Vaaaaginya

And when I say Vaaaaginya, I'm not referring to any lady parts, that is just the way I prefer to pronounce Virginia, which is where I went this weekend. Richmond to be exact.

You see, I have what some might call a Gypsy soul. This is nothing new, I blame it on my first big girl job which required me to constantly fly around the US resulting in me spending more time in airports than in bars (and that's a lot). I just love taking trips. It is particularly bad in the summer and since moving to the middle of nowhere, I really can't seem to stay put these days. After two weekends in a row without leaving the state, enough was enough and on Friday night I decided we were hitting the road Saturday morning. Luckily Jose is about as laid back as they come and puts up with all my crazy shit and typically pays for it too. We booked a room and he hit the hay early while I watched about 38 episodes of Orange is the New Black.

Saturday we woke up I went for a sorry excuse for a run and then we packed the car and took off. I should tell you, even though I have this ridiculous wanderlust, I really hate being in a car. In fact I max out at about 45 minutes and want to crawl out of my skin with any ride longer than 4 hours. So you can imagine Jose's surprise when I actually drove the entire two hour trip there and back without so much as a fuss. He is usually the chauffeur so I am sure this was a nice change for him. I don't know the scenery was friggen gorgeous and I was in a damn good mood so I enjoyed the drive.

We checked into our hotel and then hit the streets. We had no real plans in Richmond other than to drink and eat some good food so we just walked around with Fred the dog and enjoyed being in the little city. When we had walked for about a million miles in the swamp ass heat, we figured it was beer thirty so we dropped Fred back at the room and headed to the Capital Ale House. They had this sweet ice rail on the bar to keep your drinks cold and the food was pretty tasty as well. I got down on a grilled Caesar salad with eggplant croutons. Fucking delicious. After our late lunch we went down to the river and checked out some murals.

By this time I was getting thirsty so we went back to the room and I poured myself a paper cup full of fireball. The fireball had me feeling delightful so I busted out my hair wand I can't really use and set to work making myself presentable. We were meeting up with a friend of Jose's from high school who lives there so I needed to be looking my best of course. Curling your hair after drinking is always wise and I have a burned left hand to prove it.

We made a few roadies before making the trek to the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood for some shenanigans. There was a lot of craft beer and a pretty bad ass mojito involved in the evening. Jose's friend was just darling and we had a great time bar hopping. We ended the night with a midnight dinner at a little joint called City Dogs. They had every type of hot dog you could ever imagine, but if I was drunk enough to eat a hot dog, you should know I certainly don't remember what was on it. I know Jose had one with coleslaw on top and it was better than mine. The friend had deep fried corn dog bites and they were pretty much the most amazing things ever.

Totally uncharacteristically, after a beer and hot dog, I told the boys I wanted to go home. I know alcohol is supposed to work as a depressant, but for me it is an upper. The more I drink usually the more lively and out of control I become and I never want to quit nor do I get tired. I am almost always the last man standing. I must be getting responsible in my old age however because I decided I wanted to call it a night and told them they could stay out. Lucky for me they decided to see to it I got back safe as I am as bad with directions as I am with self control.

None of us really remember but we believe we took a cab back to the hotel which is ridiculous considering the hotel was literally a six minute walk from the bar. Lazy. The next morning I awoke to more surprises, not only had I remembered to take my contacts out and put all my jewelry away, but I was sans hangover. Jose was not so lucky. He was feeling pretty rough and I knew shit was bad when we went to breakfast and he didn't eat a bite. That man never doesn't eat. He needed a bit more rest so after his non-breakfast I took Fred to a park and he slept. I reaffirmed the fact that I don't ever need a child when Fred and I romped around the park and I posed him in front of all the pretty buildings I saw.

Check out time was getting close so I went and awoke Hangover Henry and I convinced him to go down to the river once again. We walked around and the dog did some swimming. It was a pretty fantastic weekend all in all.