Columbia, SC | Westward Bound

Four-and-a-half Stop: COLUMBIA

If you thought my stop in Greenville, SC was short wait until you hear about Columbia. I was planning my trip between Greenville + Charleston when I realized that Columbia was about half way and that I'd had a random friend who lived there. I met him while I was traveling through Croatia this past May, so I rung him (well I text him) and we scheduled a coffee date + brief walking tour of Columbia. We met up at Drip Coffee which comes highly recommended! I got a soy cappuccino and he got whatever his 'regular' is, some type of flavored latte which sounded fantastic! Then we scurried away coffee in hand to wander around the streets of Columbia and catch up.
This little capital is quite intriguing!
First off I South Carolina looses a good deal of business from companies who would hold conferences there, however, they refuse to for the simple fact that South Carolina still waves the Confederate Flag at their capital (which can be seen in the photo above). This town has all kinds of building and development occurring right down their main street! Its crazy for me to see so much construction in a downtown since I spend a majority of my time in larger cities. I find it quite fascinating to see how a city is structuring its future and the types of people and development they are attracting.
Anywho, I think this little downtown area was fantastic, quaint, and simply adorable! I wish I had planned longer to visit the city, but alas I never have enough time.

Previous Posts:
Nelli is Moving
Baltimore
Virginia
Asheville
Greenville

Virginia | Westward Bound

As you all know by now, I have been making my way down the East Coast and will eventually be landing in San Francisco. This means that over the next few weeks I will be posting snippets about each place I stopped at and a few of my favorite things within each.

Second Stop: VIRGINIA

As I left Baltimore I drove about 3 hours South to Charlottesville Virginia, where I was heading for the main purpose of seeing Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Being an architecture nerd and by default a history buff I could not pass up this opportunity. I arrived in town in the early afternoon, and after being disappointed that Ace BBQ was closed on Mondays, I made up for it by grabbing quick chicken salad at Revolutionary Soup and a tea downtown before heading out to Monticello. The $25 admission fee is a bit steep, however I feel it was worth it (at least once). The ticket gets you access to everything on the property + 3 different informational tours. I partook in the 45 minute tour of the house, and afterwards wandered around on my own. If you are physically able, I recommend walking up to the house rather than taking the bus. The walk is about 10 minutes in the woods and its beautiful. On the tour you get a decent amount of relevant information on Jefferson as well as the way he lived and designed the house. Not to mention, the views both of and from the house are breathtaking.

After Charlottesville, I stopped in Roanoke to meander and grab dinner. I arrived at 6 on a Monday and was again disappointed that the restaurant I had planned was closed on Mondays (note to future travelers). However, this let me wander downtown a bit longer before choosing my eventual dining destination. Downtown Roanoke is quaint and adorable. However, it was also quite deserted this particular Monday evening. For some reason my photos ended up being of the signage, perhaps because it maintained its old town charm... They had little general store, and I picked up some old time candies for my dad, before settling on Lucky for dinner. The food was yummy and service was great. - The one thing I had to say about Roanoke is I felt more unsafe here than anywhere I've traveled, perhaps because it was simply deserted -
As for my resting spot this particular evening, I had to drive to Blacksburg, VA. When I was looking for a place to stay I found a modern home in the woods for a reasonable price, so I drove another hour south to find it. This place was a good 20 minutes off the highway, on winding roads, at night. The house itself had no address marker and was down 2 driveways off of the country road. Needless to say trying to find this at 9pm was not the most enjoyable experience but after countless U-Turns I made it, stayed the night, and in the morning I stopped by Indego coffee in Christiansberg Virginia. The girl behind the bar was a sweetheart and I sat and chatted with her for a good hour before making my way to North Carolina on my next adventure....

Past Posts:
Nelli Is Moving
Baltimore

Between Buildings

Just a little shot I took while wining and dining in San Francisco a few weeks back.

Cheers

- Nelli

For the Love of Old Buildings

If you're a regular here on BSOM you'd know that I LOVE antiques from antique makeup to old photos. (If you haven't checked out my previous posts about antiques you can find them here + here + here) There's just something so mesmerizing to me about these old items which is what drives me to collect them. I often think about who owned the item before, what they were like + how lived it's all just so fascinating to me. What really gets me about old photos is that the people in these photos probably never thought that 100s of years from their lifetime would their photo be hanging in a strangers house, which is just so intriguing to me. 

I'm not only fascinated by antiques but also old buildings/areas of town. There's just so much history that can be seen in these old places it blows my mind to think about how many people have come + gone over the years. Sacramento has a ton of old areas/buildings that are still intact, the most well known area being Old Sacramento. Old Sac is cool to wander around but the areas that really intrigue me are the run down, sometimes boarded up buildings. I know these places aren't always going to be around, as it's only a matter of time before someone tears them down/remodels these old areas/buildings which is why I've decided I'd really like to preserve these places by way of photograph. Which is exactly what I've already begun to do! Snapped the above photo a few weeks back of this old building that sits along some railroad tracks. My guess would be it's an old train station because of where it's located. But I just loved the eeriness of this building especially how it looked at night. 

Plan of Action: Gather a list of all of the older parts of town + get my camera ready! :) 

Can't wait to share more shots with ya! :) 

Until next time friends...Cheers!! 

<3 Noonie