Monday Morning. Our last morning in Staunton. Immediately after lunch we will leave for Atlanta. We woke up early, dressed, packed, and made our way to the lobby for check out. A man took our keys and gave us our receipt upon checking out. He then told us what to do about parking. We were curious how that was supposed to work. When we originally arrived at the hotel we were told to take a ticket and would pay when we left. However, when we checked into the hotel they told us to ignore the ticket and use our key card to enter and exit the parking garage. . . we would be charged for parking upon check out. But what happens when we check out and no longer have that key card to leave the garage? Apparently we just show our receipt to a lady at the gate. We said thanks and asked if we could leave our car there and grab something to eat before we left. He said that was fine and that the garage lady (for lack of a better term) would be there until 5:00 p.m.
Once we left for lunch, Jason said he never remembered seeing a lady at the parking gate before. Come to think of it, I hadn't either. Not once. Wonder what we were supposed to do if she wasn't there. Maybe she is supposed to be there but has been skipping out of work all weekend. Oh well, we'd figure it out. First food.
We decided to eat at our beloved Baja Bean before leaving. We walked out the front of the hotel and took a left down the brick sidewalk. A large gust of wind wrapped itself around the building's corner and washed over us. All weekend this strong wind has done this. Each and every morning it would cause us to shiver and pull our tickets closer inward. Every. Single. Morning. Today, however, something was different. The same wind visited us once more, but seemed to without it's frosty friend. The sun was shining just as brightly but the warmth was felt even when the wind came. Jason and I both stood there for a second, looked at each other, and said "Really?!" We would be here for maybe two hours to enjoy this beautiful day... why hadn't the frosty friend left days earlier? Oh well, it was still a very lovely trip and we could still enjoy the last two hours in Staunton.
We found Baja Bean but soon realized we must be a little early. The doors were locked. Opening times here are merely a suggestion here. Either that or someone has gone to every shop in Staunton and changed the times to slightly before they truly open. We decided to waste some time in an antique shop we love just down the street. We walked in and a woman greeted us. She told us to come on in and that she had just opened and it may take her about 10 minutes to get her register going, but we were more than welcome to look around. We thanked her and began to browse the isles. We love this place. Tons of old things. A massive grandfather clock. Old razors. Antique china. Creepy dolls missing a few eyes from the early 1900s. We were sometimes afraid to breathe for fear of knocking something over (each inch of the store was packed with items). Jason purchased an old 1930s razor (he collects old razors) and I two beautiful hair pins. We also found a small white dish with lions on the side. We checked out and then made our way to Baja Bean again. Horray!! They were open.
A woman we had never seen before came to our table and took our order. Soon we had a basket of chips and salsa. Our food arrived shortly after. Below are pictures:
Once full, we walked back to the hotel parking garage and got in my cute, orange fit for the drive home. Jason put in a new audio book from the same author as Stiff and Spook. We love her. This one was called Gulp. It was about digestion. I know, I know, it sounds boring but it really wasn't. She's so good. We put the book on hold, however, until making our way out of the parking garage. Turns out the garage lady did in fact exist! She was there today... out of nowhere!
Jason said he'd drive back home, but asked if I would drive to get us to a gas station first. I did. Luckily we had just filled up the tank when we went to Monticello. I drove not far before we decided we wanted something to drink. We pulled over at a nearby gas station and headed inside for a soda. We glanced in the windows only to find a store filled with electronic equipment... no snacks or food. Really strange gas station. We decided to get back in the car and head toward the nearest quick trip. Four hours later, a quick trip showed up. Jason grabbed two corn dogs and a tea. I grabbed a bag of popcorn and CheerWine. Delicious. We ate in the parking lot and then made our way to the interstate.
Jason and I listened more to Gulp on the way home. Sadly, each time we turned the car off the audio book would go back a chapter... we had to relisten to quite a bit of the book. We kept ourselves entertained and then picked up where we left off. Finally, Atlanta hit. Below is the best picture I could get of Atlanta . . . for some reason it was really hard to get a good picture.
We decided to stop by World of Beverage on the way back for some beer. I had never had a full beer and Jason and I thought it was time to fix that. We grabbed some genuineness along with a Smirnoff Green Apple and made our way home. Our cats lovingly called to us from inside as we grabbed our luggage out of the car. We missed them. We put everything down and played with the cats for a while. We then unpacked, grabbed a beer, and watched some tv. All in all a pretty great day :^) Side note: yes, we did finish our fitbit steps that day. We rock at that lately.
Although this did not happen on this date but on March 31st, I will say... we also had a great time celebrating my mom's birthday as well. When we returned Jason and I made a homemake Barbie Cake like the ones my mom made us when we were little. We found buttercream frosting for the top, too. Here is a picture:
