charlottesville, virginia

so it turns out that my 2 hour layover in washington dc is actually 6 hours, plus for the first time ever, we got here 30 minutes early. this means i have time to update my blog. dont worry i still went around and saw some sites here in dc, so i will have those pics up when i get to chicago or home....



let me start off with my trip from miami to charlottesville. it kind of sucked. if you recall from the last post i was very tired so i was planning on sleeping most of the 24 hour train ride up to virginia. it was great for the first 3 hours, i had two seats because nobody was sitting next to me. then the last 21 hours were horrible. i only had 2/3 of a seat. and no that doesnt say i had 2 to 3 seats. its a fraction. its less than 1. there was this larger woman that took the seat next to me and was hanging over about a third onto my seat. i was crushed up against the window trying to sleep the rest of the way....

jenny marquez, a friend from church in the basement, moved over to virginia last december, so she was a perfect candidate for my last scheduled stop on my trip. though the night i got in i found out that she is actually moving back to california the first of june, so i will be able to see her anytime in about two weeks or so. she barely made the decision around the first of may....

i am going to try and make this blog faster than the last one, so there might be some clumping of pictures. the first handful are just some of the beautiful scenery of the area. no real story behind them.

thats HERBIE hancock......


top floor of the luxurious omni hotel. they had free iced tea.....



































































while i was up on top of a parking garage taking pictures i saw this cool little balcony that i was determined to get to.


after acting like i knew where i was going and looked like i was supposed to be there i made my way through the lower level of the buildings climbing up. it was a theater building where they were putting on a street car name julie, or something. once i got to the top floor, finally a guy stopped me and asked me if he could help me. he was cool and told me that i wasnt supposed to be there but would let me go out to the balcony anyways.



so i made it.....




































here are some cops being jerks. they gave this homeless dude a citation or warning or something, for what seemed to be no reason at all. and it took 3 of them to do it....






































screw 7 minute abs, 4 min......
its 7 not 4, you know 7 little chipmunks swinging from a branch on my uncles ranch, 7. you cant even get a sweat going in 4 minutes.....









































































wow......


























































retreat pictures......






















































































on sunday i went with jenny and her church group on a two hour drive through a lot of scenic roads to a retreat they have once every quarter with there sister church. here we are in the car driving. thats jenny and one of her roommates jenine. nate the driver is giving the peace symbol. pretty much all of the tree and flower and the like pictures were taken up at the gorgeous resort place. it was at an old time inn that was build in the 1910's. the inn and property were awesome.



there was about a 2 hour service, then it was time for food. the food was great. we had side stuff like salad and chips and salsa, but the main dish was what really mattered. we had what they called hobo dinners. there was an assembly line where you would go through and put a layer of sliced potatoes then some meat, carrots, onions, seasoning, and all then a top layer of potatoes. you wrap it all up in tin foil and we took them outside an set them on hot coals.





about 30 minutes later you had a nice hot meal that tasted great.



then what kind of retreat would it have been without smores....mmmm smores.























more scenery.....



















































fun with long time exposures. these are so much fun to do.....
yeah i know they are both me talking to myself. its the easiest thing to do in the shortest amount of time....






this is david and anita. they are really cool people. jenny and i went over to their house on saturday night to hang out for hours and hours. they were the people that jenny knew in the area which is why she moved to charlottesville.




this was taken inside the inn. thats nate behind me. hes the guy who drove us.























cool little garden in the backyard....




so that was charlottesville in a nutshell. sorry the post was so random and out of order, but i wasnt in the mood to have it take 3 hours again.
this leads me to today. sitting in union station in washington dc. my train now leaves in about an hour so home is only a hop skip and jump away. it feels like just 26 days ago my trip started. time flies when you are having fun i guess.

next stop chicago for about 6 hours, which i just found out that my mom is still there from driving my sister back out from california, so i should be able to see her. we will see though.....