don't like business dinners because they're generally at restaurants I wouldn't go to. Looks like you made the best of it!

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    1. Oh well hope you get to enjoy all the lovely flowering trees they have right now!
      Yes, I would have NEVER chosen a place like that to eat, in fact I was nervous I'd find anything I could pronounce or understand there, but it ended up turning out pretty good :) Have a fab weekend!!

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  7. Oh my heavens, I am so sorry to hear of all the trouble you encountered w/ your traveling! Glad to hear you made it home safe & sound though

    Enjoy your much needed rest weekend with your boyfriend
    xoxo

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    1. Yeah even though it was only two days it felt more like a week! Glad to be home for sure :) have a great weekend!!

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  8. Aww, sorry to hear about the rough trip! I like traveling, but I've never had to do it for a living...I'm thinking I wouldn't be much of a fan though since I kinda hate having structure when it comes to being in a new place. I like just being able to take my time and explore on my own and really give myself a chance to soak up the culture. How sweet of the bf to stay up AND have a meal ready for you! Sounds like you found a good one for sure!

    Love your shoes!

    Oh, and just in case you were wondering who this strange broccoli girl is that is all of a sudden blowing up your blog...I just found you from Roz's blog (Weighting for 50)! Hi! :D

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