virginia

This weekend, I visited Dave (my brother) and Jessie (his wife) inwith my dad. We flew into North Carolina & I immediately that the south is WAY different than the west. Examples: The lady at our hotel was definitely not speaking any English dialect I understood & whoever was working at the drive-thru window at McDonald's at midnight sounded more like a recently awoken grizzly bear than a person. Crazy! We did visit Duke -- I decided Cody should do graduate school there. It was beautiful.

The next day we headed north to Buena Vista. We stopped in Lynchburg, which was actually very nice, contrary to the connotation of its name. The downtown area was a beautiful combination of modern & colonial -- I loved the cobblestone streets.

A little further north, we stopped at the Natural Bridge. My best description of the Natural Bridge is that it was kind of like transporting one of the arches from southern Utah to the middle of a forest and painting it gray. We didn't go see it though, as tickets were $13 each. We decided the gift shop was much more exciting. The hotel/resort nearby was pretty sweet too.

On Sunday, we headed to Monticello. It was amazing!!! I still am blown away by the sheer number of trees there! My dad loved the on-site nursery -- if only the climates in Virginia & Idaho were similar . . . . then he could grow plants like the purple peas that Jessie & I loved.

Dave thought it would be funny to take a picture in the privy. As soon as he posed, an old lady came around the corner and busted up. She commented that his mom would really love the picture. What a kid! We also witnessed a funeral at the cemetary that TJ is buried in. It was a little awkward, especially since we also noticed a couple beer bottles left on a head stone (under Dave's elbow).

My dad & I had quite the adventure coming back -- all of the flights from Atlanta to SLC were totally full. Thanks to my mom and Jessie, we were finally able to get on a plane to Cincinnati -- then we would head to SLC from there. The only problem was the 30 minute layover there . . . . my boarding pass said the gates were right next to each other. But they weren't! So we ran through the airport and barely made it. I was in flip-flops, so my poor calves are still recovering. It was great exercise though :) We made it back to SLC in one piece after an incredibly long flight that showed an even lamer movie. Even though getting home was 'exciting', I still had a blast & can't wait to take Cody back soon!