Thanksgiving Travels | Charlottesville, VA

From Winfield, we headed towards Virginia, actually going just past Charlottesville to Richmond, where we went to Bottom's Up pizza to have dinner with Ben and Mary, who drove up from Virginia Beach. I wasn't in photo mode just yet, so I don't have any pictures to prove we actually saw them — you'll just have to take my word for it.

I do, however, have pictures detailing our stay in C-ville. We were staying with Celeste and John (who were fabulous hosts). Celeste took Monday off to coffee-shop hop with Heath and Myself as we took care of various work-related things pre-holiday. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was our stop at Little John's (a deli near campus) where I was able to order my absolute favorite sandwich from undergrad: The Ranchand. Even with a slightly modified recipe, it was DELICIOUS. See:



We had a much more sophisticated dinner with Celeste and John later that night before heading over to Monday Night Live, the large group meeting for Chi Alpha (the campus ministry that Heath and I were involved with). When the ministry first started my freshman year, there were fewer than 20 of us involved. By the time I left to head to Chicago, there were maybe 50 to 60. Today, they have an average 200 or so people at the MNL meetings and over 300 people involved in a small group — CRAZY! Celeste and I sat in the front row, as usual, and marveled at the many things that had changed. It was a real treat to be able to speak for a few minutes at the meeting and share some thoughts on the Christian life post-college. Chi Alpha was a huge part of my spiritual development, so it was a little like meeting little siblings I didn't know I had.

[at dinner]


[at Chi Alpha, which has very fancy signs now]


We spent most of Tuesday morning with Pete and Amy (they were my campus pastors, Pete married Heath and I), just catching up and having really great conversations about everything from Christian community to healthcare. It was very special to be able to spend that time with them and their son, Ian.

When we left C-ville that night, it was for another VA Beach rendezvous in Richmond, this time with Jess and Adam. They braved some pretty hellish traffic to meet us, but our dinner at Mama Zu's, this hole-in-the-wall Italian place near VCU was well worth it! Our food was stellar and, of course, it was great to be able to split a bottle of wine, catch up and hear all about their new home and their new dog, Samson, a yellow lab.




After our whirlwind of catching up with friends, we headed north to dive into family time with the Pietrangelos.