My sister and I took a quick trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, and it was meant as a getaway. I still worked my day job, and she still did school prep. But we loved our rented cottage that we found through Airbnb, but it’s called Bailey’s Retreat…and YOU SHOULD GO!
An easy twenty-minute drive to anything we wanted to do in Charlottesville, our cottage at Bailey’s Retreat offered the perfect escape. The wood-burning fireplace made the space even cheerier, and on a clear night, the stars made me blink. They were so bright!
While in Charlottesville, we visited Monticello, hiked, strolled the historic downtown mall, and visited CrossFit Solidarity.
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson’s home of Monticello is definitely a site to behold. The home offers an interesting glimpse into the personal life of the writer of the Declaration of Independence. The man clearly greatly respected education and learning.
While we were at Monticello during the early spring so the grounds were not floral in any sense, it was clearly a picturesque spot with views from every area of the property.
My favorite part of Monticello was the clock in the front hall that not only tracked the time but also told the day of the week with cannonballs.
The Historic Downtown Mall
We truly had fun finding the downtown mall because it’s only for pedestrians. We finally opted to park in the parking garage, and when we came out of the stairwell, we were there. My sister joked, “It’s like Narnia.”
Spread out before us was a bricked length with stores and restaurants lining it. In the middle, tables lounged, waiting for walkers to sit for meals. Although the temperature was mild, the chilly little breezes had us choose the indoor option for the Citizen Burger Bar. Here are some places we ate.
At the end of the downtown mall, there was even a movie theater!
Hiking
The hiking options were many since Charlottesville sits near the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Appalachian Trail. Although we both enjoy hiking, we didn’t really want to have an hour-long drive to any of the heartier options.
We opted for the Saunders-Monticello Trail, and we wandered the pathways for a few hours. We saw runners, walkers, and bike tracks.
CrossFit Solidarity
One of the benefits of being a part of the CrossFit community is the ability to drop-in to boxes all over the world.
While Charlottesville has two CrossFit boxes, we opted for CrossFit Solidarity. Why? Well, their website is pretty sweet, but also, we checked the workouts that were planned. And yes, we chose by the workout.
You see, we planned to only do CrossFit once in the few days that we were in town, and so we wanted to choose our workout! The coaches were knowledgeable, and the members of the gym were really friendly. So if you’re a CrossFitter and you’re headed to Charlottesville, definitely drop-in to CrossFit Solidarity.
Anyway, it was a great trip, and it would be fun to go to Charlottesville again!
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