Virginia | Down Home Traveler

I took my first trip to Virginia in July of 2005 (also my first time on an airplane), I’ve now been three times each to see some awesome friends. I loved it so much that I was pretty tempted to move. I’m really not sure why I never did.

The DC area has so much to offer and so much history. Each time I’ve visited there is something new to see and the museums are pretty affordable so it’s a great place to go! (The Smithsonian’s are all free and there’s about a 20 of them.)

My favorite place when I visited wasn’t in a museum or even in DC. It was driving around in Virginia. We went to see my friend’s mom’s horse and visit some family members and the drive alone was worth the trip. It may take you only 20 minutes to get into the city but when you are out, it’s a beautiful countryside. White fences line the roads, horse farms are everywhere with rolling pastures. At sunset the dew and humidity would sit right above the grass in the fields. What I wouldn’t give to live out there (too bad the home prices are kind of outrageous).

Who wouldn’t like to drive down these roads everyday to their home?

When we were traveling down these roads, there were historical markers stating Civil War activity occurred here. Maybe someday I can go back and just roam around and imagine the history of the land.

Love and miss them a ton!

There are only a few Top Golf locations situated throughout the world. London, D.C., Chicago and Texas.

What is Top Golf? It’s a driving range, but not any driving range… it’s more like a game. When you arrive, you get a card with your name and balance, kind of like a gift card. Each ball has a computer chip in so it will acknowledge which ball is yours (this is done when you get your bucket of balls out of the machine.) If you hit your ball over the fence and into traffic, they will know it’s yours, beware.

This is where it gets interesting. Instead of hitting the ball at a flag as you would at most driving ranges, each flag is surrounded a bigger hole type area. The closer to the flag you hit the ball, the more points you get. Yes I said points. There are various types of games that you can play with your friends to fire up the competition a little bit. The closer to the flag and the farther away the flag is, the more points you get. Every once in a while, the computer will show that you get a bonus ball. If you hit within the inner most circle surrounding the flag, this is considered a hole-in-one and you get a free game. Not too shabby!

Pay no attention to form. Strictly the fact that I hit the hell out of that ball!

At one point we were going there every Sunday morning and calling it “Church”. Not only would we go to play golf but they also have great food and drinks available. This is a great outing for family, a group of friends, business parties or even just to practice on your swing. It’s pretty cute to see the little kids get out there and practice their swing. The only downside is that it is a little more on the expensive side but it’s definitely worth the fun for any skill level. I had never played golf before Top Golf. Even though I mostly go to just hit the ball hard and far, I really do love it and it helped lead me to actually try out a real game of golf!