HELLO FROM BLACKSBURG

I thought you should meet Ben -- this picture is from the Wolf Trap Gala a few months ago (isn't he handsome? Plus I'm in heels and he's *still* taller than me!)

Anyway, Ben is a Tech grad. Sidenote: when I met him and he said he went to VT I thought he went to University of Vermont (He thought I was nuts) -- I think most northeasterners have no clue about the VT Nation! Anyway, this weekend, Ben wanted to visit his Alma Mater so off we went on our 4 hour drive that started with a nice bottleneck on I-66 where the lanes merge. It wasn't long before I was napping in the fetal position in the shotgun seat. (Ben calls me a "sleep camel" because I store up on sleep anytime and anywhere.)

It was strange driving through a campus I literally knew nothing about, unfortunately, until this past April like so much of the country. I had seen so many images from the tragic news -- the Drill Field, Norris Hall, and here we were on campus looking at it so deserted with students gone for the summer.

We checked into the hotel and Ben showed me around the old places he used to go (He even showed me the court where he used to shoot hoops with his buddies and one hoop is about 9" too tall and the other is about 6" too short -- see, I pay attention). We ate at Mike's Grill. He insisted they have the BEST burgers on the planet. Now I am a Cornell grad, and in my mind, there is no burger better than a Pines Burger (if you're familiar with the greater Ithaca area, it is a cool restaurant on the west side of Cayuga Lake.) So there I was with my cheeseburger, mayo, lettuce and tomato thinking "this is awfully plain to be good" and I was SOOOOOOOOOO wrong! It is right up there with a Pines Burger. But the Pines Burger comes with way more stuff on it, so it is kind of like comparing apples and oranges. But let's give credit where credit is due -- if you're ever in Blacksburg, Mike's Grill is where you want to jet out for some eats!

We spent the rest of the afternoon tubing on the New River through New River Junction. (If you are prone to car sickness, the road that takes you there is rather curvy...heads-up!) We got our tubes and flopped onto them and proceeded to drift lazily downstream until "OW!" Yup, there are some "ridges" of rocks in that shallow river, AND, if you let your backside droop too far below the tube (as I did), you will soon realize that your little happy float can hurt real bad real fast... Once you knew to look out for the rocks, it was a lot of fun. Ben even spotted a large catfish swimming by "minding his business" below us (my thought bubble unbeknownst to Ben was "OMG get me out of this freaking river!) We only got stuck on some rocks a few times. Good times.

Before we head back tomorrow, we plan on eating at a really yummy place called "The Homeplace". He's been talking it up the whole trip; I am really looking forward to it.

Okay, I have to go because I just bought "HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS" and want to start reading it RIGHT NOW! (BTW, some lady at a the farmer's market was speaking really loudly with a customer about the book and was saying "so tell me, does Harry die?" to which Ben and I both covered our ears and shouted "STOP TALKING STOP TALKING!"