Carmike Theater

I screamed "FIRE" in a movie theater. And then danced up and down the aisles.

Last Monday, Charlie and I went to see "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (yup - he takes me to chickflicks) and there was no one in the movie theater.

Carmike Theaters is past Fashion Square Mall going up 29 North. It's kind of hidden behind Albemarle Square shopping center. While it isn't the most convenient movie theater, they show movies that the other c'ville theaters don't show.

Turk Mountain

Last weekend our friend, Dao, came down to visit us from Washington DC. He had a B-school interview at Darden, so hopefully he will be joining us in Charlottesville next year. Dao is an outdorsy kind of guy (he's single too if anybody is interested!) so we decided we should take advantage of Charlottesville's close proximity to the montains, even though it was only 35 degress and cloudy.

Turk Mountain is in Shenandoah National Park. It is about 15 miles north of the south entrance to the park which is accesible by I-64 and Rt 250. A week pass for the park costs $10 and a year pass costs $30. There is a small parking area at about mile 95 for the Turk Mtn. trail. You start out across the road on the Appalacian Trail headed south, and then shortly dodge right onto the Turk Mtn. trail. The trail takes you down into a valley, and then up along a ridge to the summit of Turk Mountain. The hike is about a mile and a half to the top and is somewhat strenuous, but not too trecherous. At the summit there is a georgeous view of the Shenedoah Valley and all of the other Mountains nearby. The whole expedition took about 3 1/2 hours counting the drive from Charlottesville.

Spudnuts

309 Avon Street

. (period)






Charlie's quote of the morning "Oh-My-God". Really, these doughnuts are fabulous and I now have no remaining sadness that Krispy Kreme is no longer open on 29. Spudnuts has been around forever and clearly they have perfected the art of doughnut making.

These doughnuts are delightful!

Cocina del Sol

I love going out to dinner with a group of people. Don't get me wrong, I also love entertaining at home, but when you go out, no one has to clean up and everyone pays their own way. People are able to eat and drink whatever they want... it's mostly the clean up factor. I feel like group dinners are such a rarity that I started a monthly dinner club for Charlie's Econ friends.

Our first victim - Cocina del Sol.

I ran into it quite by accident as it's next door to a teacher's supply store - Teacher's Edition. After I saw it, I remembered that there is a Cocina del Sol in Crozet that Charlie and I had spotted when we went to a fair and the line had been out the door. The Charlottesville branch is on the corner of Hydraulic and Commonwealth (not visible from 29).

9 of us met this week (UVA's spring break helped with the low numbers) and everyone really enjoyed their food. Charlie had some pineapple adobo taco that he wolfed down. Jeff had the red snapper tacos. I think there were a couple salads ordered and I had the beef burrito. I can't vouch for the margheritas as Charlie's friends have trouble unwinding during the semester but I liked the Corona! The prices are reasonable - I think Charlie and I paid $30 for 2 dinners and drinks.

Cocina del Sol is smaller than I thought it would be but the atmosphere is fun, a little funky, and comfortable. There was only one waiter working as there weren't too many people on a Wednesday night. I would love to see if/how the place fills up on a weekend night. I'm sure it will be fun to try again.

Stay tuned for the next adventures of the Econ dinner club :)

Parking Meters

Parking in downtown Charlottesville is sometimes tough - especially on weekdays during class time for UVA students. Charlie and I usually walk to the Downtown Mall but on the seldom occasion we do drive, we like to park in the lot between Water Street and the South Street Brewery. There are parking meters all over Charlottesville and shock of all shocks (for those of you from DC especially) - one quarter grants you an hour.

It's wonderful!

If you're willing to walk, there are plenty of residential areas with parking right near the Corner or the Downtown Mall.

Verizon

Can you hear me now? Not in Charlottesville. Verizon does not have towers in Charlottesville. Alltell and AT&T are available but no such luck with Verizon. Without towers, service is a little shoddy. Phone calls don't go through without some clicking and clacking before the dial tone starts to ring and the phone usually says you are in and extended network.

Phones work but not without a couple hiccups and glitches everyday.

Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort

Charlie and I are not the best at celebrating romance. Charlie was so proud of himself this year because he made a Valentine's Day dinner reservation at Zinc. We didn't go. Instead we decided to go snowboarding and skiing at Snowshoe. We have been meaning to go skiing since we started dating in 2003. I have been a couple of times since then with various groups and Charlie and I went with a bunch of Girl Scouts courtesy of my mom.

Last year, I tried snowboarding for the first time. I decided to try it again this year figuring I had already broken my tailbone once and should be better this time around. No broken tailbone, just some gnarly bruises.

