James has begun to chronicle the story of his trip around South America...and you can find that on our new website at: www.wanderinghokies.com Also, you will be able to see all of his pictures from the trip on our flickr site. All you have to do is click on our flickr stream on the left page of the new site, and it will take you to see all of our pictures.
Enjoy! Let us know what you think of the new page!
Monday, November 02, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Drum Roll.....
www.wanderinghokies.com Check out our new site and let us know what you think! It is clearly a work in progress, but we didn't want people to think we were done blogging. Stories from South America will be coming soon, so get excited! :)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Life Changes
You may have noticed that we haven't really been updating the blog that much recently. Our lives have been changing so much that we thought it was time for a blog change. Keep checking this site, as we will unveil the new blog very soon! 
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
April Showers bring May Flowers….and Wine Weekends!
There is nothing quite as sweet as enjoying amazing wine with amazing friends! In April, after visiting Blacksburg for the memorials, I hit the road with two great friends to enjoy the North Carolina vines and hospitality, on our third annual girls wine weekend. 
Hitting the third is a big deal, and I feel like we are official now! In 2007, we embarked on our first trip to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, one of America’s fastest growing wine industries. It was a great way to get my mind off of James being in OCS, and me being in Blacksburg by myself. Then in 2008, we spent an awesome weekend in the heart of Virginia, living up Thomas Jefferson’s alcoholic dreams in the Charlottesville area. Without TJ, where would this country be? And because we had only been able to visit a handful of wineries in 2007, we decided to go back to the Yadkin valley in 2009. After all, it’s going to take us quite some time to visit all of the wineries in North Carolina. Map of NC Wineries I think we have about 76 more to go, but we’ve already visited 11 or 12! 
I like going to wineries, because each one is very unique and has its own story. We like to mainly visit the smaller, family run wineries, as their wines tend to be very interesting, the people tend to be friendly, and you learn so much. The larger wineries are fun because they are always really nice, but in terms of what you get for what you pay, you are paying for the expensive environment, not the wine or the friendliness of the staff. And I feel like I never learn anything at the big expensive wineries. 
I’m going to start with my absolute favorite winery of the trip…Hutton Winery. It was actually the second winery we visited, but we had to take a break afterwards, since Heidi, the owner, was a VERY generous pourer! It is a brand new winery, and she was so excited that we were there. If you are anywhere near this little place, please go and visit it! They are so sweet, and we really want them to stay open! Usually at a tasting, you get a small sip of wine, but with Heidi, we had half a glass of wine for each tasting. 
You can imagine what that did to us, and resulted in us playing on a tractor for a while until we were ready to get some lunch. Stony Knoll was also a cute family winery, but we didn’t spend much time there, as they were planning for a 50th anniversary party later that night. Flint Hill was adorable, and I wish we had been able to spend more time there. It was in a beautifully restored Farm House, and had a restaurant that looked fabulous. Unfortunately, we had just eaten lunch when we got there, but the food looked amazing. 
It was also family run, and we spent some time enjoying the rocking chairs on the front porch. And RagApple Lassie… where do I even begin? We visited Rag Apple Lassie on our first wine trip, and we loved it enough that we had to make a second trip to it. They have the most uniquely shaped wine bottles, and great wines. Their theme is cows, so everything has a cow printed on it, and we are always reminded that southern girls wear pearls. We tried to make a fifth winery that Saturday, but we got there right as it was closing. Wineries tend to close pretty early, somewhere between 5 to 6. 
But we weren’t too discouraged, as we found an awesome BBQ place, which I had been craving since moving to the west coast! I love pulled pork BBQ, especially Carolina BBQ. I still say that the best BBQ I’ve ever had was in Chapel Hill my junior year. Those were the best sweet potato fries I had ever had! After an awesome pulled pork dinner, we went back to the hotel an enjoyed some homemade wine from Stanburn Vineyards. It never fails that no matter how much awesome wine we’ve tasted that day, the wine made by Tab’s husband and father-in-law always surpasses the best that we tried. 
And Tab should be getting paid for the awesome mixes she makes with the wine! Fabulous! The next day, we toured Mt. Airy, NC, the birthplace of Tabatha, and the home of Andy Griffith. It’s a beautiful little community, with an old fashioned downtown, complete with the Old North State Winery and Opie’s Candy Shop. Opie is James’ Tuba nickname, so it was a must stop for us! And the Old North State Winery was actually one of my favorite stops, as it was in a restored main street building, which the pourer told us is haunted. I always love hearing people’s first hand accounts of a building being haunted. 
