I’m picking up again on our series of trips that hubby and I took in October 2025.
We left Chicago on October 22 and flew to Charlottesville, VA, for the next conference at The Greenbrier in White Sulfur Springs, WV.
In Charlottesville, we checked into a delightful little boutique hotel–The Draftsman—which was conveniently located near the heart of historic Charlottesville and not far from UVA, Monticello, and James Madison’s house, Montpelier.
Hubby had never visited Monticello. I’d remembered it from a family vacation that my parents planned the summer I turned 8 and had always dreamed of taking my children there.
The ingenuity of Thomas Jefferson on display in his home had impressed me even as a child. Although we didn’t have our now adult kids with us, Hubby made sure that he and I had time to make the detour to Monticello on this trip.
The weather was cool and sunny, perfect for exploring the home and the grounds of Monticello. We enjoyed a light farm-to-table lunch at the cafe at the end of our guided tour and subsequent stroll through the extensive gardens.
I had hoped to also visit nearby Montpelier, but we thought we’d feel rushed; we needed to economize our remaining time and get to The Greenbrier, a two-hour drive away. With a promise to ourselves to return at a later date, we elected instead to briefly visit the campus of UVA.
We found an ice cream sandwich to share on an adjoining street, and then sat for a while in the almost empty-of-books university library, admiring the architecture and imagining the characters who must have spent hours in that beautiful building.
Next, we strolled the narrow sidewalks surrounding the campus and happened upon an ancient, cramped, Daedalus Used Books, presided over by an almost blind, elderly gentleman who was able to lead customers to the exact spot of their interest. We were there for a while, entertained by this man’s ability to intelligently converse on any book or subject matter that customers brought to him.
“We” purchased a very heavy art book on Sergeant at a very reasonable price, bid our host a pleasant day, and headed to our rented car to begin our two-hour trek to our next destination: The Greenbrier.