Snowshoe is a decent drive away from Charlottesville. Our Garmin took us to Snowshoe via curvy and steep mountain roads that made me want to jump out of the moving car, but we made it (stomach intact) in just under 3 hours.

The mountain is huge and has a good variety of slope difficulty. I stuck with the green slopes as I didn't want to end up in the emergency room on Valentine's Day. The runs are long and criss-cross all over the place, making finding your way back to the starting point a little difficult. After misplacing Charlie for at least an hour, I figured I should head back up to our meeting spot for our lunch date at 1. I got there an hour later at 1:30 after two bus rides and quite a hike. The ski patrol recommended taking one of 4 bus routes to get back to the other side of the resort rather than attempting to find my way back using the slopes and lifts. I still have no clue where I was or how I got there.

We stuck towards the purple side of the mountain for the rest of the day (each section is color coded) near where we parked the car. The lounge on the purple end was pretty small and did not have that cozy lodge vibe I have felt at other resorts. The only seating area was in the Hoots bar where they served hot dogs, hamburgers, wraps, and plenty of liquor. Charlie and I both had cheeseburgers (that I do not recommend). Next time we'll have to check out the other section's lodges and restaurants.

In regards to pricing, Snowshoe is pretty standard. Lift tickets are $70 for a weekend and there are plenty of rental options. I think a multiple day pass is a better way to go and a better deal than a one day pass, but we had a lot of fun.

Next time we'll try a multiple day trip and check out renting one of the slopeside rentals - New Years trip??

Marco and Lucas

We have found our favorite place to eat in Charlottesville! Marco and Lucas, despite the name, is a tiny Chinese noodle and dumpling shop on the downtown mall. They serve dumplings, pork and vegetable buns, sesame noodles, sweet sour spicy noodles, and a soup. That's it - that is their menu. The place is tiny. The kitchen is right behind the counter and consists of a 5 foot long counter with a stovetop on which they cook the dumplings. There has to be a steamer or oven of some sort for the buns. The noodles are served cold and are delicious. The sweet sour spicy flavor has hints of chili, apples, and cilantro and the sesame noodles taste like they are in a light peanut sauce. The dumplings are addicting and at $3 a serving, you can afford to eat as many as you want. The best things about them is the sauce. I have actually heard it referred to as "crack sauce" - it is delicious!

Since discovering this jem right before Christmas, we have probably been back about 8 times and we can afford to do it! 2 dumplings, 1 pork bun, a noodle, and a can of soda is $12 and fills Charlie and I up.

Marco and Lucas is in the shopping center a little past Christian's Pizza. It's door faces the entrance to Cafe Cubano - which we will also have to check out.

Humpback Rock - Hiking

One of our good friends from college just returned from South Africa where he was working with the Peace Corps. We missed him terribly and even more so when all of our friends from New York and Delaware would call us and tell us about the fabulous time they were having with Joey back in town. Charlottesville is a little far away from the Long Island town Joey now resides in again, but he finally made it! We took him to Continental Divide, Marco and Lucas - twice, Splendorah's, Alakazam and Snooky's on the downtown mall, to hang out on the campus lawn with Take It Away Sandwiches, and to Humpback Rock.

Humpback Rock is off the Blue Ridge. It takes about 40 minutes to drive to the trail from downtown C'ville and the hike is close to a mile. While the hike is a little strenuous we all made it in one piece (and that is saying something). At the top of the mountain is a huge rock with ledges and cracks and beautiful views of the Charlottesville area on one side and the west on the other. You can see the variety of landforms that make up the area - hills and valleys, forests and farms. It really is refreshing and beautiful. Great date place!

Martin's Tailoring

I have had about 8 pairs of jeans and pants sitting on a chair in my living since we lived in DC. I haven't been able to wear them because they all needed to be hemmed. I have had some hemming disasters - including a pair of Joe's Jeans that ended up as clam diggers and a pair of Seven's that my little sister wears as cut-offs. Needless to say, I am a little hesitant to get things hemmed.

Martin's Tailoring came recommended by a sales clerk at Fashion Square's Gap. Since I'm wearing jeans everyday to work now, I figured I should probably get off my butt and do something about the unwearable pile. The shop is in the shopping center across from Barrack's Road Center next to El Puerto and behind the yellow brick building. It definitely seemed like the place to go to get things altered and hemmed as the little bell on the door was ringing constantly. Most people seemed to have an actual friendship with the little Asian man pinning all of their items as they stood on the wooden hemming blocks. His name is not Martin. He worked very quickly pinning Charlie and me and a week later Charlie and I had new beautifully hemmed jeans to add to our wardrobe. The hems match the originals and they are all the perfect length. I think we had 8 pairs of pants to hem for $47. My fears of hemming may be subsiding.