Charlottesville

I was absolutely delighted by Scott's suggestion that we stop in Charlottesville on our way north through Virginia. I spent a year in Virginia (August 1996 - May 1997) while I was taking classes at UVA for my Masters Degree in Accounting, and this was pretty much a great year for me. Having been raised all my life in Florida and having earned my undergraduate degree at one of the state's largest schools (FSU!) it was eye-opening to attend a university out of state. The interactions I enjoyed with my classmates and the faculty at UVA were extraordinary. I loved my fun year in Charlottesville, mainly for the ways in which this time helped me to grow as a person, but since I hadn't been back to that place I was eager to revisit some of those memories. Plus, Charlottesville is just a cool place - even if you have no connection to it - and I knew that Scott would appreciate the history.

We walked around the Rotunda building on campus and went inside to view the historic rooms. In the second photo below Scott and the kids are playing with the microphone that is used for academic ceremonies that take place in this space.

This is a photo os one of the side parlors that was used to welcome visitors to campus.

 Outside of the Rotunda, looking down on the Lawn.

After our enjoyable time in town we drove out to visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. You likely know that Thomas Jefferson founded UVA. What I didn't know was that the university wasn't founded until TJ was well into his retirement years. TJ lived at Monticello for a long time before students attended the university. The photo below is a view from the grounds of Monticello looking towards the mountains.

Lovely Monticello!

We took a fascinating tour of Monticello, but unfortunately cameras were not permitted inside the main house so I do not have photos to share of the home itself. But afterwards we all tried writing with feather quills, as TJ had done back in the day, on paper. While the writing wasn't particularly difficult, keeping the ink on the feather tip long enough to write more than three letters proved to be a challenge.

Amelia's work in progress...