I don’t think any of these things are shocking or cutting edge or insightful (it’s been noted that I have no literary talent), but I’m tired of reading about OXO and X-Lounge so I figured I’d throw a few things out there. I imagine there won’t be many comments until someone insults or flirts with someone else, but what the heck.
- Mel’s- I love Mel’s. I’ve said before that their Meta Burger is my favorite burger in town. Mel and the crew are really nice folks and their food is darn tasty.
- The Rivanna Trail- I think this is really under-appreciated by the masses. The thing goes all the way around Cville for about 22 miles or so. It is broken up in a few places, but just ask someone if you get off track and you should be able to find your way. I wish it wasn’t so rocky in some places, but overall I think it is great.
- Cheeseballs w/ ranch at Riverside.
- Wayside Chicken. Their chicken tenders and combo meals are some of the best values in town.
- Carter’s Mountain Orchard- I can’t believe I missed peach/nectarine season. I definitely do not take enough advantage of this place in season.
- The City Market- Ok, most of it is overpriced. But, there are a couple vendors that sell sweet peppers for a very reasonable per pound price ($2 i think?), regardless of type. I miss being able to load up on red peppers without paying an arm and a leg.
- Crabtree Falls- Some say these falls have the biggest elevation drop of any east of the Mississippi. They aren’t mindblowing, given the twists and turns and pools that prevent you from seeing it in its entirety, but it is still a pretty cool place.
- Black Friar Theatre- ok so this is about a half hour away in Staunton, but I like this place. I’m no theatre buff, but the shows are entertaining and funny and I’m a huge fan of the musical interludes.
- Blue Hole- Nothing spectacular, but I’ve always had a good time going out there. The water always seems to be freezing, but after walking up to the swimming hole on a hot day it’s just what you want.
- $1 games of bowling at Wayne Lanes- I bowl maybe once every two years, but I can appreciate the cost effectiveness of this.
- Bruce coming to town.
- Virgil Goode representing me in Congress. Just kidding.
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Tagged as: Activities, Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Concerts, Government, Politicians, Raves, Restaurants
I’m still heartbroken about some other thread, so I will disagree with everything you say.
* Mel’s burger: no, Rapture burger.
* The Rivanna Trail: no, the Senior Center trail leading to the Rivanna Trail. For no rocks, that is.
* Cheeseballs w/ ranch at Riverside: no, Neopolitan-crust pizza at Fabio’s next door.
* Wayside Chicken: no, Amoco chicken down the road on Fontaine.
* Carter’s Mountain Orchard: no, VintageVirginiaApples.com on 29S before North Garden.
* The City Market: no, the Wednesday market in Meade Park.
* Crabtree Falls: no, Little River Canyon in the state of Alabama (and it’s less crowded).
* Black Friar Theatre: no, New Lyric Theater.
* Blue Hole: no, must have salt water.
* $1 games of bowling at Wayne Lanes: I AGREE.
* Bruce: no, because I doubt he would drop by Millers.
* Virgil Goode: no, mountain man Creigh Deeds.
What are you heartbroken about Colfer???
* Mel’s burger: never been no, Rapture burger. never had it
* The Rivanna Trail: Yes. Love it. Big fan of riverrun: nice river, nice dogs, nice people
* Cheeseballs w/ ranch at Riverside: no, Neopolitan-crust pizza at Fabio’s next door: What? huh?
* Wayside Chicken: no, Amoco chicken down the road on Fontaine. again you’ve lost me
* Carter’s Mountain Orchard: no, VintageVirginiaApples.com on 29S before North Garden. Carter’s is great
* The City Market: no, the Wednesday market in Meade Park. Are you trying to be contrarian, colfer
* Crabtree Falls: no, Little River Canyon in the state of Alabama (and it’s less crowded).confused again
* Black Friar Theatre: no, New Lyric Theater.blackriars is the winner here
* Blue Hole: no, must have salt water.ocean trumps hole
* $1 games of bowling at Wayne Lanes: I AGREE.sounds reasonable
* Bruce: no, because I doubt he would drop by Millers.who in their right mind would drop by Miller’s these days? watered down drinks anyone?
* Virgil Goodeas advocating violence no doubt violates at least one of the ten million rules L and T have imposed on us, I remain silent/
Discretion is the better part of valoir. So what pizza & apples do you like! Also, that Earl Hamner Theater in Nellysford on 151 can be amazing, it often has the best serious theater in this area. It’s only a 30 minute drive, closer than Staunton, but not on the I-state.
