I love to travel. I mean who doesn’t? Our favorite thing to do in any town is walk around; find the best places to eat and my personal favorite find the best local coffee! My husband and I had a free hotel that was going to expire and so we wanted to find a town we had never been too that was within a few hours of Raleigh. We decided on Norfolk, Virginia. We really haven’t done much traveling in Virginia. The only time I have ever stopped in Virginia besides just driving through was to pick up our sweet pup Grace and so obviously I wasn’t looking at the scenery around us, how could I with a 7 week old puppy snoozing in the car!
QUICK THROW BACK
Norfolk is definitely a neat town right on the Elizabeth River. Friday night when we arrived we decided to stay in and hang out with our brother and sister in law. They had ordered a huge (28 inch) pizza from Benny’s. Cam and I both thought it was really good. We have never seen a pizza so big. Saturday we got up bright and early in search of a coffee shop. I had a couple on my list I couldn’t wait to try. But the first fail of the trip was realizing they were both closed on weekends. Major disappointment for me; so we settled on Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong, Starbucks is fine but there is just something about supporting local coffee shops. At home I spend so much time at different shops and I think the coffee is a million times better than Starbucks. I’m actually sitting in one of my favorite shops in Cary, NC called Java Jive drinking and iced Thai Coffee. You need to try this place!
We walked along the river exploring. There are some neat restaurants on the water and also a naval museum with the USS Wisconsin sitting outside the museum. We found a used book store near our hotel and spent a good bit of time in there. For lunch we headed down to my number one place I wanted to go in Norfolk: The Grilled Cheese Bistro. This place… wow. Definitely a must go. Cam started his lunch with a rootbeer float using the rootbeer on tap and coffee ice cream from the creamery next door. Then we picked from the one of about 15 different kinds of grilled cheese from the menu. We definitely wished we would have split a sandwich. After lunch we walked around the Freemason historic district which was a really pretty part of town with cobblestone streets and Victorian style houses.
We ran out of things to do within walking distance of our hotel so we decided we really wanted to find some thrift shops and antique stores. Lucky for us Granby Street had 17 different shops along that street. It was awesome. We spent a few hours hitting as many as we could. It gave me a ton of inspiration of upcoming projects I want to do and also what I hope Grace Restored will turn into. We didn’t buy anything. Saw plenty of pieces of furniture I really liked but the downside of driving a Mazda is not having the room to bring furniture home.
One thing Cam and I don’t do a lot of before we head to a city is plan it out. We look up a few places that we definitely want to hit but I don’t like being committed to a schedule. I like the go with the flow pace. While we were out at the shops on Granby there was a drive-in that was really popping! I didn’t give it much thought because I kind of thought we were going to another restaurant that night. We ended up looking up this drive-in and the reviews were crazy good. We also found out it was aired on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. So we decided we had to try Doumars. Known for being the first to create the waffle cone. We all got burgers, pork sandwiches fries and ice cream! Definitely really good, the ice cream and waffle cones were great.
On Sunday Cam and I wanted to hit one more town before heading home. We decided on Edenton. We looked up reviews and pictures and it said they had tons of shops on the main street and was right on the water. So it was set, Edenton it was and only 1.5 hours away from Norfolk. When we got their we realized Edenton is not really a Sunday kind of town – EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. Including the coffee shop I was going to go to. Like I said we pick a city and go, this may have been a time we should have planned better. Upside, it was a really cute town and we were able to walk down main street and along the water.
These trips are so much fun. They are a time for my husband and I to reconnect, plan and dream together. It’s a time to refocus and dial in on the things and goals we want to accomplish this week, month, year or 10 years from now. These trips give me life. They are definitely never perfect and that’s because of the way we plan. We just go to these cities and let the rest fall into place. Sometimes that means the places we want to go aren’t open. Sometimes it rains and sometimes the car isn’t big enough to bring that dream project home. Regardless we have to enjoy this beautiful life we are given. Make the most of each day and do something you love each day. For me that always involves laughing with my husband, a good cup of coffee, scripture, creating something, loving on our sweet pets and finding joy in the unexpected places. What do you do each day that you love?
