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Weekend in Richmond and Charlottesville

I recently made a weekend trip to Virginia to explore both Richmond and Charlottesville with my blogging friend Annaliese of Southern Belle in Training! If you also follow Annaliese, you know that she lives in Charlottesville and loves to take a quick trip to Richmond. She was offered a night at one of their hotels for a blog post, and invited me to join her! She also hosted me in Charlottesville, so I was able to see a little bit of both cities in one trip. Although I have always lived a state away in North Carolina, I had not seen very much of Virginia before. I had a great time in both cities, and thought it would be fun to share a little bit of how I spent the trip.

Richmond
We were hosted by The Graduate Hotel in downtown Richmond, located near the Virginia Commonwealth University campus. I loved their unique and fun decor that covers every detail within the hotel. We started off the weekend at their rooftop bar, The Byrdhouse with a drink and some bar bites.

We ventured out a few blocks to The Quirk Hotel, with a lobby that looked like it was made for Instagram. Pink couches, marble tables, gold accents, I wanted to take it all back to my apartment! They also had a great rooftop bar with more food options (including desserts!) and some fun cocktails.

After stopping for ice cream at Charm School Social Club, (which also had the cutest decor!) we made it back to The Graduate for an early night in. I think I also need these gingham chairs, right?

We got an early start to the morning by getting breakfast at The Fancy Biscuit a few miles from the hotel. It was decorated to look like a farmhouse, and had so many biscuit options on the menu. I enjoyed a country ham biscuit covered in Sriracha hollandaise sauce!

We went back to The Graduate to spend a little time in the rooftop pool before we checked out. Although I probably could have stayed there all day, we had beautiful weather!

After checking out of the hotel we headed to the Fan District for a little shopping. We found some upscale consignment, a few cute boutiques, and a great French restaurant, Can Can Brasserie for lunch. I had a truffle caesar salad, and wished I wasn't about to drive so I could have enjoyed some rosé with it!

Our last stop before heading to Charlottesville was Maymont Mansion. They have some beautiful gardens we were hoping to tour, but they were closed for a wedding. We did see the outside of the mansion, and the grounds were all still gorgeous!

Charlottesville
After driving about an hour to Charlottesville and seeing a little bit of the area, we went to get a quick dinner on the University of Virginia campus. We had pizza at College Inn that I'm sure is packed during the school year, but was empty during the summer. I also got to see a little bit of the iconic parts of campus (or apparently "grounds" if you went to UVA?), and learned some of the traditions. We actually ended up going right back the next morning to another part of campus to attend church!

After church, Annaliese showed me Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. The area was so historic and beautiful. Not many of the businesses were open yet to walk into, but I did get one of the best cold brew coffees I've ever had from Mudhouse. Try the nitro!

Then we were off to our main activity for the day, Roseland Polo at King Family Vineyard! The Charlottesville area has about as many wineries as we have breweries in Charlotte. As a self-proclaimed rosé connoisseur, I wish Charlotte had some wineries like this one! I did a quick tasting of a few of their best selling wines and we headed outside to watch the polo match. It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday!


Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

  1. Had so much fun showing you around!! Next time we can hit more wineries! ;)

    xoxo A
    www.southernbelleintraining.com

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