I love my husband and I can be admittedly clingy when it comes to spending time away. Also, I had never been on a one-on-one vacation with my best girlfriend, who has been my best girlfriend for the past 11 years, and that just seemed wrong. So I decided that for her birthday I would use a Groupon (Yay Groupon!) to take us out for a girl's weekend away.
I found a nice deal, 2 nights for the price of one, at the Chesapeake Inn in Urbanna, VA. It sounded nice: only 2 1/2 hours away, quaint small town, extremely popular Oyster Festival over the summer, hiking, an hour away from Williamsburg and the inn had bikes that we could use if we wanted to. I checked in with Katieschmatie, got the go-ahead and got the Groupon! We were super excited for our girl's weekend away. And if we'd known the bikes were actually SURREY bikes that look like this:
we would have been even more excited to go. As it was, we were pretty excited to see the bikes, period!
Fantastic Chef Hubby made some amaaaaaaaaaaaazing granola for us to snack on during the car ride:
Now, Katieschmatie and I set out on this weekend looking forward to some downtime. We've needed it. Our months have been insanely packed for well... months. First there was my wedding, then the holidays, then just insanity with social activities after the holidays. Leaving for a weekend away felt like a huge relief. We were looking forward to small town life and some enforced relaxation.
Enforced relaxation is definitely the way to describe it. Urbanna is insanely busy in the summer but during the off-season there is nothing to do. There are no clubs or bars, the restaurants have bars but all of the restaurants close at 9pm on the weekends. All the shops close at 5pm. The closest movie theater is 40 minutes away and you can't look up what movies it's showing online, you have to call and listen to their listings (which set us giggling as we had flashbacks to our middle school days). Every time we would get all up and raring to go one of us would say: "So, what can we do?"
We'd pause. Look around. Check the map, which had a schedule of events, however the events only happen March - November. And then we'd look at each other and say "Nothing. There is nothing to do."
It was exactly what we needed.
We explored the town, which is beautiful, both on the surrey bike and on foot. The Chesapeake Bay was a mere 10 minute walk from the inn. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful sky either.
Our first night there we drove the forty minutes to the movie theater to watch This Means War. Cute and fun. We got home at 9pm and refused to get into bed because we knew we'd fall asleep, and neither of us wanted to call our husbands to say goodnight that early. We were pretty sure they'd judge us. So we knit and read and then watched Wedding Crashers on TV before finally calling it a night around 11pm.
The next morning we were up at 8am, which horrified Katieschmatie. She hasn't been up that early in awhile. Had breakfast in town, which was delicious. Wandered around the shops, which had closed before we were able to get to them the evening before. We found a Thrift Shop which was having a sale, and filled up a basket of clothes for $4. We discovered that beer and wine is a heck of a lot cheaper in Urbanna, and doesn't have the obnoxiously high tax that Montgomery County puts on booze. So we stocked up.
For the afternoon we headed to Williamsburg, VA, since it was only an hour away and we didn't know what else to do in Urbanna (unfortunately neither of us care much more fishing and we didn't have a boat).
We came back to Urbanna in time to catch the Open Mic night at the Oyster House. 3 local guys with guitars, a keyboard and a ukulele, good harmonies and voices. We had a blast listening to them and eating delicious food (homemade bread pudding in a bourbon cream sauce YUM!) until the restaurant closed at 9-ish. After that we went back to our room and found what is possible the most dangerous show on TV: Animal's Planet's "Too Cute," a look at seriously cute animals. The episode we caught featured puppies. I can't even tell you how badly I want a puppy now.
The next morning I took another walk around town before we packed up, heading to Something Different, a restaurant just outside of town, which truly was something different and their food was amazing. We bought a lot of seasonings and sauces to take home and I can't wait to make some brisket!
All in all, it was a very fun weekend and exactly what we needed. On the ride home we both commented about how we felt truly relaxed for the first time in ages. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I felt that refreshed and relaxed after a weekend. It made me realize I need to slow down a little, say no occasionally to making plans, and enjoy myself rather than exhaust myself.
I found a nice deal, 2 nights for the price of one, at the Chesapeake Inn in Urbanna, VA. It sounded nice: only 2 1/2 hours away, quaint small town, extremely popular Oyster Festival over the summer, hiking, an hour away from Williamsburg and the inn had bikes that we could use if we wanted to. I checked in with Katieschmatie, got the go-ahead and got the Groupon! We were super excited for our girl's weekend away. And if we'd known the bikes were actually SURREY bikes that look like this:
Fantastic Chef Hubby made some amaaaaaaaaaaaazing granola for us to snack on during the car ride:
Enforced relaxation is definitely the way to describe it. Urbanna is insanely busy in the summer but during the off-season there is nothing to do. There are no clubs or bars, the restaurants have bars but all of the restaurants close at 9pm on the weekends. All the shops close at 5pm. The closest movie theater is 40 minutes away and you can't look up what movies it's showing online, you have to call and listen to their listings (which set us giggling as we had flashbacks to our middle school days). Every time we would get all up and raring to go one of us would say: "So, what can we do?"
We'd pause. Look around. Check the map, which had a schedule of events, however the events only happen March - November. And then we'd look at each other and say "Nothing. There is nothing to do."
It was exactly what we needed.
The next morning we were up at 8am, which horrified Katieschmatie. She hasn't been up that early in awhile. Had breakfast in town, which was delicious. Wandered around the shops, which had closed before we were able to get to them the evening before. We found a Thrift Shop which was having a sale, and filled up a basket of clothes for $4. We discovered that beer and wine is a heck of a lot cheaper in Urbanna, and doesn't have the obnoxiously high tax that Montgomery County puts on booze. So we stocked up.
The next morning I took another walk around town before we packed up, heading to Something Different, a restaurant just outside of town, which truly was something different and their food was amazing. We bought a lot of seasonings and sauces to take home and I can't wait to make some brisket!
All in all, it was a very fun weekend and exactly what we needed. On the ride home we both commented about how we felt truly relaxed for the first time in ages. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I felt that refreshed and relaxed after a weekend. It made me realize I need to slow down a little, say no occasionally to making plans, and enjoy myself rather than exhaust myself.
Love it! Need to do it again soon.
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