North Carolina grows a great deal of Muscadine grapes, the grapes used by Welch’s for their white grape juice. It’s very sweet, and the Old North State Winery had a very good Muscadine wine that would be perfect for a warm summer day picnic. If I hadn’t been flying, I would have bought a whole case of it. Darn those checked baggage fees! Our wine racks at home were getting pretty low, too, and I usually use these wine trips to restock. It was getting late, and I had to catch a flight, but we were still able to fit one more winery in on the way to the airport. Childress was our glamorous winery of the trip. They are always fun to visit, and great for first time winery visitors. The vineyards were beautiful, and the winery lavish, but we didn’t get to try very many wines, but had to pay a lot to taste the wines we were offered. 
If I had known that I was going to miss my connection in Chicago, I would have stayed longer in North Carolina, but off to the airport we went. My flight was delayed leaving, causing me to miss my flight by about five minutes in Chicago. I ran all the way there, only to find out that it was the last flight to San Diego, and they couldn’t get me out until the next day. It was my first experience sleeping in an airport, but thankfully Chicago had a huge USO, and I was given a cot to sleep on. I still didn’t get much sleep, since I was in front of a large screen tv, and I felt like everyone was watching me, even if they weren’t. I am definitely looking forward to our fourth annual wine trip, place to be determined, year 2010! 
Hitting the third is a big deal, and I feel like we are official now! In 2007, we embarked on our first trip to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, one of America’s fastest growing wine industries. It was a great way to get my mind off of James being in OCS, and me being in Blacksburg by myself. Then in 2008, we spent an awesome weekend in the heart of Virginia, living up Thomas Jefferson’s alcoholic dreams in the Charlottesville area. Without TJ, where would this country be? And because we had only been able to visit a handful of wineries in 2007, we decided to go back to the Yadkin valley in 2009. After all, it’s going to take us quite some time to visit all of the wineries in North Carolina. Map of NC Wineries I think we have about 76 more to go, but we’ve already visited 11 or 12! 
I like going to wineries, because each one is very unique and has its own story. We like to mainly visit the smaller, family run wineries, as their wines tend to be very interesting, the people tend to be friendly, and you learn so much. The larger wineries are fun because they are always really nice, but in terms of what you get for what you pay, you are paying for the expensive environment, not the wine or the friendliness of the staff. And I feel like I never learn anything at the big expensive wineries. 
I’m going to start with my absolute favorite winery of the trip…Hutton Winery. It was actually the second winery we visited, but we had to take a break afterwards, since Heidi, the owner, was a VERY generous pourer! It is a brand new winery, and she was so excited that we were there. If you are anywhere near this little place, please go and visit it! They are so sweet, and we really want them to stay open! Usually at a tasting, you get a small sip of wine, but with Heidi, we had half a glass of wine for each tasting. 
You can imagine what that did to us, and resulted in us playing on a tractor for a while until we were ready to get some lunch. Stony Knoll was also a cute family winery, but we didn’t spend much time there, as they were planning for a 50th anniversary party later that night. Flint Hill was adorable, and I wish we had been able to spend more time there. It was in a beautifully restored Farm House, and had a restaurant that looked fabulous. Unfortunately, we had just eaten lunch when we got there, but the food looked amazing. 
It was also family run, and we spent some time enjoying the rocking chairs on the front porch. And RagApple Lassie… where do I even begin? We visited Rag Apple Lassie on our first wine trip, and we loved it enough that we had to make a second trip to it. They have the most uniquely shaped wine bottles, and great wines. Their theme is cows, so everything has a cow printed on it, and we are always reminded that southern girls wear pearls. We tried to make a fifth winery that Saturday, but we got there right as it was closing. Wineries tend to close pretty early, somewhere between 5 to 6. 
But we weren’t too discouraged, as we found an awesome BBQ place, which I had been craving since moving to the west coast! I love pulled pork BBQ, especially Carolina BBQ. I still say that the best BBQ I’ve ever had was in Chapel Hill my junior year. Those were the best sweet potato fries I had ever had! After an awesome pulled pork dinner, we went back to the hotel an enjoyed some homemade wine from Stanburn Vineyards. It never fails that no matter how much awesome wine we’ve tasted that day, the wine made by Tab’s husband and father-in-law always surpasses the best that we tried. 
