Charlottesville Part 1: Five {FIVE!} Years and Stuff

Dude.  DUDE.  We have been married for five {FIVE!} years.  I know!  I can't figure out where the time went either!  But let me tell you, there is no one that I would rather spend five years with than Bryan.  Most days he feels the same way about me.

In celebration of our five {FIVE!} year anniversary, we headed south to Charlottesville, VA, home to UVA, Monticello, and really, really, super yummy food {more on this below}.

But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about Bryan Goettel.  He kinda knocked this anniversary out of the park.  The night before we left for Charlottesville, he asked me to meet he and Adelaide at a rather random restaurant after work.   I arrived and could hardly see Bryan and Adelaide behind this gorgeous bouquet of flowers:

I immediately recognized the flowers -- they were the same flowers that were in my bridal bouquet.  He had taken our wedding album to a local florist, who not only recreated the bouquet but made a boutonniere for Bryan and a flower bracelet for Adelaide {which she spent most of the dinner trying to eat -- hence the blurry photos}:

What's more, he concocted this plan to ameliorate my one regret on our wedding day -- that I somehow lost/misplaced/set down my bouquet at the end of the night and was, therefore, never able to dry my wedding flowers.  Needless to say, there are beautiful flowers drying in our coat closet right now.  :)

Okay, I know by now you're all gagging at the sappy-sweet lovey-dovey ooey-gooeyness.  So on to Charlottesville!

We packed the wee one in her car seat and brought as much luggage as a Real Housewife {that's how we roll with a baby}.  Addy was surprisingly great on the drive down and even allowed us to take the scenic route -- Skyline Drive.  We ambled through Shenandoah National Park with the windows rolled down, trying to exhale as much urban air from our lungs as possible.  The mountain air was delicious. We stopped at breathtaking vistas where it seemed that we could see half of Virginia.

We probably could have ended our weekend there, but there were founding fathers to see, food to be eaten, campuses to explore.  We knew from our past experience with "-villes" {e.g., hiking in Asheville, gathering round in Centerville}, that the prospects were high for the "Charlottes" variety. 

And boy oh boy, it did not disappoint. 

Charlottesville is like many college towns -- progressive, vibrant, fun, with independent stores and restaurants.  We stayed downtown adjacent to the pedestrian mall, which conjured fond memories of the Iowa City ped mall:

We had a fabulous dinner to celebrate our anniversary at the C&O restaurant, which is located in a converted 19th-century railroad bunkhouse.  Full of historic charm and unique food {e.g., pickled mushrooms}, the restaurant was a hit.  

After our fine dining, we capped off our five-year anniversary with waffles cones:

And that's where I'm going to cap off my night.  I'll be back tomorrow with more photos of Monticello, UVA, Ahslawn-Highland, and, of course, Adelaide!  {I know that's why you're really reading.}