I had a minor adventure yesterday. I finally went “over the mountain,” as they say around here, to go to Charlottesville, our nearest real city (it’s not really a big city, more of a mid-sized city, but it’s bigger than all the small cities around me). You have to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains to get there. I’ve actually crossed the mountains before to go to an event just on the other side of the mountains, and I drove past Charlottesville on my way home from my last trip to DC, but I hadn’t made it into the city itself before.

It’s only about a 45-minute drive from my house to the place I went shopping, probably less time to get downtown or to the tourist attractions, like Monticello. This was a shopping trip, so I didn’t hit any of the touristy spots or see anything that suggested the character of the town. I was strictly on the main shopping center road where the big box stores are, which is pretty much indistinguishable from anywhere else in suburban America. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to doing this. I guess it feels like a bigger trek than it really is, since it does involve crossing a mountain, but I used to drive farther than that to go to things around the Dallas area. Now that I have a proper mental image of it, I’m less intimidated and may go more often.

My main goal was hitting a big shoe store and buying some black boots I can walk in. It’s supposed to get cold next week, and I wanted to be ready. I usually walk to church, and I wanted to be able to look somewhat dressy while staying warm. What I had in mind was something like a riding boot, but none of the ones that they had in my size were very comfortable. When your feet hurt walking around the shoe store, it’s a bad sign. I ended up getting something different, some soft suede-like boots with a decent tread on the bottom. They look dressy, but they should be good for walking, and they’re washable. They probably aren’t waterproof, but if there’s snow on the ground I’d wear my snow boots and maybe throw a pair of ballet flats in my choir bag to change into at church.

In the same shopping center was a nice used bookstore. They didn’t have any of the specific things I was looking for, but they had a lot, so if I’m over there again I’ll make time to browse. They actually had a huge chick lit section full of all those books from the early 2000s, including a copy of Don’t Hex with Texas. I didn’t notice anything I hadn’t read by any of the authors I used to follow, but I’ll have to take more time to look in the future. I also hit a housewares shop and found a small saucepan with a pouring spout, something I’ve been looking for to make cocoa.

Then I found the fancy grocery store that has a nice cheese shop and bakery, so I know where to go when I need something that I can’t find in our town. Then I ran out of steam and hit something like museum fatigue, only it was shopping fatigue, probably because I delayed eating lunch until I got “hangry,” then couldn’t find anything I wanted to eat that I could get to easily, so I ended up just stopping at another grocery store and buying something at the deli (after having a chat in the parking lot with the kids running the Wienermobile that was parked outside) to eat in my car before I headed home.

I found a few more shops I want to get back to in the future, and now that I know where everything is and that getting there isn’t a massive ordeal and is actually a rather pleasant drive with stunning scenery, I may make more excursions in the future when I need something I can’t find locally. I’ve heard that you want to get home well before rush hour because there are a lot of people here who commute to Charlottesville, so the traffic can get bad, but the fact that people do commute shows that it’s not that far. I guess my brain is still thinking in Texas terms, so I look at distances on a map and think it’s a lot farther than it really is. It’s not a run grab a loaf of bread distance, but it is a good I need an ingredient or kitchen tool they don’t have here distance. Next time, maybe I’ll do some of the touristy stuff and go downtown or to Monticello. I’ll just have to be sure to avoid windy days, because the wind is pretty intense on that mountain pass, and there are lots of warning signs about fog on the mountain. The road goes up high enough that my ears popped on the way up and down.