Memorial Tech

It's Monday night and I just (okay an hour ago) got home from visiting Virginia Tech with John. I'm a little sad it's all over and we're home which means work tomorrow...but I'm also happy to be home with my kitties and my own bed...even if my room is a mess.
Our visit to Blacksburg was awesome. You know when someone describes a place to you over and over and over and over again and you have this image in your head only to have it completely inaccurate when you see the place for real? Yeah. That's pretty much what happened. I have to say I was very impressed with Virginia Tech's campus and all it had to offer. I hoped to be able to go inside some buildings but being a holiday everything was closed. John served as my thorough tour guide and explained every building he laid eyes on (literally) and took me to many, many old haunts. It was nice seeing some more of John's history, especially a place he loves so much. To clarify, John was excited to go to Disney World. But he was MORE excited to go back to Virginia Tech on this trip. Literally. Yeah...it was extremely funny and cute. He was pure giddy when we rolled ourselves into town and checked into the hotel. He was even more giddy when we got dinner at a pizza place he used to go to. Pretty much the entire weekend revolved around John being happy...which in turn makes me happy. I can't recall every single moment about our visit but here's a few favorites:

Gillies: a vegetarian restaurant/diner place that we had breakfast two mornings. One word: wow. You never miss the meat. NOT ONCE. The food was spectacular, the atmosphere artsy and Seattle-y and mod. Two thirds of the way through my breakfast a girl caught my attention in the corner of my eye. I turned and watched her use a juicer machine to make carrot, apple, pear, and beet juice. Yes...all those in one glass. I don't know what it was...but as soon as I saw that, I knew I had to taste it. However, I was eating a sweet breakfast and knew it would interfere with the flavor of the drink so I saved it until we had breakfast there a second morning. Today. I ordered a small to be safe...after all, I might hate it. I took one sip of the dark-red-with-dashes-of-orange liquid. Crack. Heaven. I later ordered a second one...this time a large. Amazing drink. I must try to recreate it. So yes...go to Gillies. You will not regret it. And as I said before...you won't miss the meat. They make MEAN potatoes. Fun note: our waiter the last morning (who I had spied before) looked EXACTLY like my dad's high school graduation photo. EXACTLY. Giant forehead, big lips, short hair, thick black glasses...it was basically him. So crazy...so crazy in fact that I ALMOST asked him if he was one of my long lost relatives...but I decided starting a conversation with "Hey, excuse me, you look EXACTLY like my dad...I mean...a younger version...I mean..." was probably not a good idea. So I let him be and just fully appreciated his kind knowing smile when I asked for a large fruit drink after I finished my first.

Pipe and Tobacco: This cigar shop is where John got several a cigar in his college day. He expressed a need to revisit it so we went in on our second day to have a gander and lo and behold the owner REMEMBERED JOHN. It was truly so sweet. They chit-chatted for quite awhile about the military and the owner and a friend who was there both reminisced about their Vietnam days. We ended up buying four cigars and the owner GAVE me two cigar boxes that he had for sale. He said he normally sold them to people who collected them but he just gave them to be. He was such a sweet guy! We told him we'd be back to visit the next time we were in town.

Memorial: As bittersweet as it was, I really enjoyed seeing the two main memorials on the Virginia Tech campus; the War Memorial and the April 16th Memorial, better known as the memorial commemorating the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre. Neither of these were "cool" to see. On the contrary, it was difficult visiting either but definitely a very proper way to spend Memorial Day. Both were very moving and thought-provoking and I had difficulty truly capturing their spirit in pictures. I might upload pictures once I've gotten them off my camera.

Hookah: I experienced my first ever hookah bar. It was definitely more flavorful and enjoyable than I expected it to be. The flavor we smoked was a combo of pomegranate, vanilla, and jasmine. I love random dates with my man.

Now we're home...it was a much needed break/time away. Sleep calls...