Camp Lejeune, NC

I was there.

Next Trip - Home for Thanksgiving

Shenandoah National Park and Monticello

When I first moved out to Virginia, my mom and I took a roadtrip to see Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and then Monticello. We had such a good time that I decided to make it an annual event. Since my mom couldn’t (or wouldn’t – good use of guilt Jen) come this year my friends Shelley, Evan and Justin decided to join me instead.

Skyline Drive is always a gamble because you have to go at just the right time during the Fall. I have yet to find the right time and have decided to make it my mission in life to travel Skyline Drive in all is autumnal glory. When mom and I went in 2007 most of the leaves had not turned, when I went in 2008 they were already falling in vast numbers. 2009 is going to be my year!

We had a great trip! Shelley, Justin and Evan had never been Shenandoah so it was good chance to check it off the list. We made it about halfway through the park when we cut out and headed to Monticello in Charlottesville, VA.

Monticello is one of my happy places. I find the home and the property so tranquil that I would love to just take a book up there and read all day. I love to walk through the gardens and enjoy the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I don’t like gardening or growing things, but if other people are doing to do all the work, I am more than willing to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

After taking a tour of the grounds, house and family graveyard at Monticello, we headed back to Charlottesville for dinner. We had a great meal at a place on Main Street called Bizou. The weather had been so nice all day that we even ate outside, which is impressive for November 1st. I had a chicken pot pie that had cripy leeks on the top instead of crust. It was a nice re-working of a classic dish.

Thanks to Evan, Shelley and Justin for joining me. Any one game for 2009?

Next trip – Camp Lejeune, NC

Dayton, OH

I went to Dayton, OH in October to teach a class at Wright-Patterson AFB. Dayton was one of those places that I had no regret in leaving. There is nothing wrong with Dayton; but there is nothing remarkable about it either. Of course, most of the people I met there were very nice, so that does increase Dayton’s score a bit.

I did find a Half Price Books in Dayton, so that gave me something to do. I even bought an Alton Brown cookbook, which is very difficult to find used. I had no business buying a cookbook that I would then have to pack back to DC, but I seized the moment.

I did a little research and discovered that Dayton is only about an hour from Cincinnati. I love the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati and really wanted to go see the fountain that is in the opening credits. Mission Accomplished! I picked a day when it wasn’t going to rain and drove the hour to Cincinnati to go to Fountain Square. I really liked Cincinnati and would love to go back. I found the Tyler Davidson Fountain and snapped a ton of pictures that I looked truly terrible in. The fountain itself is stunning and definitely worth a visit.

Some friends from Ohio told me about an ice cream store called Graeter’s. There was a Graeter’s conveniently located in Fountain Square, so off I went. I have to say, their ice cream is fantastic. I got the Apple Cider sorbet and I still dream of how delicious it was. It tasted just like apple cider, with the mulling spices and all. This is high praise because I usually don’t eat ice cream unless there is chocolate involved. Why waste the calories if you don’t get any chocolate?

Across Fountain Square was an Italian place, recommended to me by the manager of Graeter’s, called Via Vite. I had a wonderful meal there, especially after eating at chain restaurants in Dayton all week. I had the special which was potato gnocchi in a butternut squash sauce. I would gladly eat there again.

On my last day in Dayton, I headed to the National Museum of the Air Force. What a great museum. I had a wonderful time and I didn’t even get to see everything. There are literally hundreds of planes on display. The museum teaches you about the early days of aviation, has many cool WWII-era planes and they even have an F-22 Raptor. The highlight for me was seeing the U-2. Now I have seen a U-2 before down at Edwards AFB in California, but I am always happy to get reacquainted with a plane that I have spent years researching (I did my Master’s thesis on the U-2).
Next trip – Shenandoah National Park and Monticello