Falling in Love with Charlottesville

We've been in Charlottesville for over a year now, and I've wanted to write more about this town for a while, so I guess it's time I did it.  Because I absolutely LOVE Charlottesville.  Charlottesville has become home to me.  And I find it rather amazing.  I feel like it began as a small crush and bloomed into full-grown love, and I sort of want to document it all. 

So let's go back a bit-- because Manassas felt like home and I loved living there.  So it's not like I was anxious to leave.  But every time we traveled to other places, I'd sort of wish we could live there for one reason or another: when we went to Seattle, it was so beautiful there, I longed to move back home.  And in California, I loved how cheerful everyone seemed to be and how perfect the weather always was.  And who could visit Texas and South Carolina without coveting those huge, incredibly inexpensive houses?  So we'd return to Manassas and I'd always be happy to be back in our home and surrounded by wonderful friends, but I couldn't help but notice that compared to those other places, Manassas was severely lacking in trees, and mountains, and ocean, and affordability.  Instead, it had lots of traffic.  And was really expensive.

We visited Charlottesville a couple times years before Craig ever applied for a job here.  Once, we came with Craig's parents to take Bentley and Kendra to a children's museum here.  And another time we visited Grandpa in the hospital after he'd had surgery.  Both times we thought it was a cute town and liked it, but I didn't give it a whole lot of thought beyond that.

When Craig started looking for administrative positions, he mentioned that he had his eye on Albemarle County (which is a mouthful to say!) and I said, "Where's that?"  I knew we were interested in Loudon County (great schools with lots of money!) and Fauquier County (pretty good schools, and a county you can't say without sounding like you're swearing!), but I'd never even heard of Albemarle.  Craig explained, "That's where Charlottesville is!" and I said, "Oh, I liked Charlottesville!  You should definitely look for jobs there!"

But I never really thought it would actually happen!

When I told people in Manassas where we were moving, they all would immediately say, "Oh, Charlottesville is such a cute town!  Lucky you!"  And I hoped they were right.  I was pretty sure they were right.  But it was a done deal, so it didn't really matter, and I knew I would make the best of it no matter what.

But each time we drove down from Manassas, as we passed farms all along Route 29 on the way south, I was blown away by the beauty of it all.  And when we found our house, I loved how charming the treed hills were, with houses peaking out here and there.  I knew I'd found something pretty good.

It's taken me months to get to know the area, and I'm still discovering new things all the time.  But here's what I've figured out so far:

-Charlottesville has a nice small town feel-- we constantly bump into neighbors and friends when we're out and about-- but it has a lot going on.  I think we mostly have the University of Virginia to thank for all that, but there are a plenty of festivals and concerts and things happening all the time, if you know where to look for them.  There also aren't a ton of towns nearby because there's a lot of country and farms surrounding us, and then there are mountains separating us from Waynesboro and other places, so it feels like a very tight-knit community.  (As opposed to some places where you have so much suburban spread you really can't tell when you go from one town to the next.)  And the people here love Charlottesville, so there's a lot of pride in the area, and that's really nice.  Growing up on an island, it was impossible not to have a strong sense of community, so it's something I appreciate here, now.

-I LOVE Carter Mountain.  Carter Mountain is what I see across the way when I drive down the hill away from our house-- a sparkling green mountain that, on rainy days, gets covered in fog.  It's not a huge impressive mountain like you get in the western half of the country (it took me a very long time to even call it a mountain at all!) but it's definitely bigger than a hill!  And it's lovely.  And I love my view of it every day.  I also love going there-- it's a short, steep drive to the top, where on Thursday nights in the summer, they have live music at sunset.  The view is spectacular and the atmosphere is relaxed and happy.  And there are yummy, over-priced peach doughnuts and ice cream for the kids to beg me to buy for them.  (Sometimes I give in...)

-In the winter time, I love being able to see the Blue Ridge Mountains out beyond our backyard.  That's my trade off for when the trees lose all their leaves.  (And it also makes up for being able to see I-64!)

-I love the people here.  Thanks to UVA, we've got a great mix of well educated professionals, but lots of southern hospitality, too (and I'm not gonna lie, a fair amount of rednecks who cruise around in huge trucks covered with hunting bumper stickers).  I remember last year, overhearing some parents at a soccer game saying something about robotics.  I was ready to jump into the conversation, assuming they were talking about a robotics club at their kids' schools.  Luckily I waited a moment longer and figured out -- before I made an idiot of myself!-- that they were both surgeons and were talking about doing surgery robotically.  And that's when it hit me that I never met a doctor in Manassas who actually lived there.  In fact, at my kids' school (which was a good school!), almost everyone were blue collar workers.  No lawyers, no doctors...  It's nice having all kinds of people in your town.