And Tab should be getting paid for the awesome mixes she makes with the wine! Fabulous! The next day, we toured Mt. Airy, NC, the birthplace of Tabatha, and the home of Andy Griffith. It’s a beautiful little community, with an old fashioned downtown, complete with the Old North State Winery and Opie’s Candy Shop. Opie is James’ Tuba nickname, so it was a must stop for us! And the Old North State Winery was actually one of my favorite stops, as it was in a restored main street building, which the pourer told us is haunted. I always love hearing people’s first hand accounts of a building being haunted. 
North Carolina grows a great deal of Muscadine grapes, the grapes used by Welch’s for their white grape juice. It’s very sweet, and the Old North State Winery had a very good Muscadine wine that would be perfect for a warm summer day picnic. If I hadn’t been flying, I would have bought a whole case of it. Darn those checked baggage fees! Our wine racks at home were getting pretty low, too, and I usually use these wine trips to restock. It was getting late, and I had to catch a flight, but we were still able to fit one more winery in on the way to the airport. Childress was our glamorous winery of the trip. They are always fun to visit, and great for first time winery visitors. The vineyards were beautiful, and the winery lavish, but we didn’t get to try very many wines, but had to pay a lot to taste the wines we were offered. 
If I had known that I was going to miss my connection in Chicago, I would have stayed longer in North Carolina, but off to the airport we went. My flight was delayed leaving, causing me to miss my flight by about five minutes in Chicago. I ran all the way there, only to find out that it was the last flight to San Diego, and they couldn’t get me out until the next day. It was my first experience sleeping in an airport, but thankfully Chicago had a huge USO, and I was given a cot to sleep on. I still didn’t get much sleep, since I was in front of a large screen tv, and I felt like everyone was watching me, even if they weren’t. I am definitely looking forward to our fourth annual wine trip, place to be determined, year 2010! 
Sunday, August 23, 2009
April 16th, 2009 - we still remember
It’s been almost two and a half years since the shootings, yet it still feels like yesterday that our lives were changed forever. Being so far away from anyone who understood about everything we’d gone through, I needed to be back in Blacksburg for the anniversary this year. 
It was such a refreshing trip, and exactly what I needed since James had just left, and I was about to be alone for a very long time. It’s hard being so far away from a place that is so important to you, especially a place as special as Blacksburg. Though we may not be there often, Blacksburg is definitely where our hearts are! I was so very thankful that Tab and David picked me up at midnight in North Carolina, and drove the two hours back to Blacksburg! 
We stayed at their friends football condo, and after four hours of sleep, woke up to run 3.2 miles for our beloved 32, especially for Stack. It’s funny how every time I’m in Blacksburg, I feel like I never left. Sure, there are always some new buildings, and I have an apartment 3,000 miles away, but I always run into people I know, and I just feel an overwhelming sense of well being. I ran into so many people that morning, and did the run with my co-workers. 
We were in the very back of the race, due to our lack of sleep, and we ended up walking most of the way. We started lined up by Squires, then went under Torg bridge, past the chapel, past Burruss and the memorial, and half way around the drill field. Then we looped up in front of hillcrest and by the duck pond, then back to the drill field, which we looped three times. 
I definitely miss running in Blacksburg, especially on the Huckleberry. My mind was so clear after a few hours out on the trail, and it was clear again after just a few hours in the Burg. I spent the day visiting friends who are still at Tech, visited professors, and wandered around campus taking pictures and enjoying the peace. I didn’t really plan for my trip to Blacksburg. I just kind of bought a plane ticket and flew there. 
I didn’t even have a place to stay or anything, but I wasn’t worried. Things in Blacksburg just seem to work out, and I ended up staying with Jen for the night. Before I crashed at Jens, I reunited with two of my favorite people, Laura and Stacey, and had dinner at Sharkey’s, a place we visited often in undergrad. It was just a great reminder of our time in college, sharing stories and memories of trips, football games, and of course, Sharkey’s. 
I think my favorite story is always the one when we missed the West Virginia game because we had to go on a band tour in Northern Virginia. Amazing memories and amazing friends! After dinner, Jen and I went to the vigil. It was weird this year, and as we sat there, it just felt really different than it did last year. This year, half of the students weren’t even here when everything happened, and you could just tell that as time moves on, so does how we feel about it. 
It was great having Jen there with me to help with the range of emotions I felt. I can’t quite describe what Blacksburg does to me, but it moves me on the inside. It did before the shootings, and now, even more so. We still remember...and we still believe. 
The countdown to Blacksburg has begun…only 27 more days!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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