Here are a few other unsung heroes:
The Blue Moon Diner: Very good food, great atmosphere, wonderful employees, and dirt cheap. BONUS: Two of the cleanest bathrooms in C-ville
Live Arts Wednesday is Pay-What-You-Can night. See a great play, support local artists, enjoy the newly expanded bar, and impress your date: all for the price of whatever your wallet (and conscience) can afford. Best deal in town. Also, on all other nights the balcony is always just $10
Free Fire Dancing Monthly at McGuffey (when the whether is better) Good times for the whole family
The Roller rink in Staunton Perhaps the funniest thing you can do is head to this rink on a Saturday night. Parents just drop there kids off and leave. Seriously when I went there were forty kids 8 - 15 yrs and about three adults. The kids were well behaved. It was great entertainment (anthropologically and athletically) Beware of the hotshot kids. Some daredevil 8 year old totally wiped me out.
The Free Public Library It’s free! It’s Public! And they apparently let in anybody…. (Oh and yes, they DO serve Bud Light)
I second your Earl Hamner bid and raise you two summer arts carnivals (Wunderkammer and Shentai). I heard good things
OK, it’s 40 minutes if you don’t want to be late, Nellysford. The Chekhov was fantastic, I haven’t seen the cabaret. They support local playwrights also, but in a totally un-cringing fashion.
Blackfriars is a matter of taste, they are super talented & entertaining, sort of commedia dell’arte, but not so you would notice ;). I don’t think they learned those moves at the Staunton rollerskate rink. I’m more in the New Lyric thing even if it veers onto the Anglo-acidic sometimes. And Live Arts is the wellspring of adventure. How many times can go to that well those whose slake infirms?
Que?
I think we’ve given Blue Moon credit where it’s due! Here are some of our conversations…
mel’s makes a surprisingly delicious veggie sandwhich, and their potato salad puts grandmothers everywhere to shame.
and yeah, livearts is another thing i really love aout this town, along with so many other things.
OK, maybe I left out a pronoun.
How many times can go to that well those whose slake of it infirms? Live Arts!
I think you left out more than a pronoun.
i certainly won’t argue that Blue Hole is better than the ocean or bay, and i’ll check out Fabio’s sometime soon.
and what senior trail are you talking about? the one off of barracks rd that runs up towards STAB? That is not a bad loop but I don’t think that is even a mile long. But yea, not many rocks there.
and a wednesday market? that doesn’t sound like a great idea to me. when are the hours?
Senior Center: there’s a spur trail leading into a pretty part of the Rivanna Trail. It starts at the Sr. Center & Pepsi Place at Greenbrier & Hillsdale. It goes south on a very easy grade for a mile or less before it hits the main loop of the Rivanna Trail near Greenbrier Elementary. It has no rocks. It is part of the Rivanna Trail, but that is not very contrarian, huh!
Ok yea i know what you are talking about now. there are at least 3 senior centers/retirement homes that i can think of with paths to the rivanna trail. maybe that is an attractive perk for the elderly.
regarding markets: there was also some kind of market that would set up during the week behind the IX building. i always walked by on the way home from work, back in the day when it was light outside. it looked like they sold fruit out of trucks. i don’t know anything else about this market other than it seemed, at one point, to exist.
does anybody know what i’m talking about? did i dream this?
Parlie, that was probably Horse & Buggy Produce that Lys raved about. They used that site as a Wednesday midday pickup spot. You could buy some items a la carte, but most went to people picking up their shares.
I have some additions:
b>Walk almost anywhere I can make it to belmot or UVA in 10-15 minutes on foot from home - I could never go back to commuting again.
Main Street Market sure, it’s expensive but I love that we have a all the trappings of a Dean and Deluca spread across several small businesses. If only Mona Lisa Pasta were here instead of on Preston…
Local Food in Abundance I can get milk, eggs, chicken, beef, produce and flour all locally made (and there’s even enough green houses to get me through the winter with some leafy greens).
Neighborhoods Lewis Mountain is different from North Downtown is different from 10th and Paige and I enjoy wandering them all.
Things I miss:
Jefferson Theater $3 Movies I hope Coran doesn’t drop the movie part entirely when he reopens in 2008.
I love the city, pretty much. I just wish there were more parks/athletic fields (for purely selfish reasons) and another ice rink .. not enough places to play hockey, the Ice Park has the only sheet of ice within an 1 hour drive.
i definitely miss the jefferson too. growing up around richmond i used frequent the byrd theater, and i was glad to see another second run place when i got here. it was nice having a cheap standby when you had nothing else to do. plus, that was where i first saw one of my favorite movies: The Station Agent.
I like the different neighborhoods a lot too. i think i’ve been on foot through pretty much all of them for one reason or another, and i find all of them interesting. i think growing up largely in a nondescript subdivision has helped me appreciate that sort of thing more than i would have otherwise.
i’ve vowed not to live in one of those cookie cutter places again, and i am thankful that, at least for now, Cville is largely avoiding that sort of thing.
