Charlottesville & Monticello, VA

Before we arrived at our destination we drove by Wytheville, VA which had the neatest water tank we have ever seen.

Here we are in Charlottesville, VA at their beautiful pedestrian mall.  The locals refer to the city  as CVille.  There is a mix of restored and renovated buildings that typified small downtowns throughout the country that can now be seen by visitors as they enjoy shopping, dining and visiting along the brick paved area.  There are more than 120 shops and 30 restaurants (many with outdoor cafes) housed in the historic buildings.  We noticed a large influx of people once they got off work at 5:00, stopping either for a drink and/or dinner.   It was cool enough to do that, especially since the sun was shining!  They do offer a free trolley service connecting the mall to the University of Virginia, but we spent almost two hours walking and shopping.  

They have a monument to the first amendment – called the “Free Speech” monument that invites free expression from, well, anybody!  It is a huge chalkboard on which you can make your views known, and read others’ too!  Once a week it is washed clean and the cycle starts again.  Mike wrote “Go Bakersfield.”

The next day we visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, and toured the house and grounds.  He was quite a visionary, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia, and America’s third president.  He designed the house over a 40-year period.  It sits on a hilltop overlooking Charlottesville and the remaining 2,000 acres of the Jefferson family’s original 5,000-acre plantation.  The three-story Palladian-style structure was entirely the product of Jefferson’s own vision, begun in 1769 when he was just 26 and expanded and refined over four decades, especially after his five year stay in France as U.S. minister.  Here is the first dome on a residence in North America.  In the entrance hall hang Indian artifacts, mastodon bones, and other relics from Lewis & Clark’s expedition to the Pacific Ocean, a journey Jefferson himself had ordered.  Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to take any inside pictures.

He wasn’t an inventor but made improvements to many items.  His time was important to him and he had a clock in every room.  After serving as President, he retired to Monticello, where he concentrated on the founding of the U of V.   He died there at age 83 on July 4, 1826, and is buried on the extensive grounds.  What we saw of the gardens was beautiful.

Mike felt he needed a surprise added to our trip.  Ever since our visit with Leslie and family he felt something different happening with his pacemaker.  Today he decided to let his cardiologist know with a phone call.  Within minutes of making the call he received a message from Dr. Maddox to go see a cardiologist at an E.R.  We cut our visit touring Monticello short and took off to the University of Virginia Hospital’s E.R.  After being admitted, being given an EKG he was put into a small room, where he was hooked up to a monitor.  He was seen by at least ten different nurses/e r. doctors/a resident doctor, a fellow heart specialist,  an interrogator to interpret the results of the machine that checked the history of Mike’s pacemaker, the head cardiologist and even a doctor who wanted to see Mike’s muscle twitching!  He told them this started May 30^th, which the history showed to be fact.  They finally figured out that the pacer was trying to correct a possible break in the insulation on one of the leads and reset it back the way it should be.  What an experience! 

The countryside is magnificently beautiful with all of the rolling wooded green hills, thick areas of trees lining most of the roads, and many wineries.