Virginia - Land of the Presidents

For Christmas I headed to my grandparents' house in Haymarket, VA. Haymarket is about 45 minutes west of Washington, D.C. I can't say that I was terribly excited to drive over 400 miles to see my parents and other family members, but I guess it's what needed to be done.

I left Florence around 2 A.M. on Christmas Eve. I left early so I had a full day to visit Charlottesville, VA. The drive was pretty good. I started out listening to Because of the Times by Kings of Leon. What an excellent record. Driving up through Darlington and Cheraw was pretty quiet. There wasn't a soul on the road except me. Right as I entered NC I popped in Guero by Beck. At this point my CD player started to mess up. It's pretty old and it's starting to not play after about an hour or so. I was pretty bummed.

As I was passing through Greensboro, NC on US-220 I found a pretty cool radio station. Simon 98.7 - "We play everything". They definitely lived up to their moniker. Here is a list of songs and artists I heard:

STP
Nickelback (could've done w/out)
Elton John covering "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
Yes - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
Joan Jett - "I Love Rock & Roll"
Stevie Wonder - "Bad Mamma Jamma"
Bob Marley
An R&B version of "O Come All Ye Faithful" (not a fan of Xmas music but this was pretty good)
Whitesnake - "Here I Go Again"
Melissa Ethridge - "Come to My Window"
Bonnie Raitt - "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About"
Kiss - "Shout it Out Loud" (live version. Kiss sucks regardless).
Night Ranger - "Motorin'"
Steve Miller - "Big Jet Airliner"
Sheryl Crow - "If It Makes You Happy"
Phil Collins - "Take a Look at Me Now"
Collective Soul - "Shine"
Natalie Imbruglia - "Kiss Me"
Lenny Kravitz - "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
En Vogue - "Back to Life, Back to Reality"

It was nice to listen to radio station with suck variety. When I got to NC/VA border at 5:40 A.M. I stopped at the Caswell Co. Rest Area off NC-700. This would normally be something I wouldn't write about except at this rest stop I saw an advertisement for Pilot Mtn. State Park in NC. It looked really cool and I'm going to go there someday and do some hiking.

I continued on my through Danville and Lynchburg. In between these two cities I passed through Tight Squeeze, VA. I lost the Greensboro radio station around Gretna, VA. I tried the CD again but no luck. When I was coming into Charlottesville it started working so I put in Lateralus by Tool. I needed a metal fix since my CD player is crapping out and my heat decided to stop working. Now I don't have any climate control in my car.

I got to Charlottesville around 8 A.M. so I stopped at a Waffle House and had breakfast. Then I headed to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Monticello was incredible. What a remarkable house! Thomas Jefferson was a genius. Many of the things in the house he invented. There was a clock with weights that hung on the walls that also told what day it is (it still works). He had portraits of all the major thinkers and influential people of his day. The view was astonishing. You could see into Charlottesville and much of the surrounding area. I simply love the mountains. I miss them dearly.




After writing down book titles in the gift shop (I'd rather buy them cheaper on Amazon.com) I headed to Ashlawn Highland, home of James Monroe. Although his house isn't as flashy it was still neat to see how he lived. It was funny listening to one of the fellow tourists try to do math out loud and totally mess it up. Oh well.




From there I headed to downtown Charlottesville. I walked Main St., which is closed to auto traffic. It is entirely brick and has many street vendors. It reminded me a lot of Athens and how much I miss its atmosphere. I saw the Charlottesville Obama campaign office and felt proud. I then walked all the way to the University of Virginia.






Not to dog on UGA, but UVA is so much lovelier. The architecture is astounding. Jefferson truly was a genius. There were also many secret society symbols lambasted all over campus. After I was done parading through this academic paradise I hitched a free ride back to town on the Charlottesville Trolley.








I walked around downtown some more before heading off to rendezvous with my family. I found another great radio station, 106.1 The Corner. The Corner is the nightlife area of Charlottesville and this station was definitely geared towards the college crowd which is why I like it so much. They played some obscure R.E.M. and Wilco and Tom Petty's "Free Fallin" covered by John Mayer. I have a guilty pleasure for John Mayer. He's an excellent axe man, and I like his voice.


When I got to the grands' house I was fed, liquored up with some Bushmills Irish Whiskey, and given a new phone. By this time I was probably on my third wind so I decided to go to bed.