-I love our Costco.  That's a stupid thing to mention, but when we first moved here, the nearest Costco was over an hour away and I thought I was going to die.  But within three weeks of our move, a new one opened up right in the heart of town, and that made me SO happy.  Better yet, since it's still new, there aren't that many members, so it's fairly empty all the time.  You can even shop there on a Saturday without winding up hating all of humanity, so that's pretty awesome.  I do love Costco (when it's not too crowded)!

-I like the music scene.  At first I was sort of appalled that there were only about three radio stations to listen to (there's a lot more if you like country, but I refuse to go there).  But those three radio stations are actually pretty good.  They play stuff I liked when I was in high school that I NEVER heard on the radio (and only knew of because I had a super cool older sister who controlled the radio in the car) and they play current stuff, as well.  I've even had a couple times where my little sister will mention a new song she likes and I'VE ACTUALLY HEARD IT!!!  That hasn't happened since I was a freshman in college or something!  And, of course, Dave Matthews Band is from Charlottesville, so we had to go when they put on a concert here and it was fabulous.  So that's pretty fun, too!

-They have good parks for the kids.  I feel like there was at least ten years where every playground in the country was build by the same manufacturer and they were all SO BORING...  It makes me happy when you find a little variety.
 

Not your standard playground equipment!

I LOVE this splash pad in the summer!

This is actually at a Mennonite grocery store halfway between Charlottesville and Culpeper.  They have a bunch of farm animals for the kids to look at, including this awesome climbing structure for the goats!

-I love how pretty it is here.   Growing up in Seattle, I just NEED trees to feel like I can breathe properly.  Northern Virginia was green enough to keep me happy, but here it feels downright lush.  I never get tired of gazing at trees.

Can't remember where exactly I took this picture, but I love it...

Our backyard

A flowering dogwood, which are abundant here (and which there's a festival for!), in our backyard

This was the location of the cub scout's Raingutter Regatta.  A member's house in Crozet-- the next town over-- sits right next to this river!  Breathtaking...

-I actually like our HOA here, too.  I originally told our realtor that I wanted a place with no HOA, since my experience with them was that they take your money and then harass you if you forget to mow your lawn or paint your shudders the wrong color.  But ours has been great so far-- we've got a fun pool, it's not that expensive per month, and no one's ever said anything to us about the state of our property, even when we were keeping chickens!  They also organize several community events each year (block parties and yard sales and other things) and usually keep the pool stocked with otter pops.  What's to complain about?

-Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, is literally five minutes from our house.  While I didn't particularly love our most recent tour, I have a great admiration for Thomas Jefferson and plan on visiting many more times.  I just finished reading a report on whether or not they think he fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings and I am CONVINCED that he didn't.  Which made me happy.  And which I might blog more about soon.  And even if you aren't a huge fan of Jefferson, Monticello is still lovely and great history!

-I love the downtown mall, too.  Now, to clarify, I actually hate shopping and I hate malls.  But the downtown mall is an outdoor walking mall, full of restaurants with outdoor seating, and it's just fun.  One time, we went to get ice cream, and this man promptly set down some ply wood and began tap dancing on it.  He tapped for a good hour, sometimes with his son joining in.  It was a GREAT way to enjoy ice cream on a hot summer evening!

Speaking of ice cream, my absolute favorite chocolate and peanut butter ice cream can be found at Chaps, right here in the downtown mall.  And I've sampled a LOT of chocolate and peanut butter ice creams, so I'm becoming quite the authority in this matter.  (I highly recommend the Target brand, too, if you don't think you'll be able to make down to Charlottesville any time soon!)

Chaps!

Now, I know that Charlottesville isn't perfect.  I've learned that it's a really bad idea to leave the house at 9am, because-- for a small town-- there is a LOT of traffic at that time.  (Although coming from northern Virginia, the C-ville version of "traffic" is still a laugh!)  And I wish the stores opened as early as school started, since I rush around getting the kids out the door, and then find myself with two hours to wait until Costco opens.  And I wish the library was closer and kept more normal hours (why don't they open until noon on Mondays and Tuesdays???) (But the drive-in window makes up for a lot of that frustration)...  But it's got so many wonderful things that I'm willing to put up with a few annoyances.



I always told Craig that if we ever got the chance to move to Seattle, we were going to take it.  Seattle has always been where my heart was.  But now that we're here...  And knowing just how expensive Seattle has gotten in the last few years (and Bainbridge Island even more so!)...  We might just be in Charlottesville to stay!

At least, I hope so!