Yes to missing the $3 movies but thank god we still have VH theater
i also dig the free trolley. sure, it is not usually on schedule, but it’s a good way to get from the uva area to downtown if you are feeling a little lazy or its raining and you have no umbrella.
Carter’s sucks. I go to Flippin Seaman for my apples.
Ethan just because you have an affinity for Flippin Seaman doesn’t mean Carter’s sucks. stop sounding like an idiot.
The pink lady apples at the apple cookies at Carter’s are great! I need to figure out their cookie recipe.
i like the white t-shirt gang! wait, that came out wrong.
i like my neighborhood, really, even though i do keep a crowbar under my bed. i guess it just seems more *real* than, say, eagle’s landing.
Wayside chicken is definitely the place to go for fried chicken. Cain’s on Emmet is pretty good, though. It is a franchise, but it’s chicken fingers are way better than any I’ve ever had.
Cheeseballs at Riverside? Cheeseburger. All the way. Love the slice of onion in it.
Mudhouse! South Street, Mas, Michael’s Bistro, Tokyo Rose, Mellow Mushroom, Crozet Pizza, Bodo’s, Continental Divide, Court Square, Aqui es Mexico, … the list is too long. Whatever Jerry Danner does next.
Walnut Creek Park (awesome trails). Does anybody still play disc golf?
Comment # 12 is right on.
swannanoa golf course for some laid back, beer drinking, wonderful views, good time
Onesty Pool - the only public outdoor pool that I know of for lunchtime lap swims. In the summertime when it’s muggy and unbearable this is my only form of outdoor exercise.
Cafe Milano - Illy espresso served with an Italian-style experience.
Also, I second Lys’ comments about Main Street Market. I wish I had more disposable income to spend there.
spudnuts!
There is a disc golf group, yeah.
http://avenue.org/brdgc/
My favorite thing about living here is the women*. You’re pretty, healthy, seem happy, and are approachable. Maybe you work out? Maybe you don’t, maybe you fake-tan? I don’t care. You look great ladies, keep up the good work.
*not even talking about college students
H-D, as I read your entreaties to our lady villains, a quote attributed to Lord Nelson of the British Navy springs to mind: “Never mind manoevres; go straight at `em.”
You are so right about Charlottesville’s ratio of hotties though!
Little Johns’ Wild Turkey.
The weather and the fact that it changes.
I’ll 2nd H-D’s women comment, especially the ones jogging around town.
CVSSC
My least favorite thing… Bodo’s won’t toast my bagel! Why not?
Dang, I guess I 3rded it, and fourthed it.
I love Daedalus Books, Big Jim’s, and the C&O. Those places are quintissential Charlottesville to me. No matter what the social clime, what’s hip, or what’s not - they each possess an element of this town’s true nature.
Perhaps that subject deserves a thread of its own? I’ll work on that… No,.. someone who knows who I am said to me after a particular post “you’ll never date in this town again”. I’m liable to offend everyone I’d like to compliment… anyone wanna take a shot at it? Be my guest.
semi on topic, does anyone know of any especially good local or semi-local barbeque or other types of sauces around here and where i could buy a bottle or two? that is always my standby gift for my dad
Sorry Magic… bbq sauces are not my thing but I did blow a fortune in Williams-Sonoma last week on some of their illustrious exotic sauces… chili Garlic wok sauce, carmelized onion, red and green Thai curry paste… oh I could go on. Upper level at Short Pump
cbob How right you are
34 - because it slows the line
Magic Rat - Check out Hog Heaven up in Ruckersville. It’s on 29 on the right, behind the Wendy’s, just before the intersection of 29 and 33. It’s some killer Q and they do a good variety of sauces very well, all available by the bottle.
Some of my favorite things about this town just popped into my head… Timberlake’s lunch counter, old fashioned ice-cream at Chaps, and the Fork Union Drive-in. I come from a small town and all of these places remind me just a bit of my childhood, luncheonettes, sweet-shops, nostalgic movie houses, etc.. I don’t go to any of them enough, but I hope they’re still around one day for my kids to enjoy!
[my best date ever was eating chinese food, drinking beer, and making out in the back of a pick-up truck at the drive-in years ago. I still have the faded ticket stubs.]
Silmo, i just don’t buy that answer. Every stinkin’ bagel shop in New York can toast bagels and paint my house faster than Bodos can get me a plain bagel with a side of cream cheese.
A few more adds:
The marquee at the Paramount. Quite possibly the only blinking lights in Charlottesville right now that I actually like watching! I love how the lights spell out P-A-R-A-M-O-U-N-T!
Sidetracks. Super nice folks, and they will special order any CD you want if it’s not in stock!