Congrats Grad! Let's Party in Virginia

Hello Virginia.

We were so excited to get to go back to our home away from home this last week to celebrate Justin, attend his graduation, and have one last getaway before baby comes.

The travel from the East coast to the West coast and back is nothing new to us as we've done this exact trip 5 times in the last 2 1/2 years. I know, nuts! Our travel plans don't include many more trips from one end of the country to the other, at least not quite as often so we really wanted to make every day count.

Even at 7 months pregnant.

North Carolina
Our flight landed in Greensboro, NC at 3PM on Thursday afternoon where we met up with Justin's brother and sister-in-law who recently moved out East. We got to spend two full days with them and their two darling little girls painting the town.

We spent the afternoon recouping from what turned out to be a more difficult flight for me and our little girl, but it was just what we needed after getting 3 hours of sleep the night before.

The next day we spent basking in the sun at a local lake in Raleigh. It was hot and the water cool, which made it a perfect afternoon to spend outdoors. Justin's siblings, Josh and Rachel, and their two cute girls came with us. We paddleboarded on the outskirts of the swim zone and built sandcastles, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery of the East coast.

Within the blink of an eye (literally) though, the beautiful weather turned into a hectic windstorm. One moment everything was sunny and peaceful, and the next the winds churned up huge waves and blew our beach chairs, towels, bags, and everything else we had down the beach. Somehow all of the other beach-goers abandoned the beach with the snap of your finger. It took us a little bit longer to gather our belongings strewn along the beach and lug it all back up to our cars. But definitely a memorable day at the lake!

Virginia
Saturday morning we packed up our suitcase and headed out on the 4 hour drive to Charlottesville, stopping at High Bridge State Park - a hike we've wanted to do for years. This "hike" is more of a walk along a boardwalk that rests at the tops of the trees!

It begins with about a mile walk along a flat, limestone path. The trail is beautiful and flanked with huge green trees and the most exotic insects you can imagine. Although a mile isn't long, the humidity really got to me on this trip. I often had to stop to take a break in the shade... although in Virginia shade means nothing when it comes to temperature.

The old railroad converted bridge sits at the end of this road and continues on for miles. This is a great place to take kids, to walk, bike, roller blade, whatever. We (meaning me and my super exhausted body) could only make it about a 1/2 mile onto the bridge, but we ran into a couple who had just biked 20 miles along it. So there's something there for everyone!

This was my favorite part of the entire trip! We sat on a bench and stared out over the tops of the lush trees that flowed for miles in every direction. And I definitely missed living in Virginia.

We had a little trouble finding the entrance so if you're in the area and want to go, use this address in your GPS:

555 River Road, Farmville, VA
It costs $4 to park for the day

Graduation
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were full of graduation activities. We went straight to a dinner for all of the grads, which resulted in chocolate covered strawberries and cheese squares. A bit misleading, but it was free so we just ate all of the cheese and strawberries we could.

Each class (undergrad and grad) gave farewell speeches and photos were taken. We got to say "hello" and "goodbyes" to all of Justin's professors and friends one last time before everyone heads their separate ways. One of Justin's professors even invited us for dinner that night so we got to spend the evening with Dr. Barone, his wife and two daughters.

The next morning was an early one as we rushed out the door to get to the graduation breakfast (zucchini bread and fruit - someone needs to rethink what they call "breakfast" and "dinner" on the East coast). We scarfed down the food quickly and headed to the lawn for the university ceremony.

It seriously was a party! We definitely weren't at BYU anymore. There were thousands of graduates and more than half of them held giant Mylar balloons of all shapes and sizes. I felt as though I stood watching a parade!

After the university ceremony ended, Justin, his parents (who came to Cville for the ceremonies), and I rushed for a quick bite at Bodo's Bagels - the best bagel joint ever - before shuttling back to the Johns Paul Jones Arena for the school ceremony.

We ended the graduation ceremonies with a stop at one of our favorite restaurants - Sedona Taphouse. After gorging ourselves, we packed up the rental car and drove the 2.5 hour drive to Alexandria.

Washington, D.C.
Justin and I have different views on D.C. Justin is in love with it and would come back every summer to visit if he could. I saw it once, was impressed, and called it good. Since the East coast isn't on our travel list for the foreseeable future, though, we decided to stay an extra day so that we could include one last visit to D.C.

Despite all of our previous visits, there is still a lot there that we haven't seen and done. We started with a private tour the Capitol building, which is amazing on the inside.

After our tour, we met up with one of Justin's friends who works for Senator Mike Lee. Mike Lemon took us around DC for lunch and some more touring. If you're in the area, definitely check out Good Stuff Eatery. It's a bit expensive for a burger (in my opinion), but when in Rome... or DC for that matter.

Mike also took us through the Library of Congress where another patron excitedly told me is where "National Treasury" was filmed and that Nicholas Cage had been here. First - it's "National Treasure", and Second - is that really the coolest thing about this building??

After we split ways with Mike, we headed down to the Smithsonian Museum of American History to get a glance of Dorothy's red slippers. The museum is pretty great, although my feet were so sore and tired Justin had to check out the American transportation exhibit on his own.

We finally found the exhibit where Dorothy's shoes should have been. After wandering around, we finally asked a security guard who told us that they are in storage until 2018! Guess we'll have to go back ;)

How did Evie do?

It was so much fun to get to visit this amazing part of the country chalk full of history that we've missed so much since moving to the West in December. And Evie was a rockstar.

Besides the first flight being a rocky start, and the daily urgent bathroom stops, she was a champ. We walked +10,000 steps on 3 of the 5 days we were there. Justin actually hit 20,000 steps on Monday! But he's pretty determined.

I think the humidity may have triggered a growth spurt for Evie as I now feel really 
big AND look it! But at least we're home with only 10 weeks to go - ahhh!

Until next time Virginia.