The hills are alive with the sound of music!

The Blue Ridge Parkway
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Well, here we are in Charlottesville, Virginia. Possibly one of the coolest towns we have been in yet! Again it is another university town (University of Virginia) as well as being the home of Thomas Jefferson.

We had made our way to Charlottesville via the Blue Ridge Parkway which is one of the most scenic roads in America. It's a spectacular drive along the winding roads, especially in fall (autumn) with the leaves on the tress changing colour at every turn. The speed limit is only 45 miles an hour which slowed us down a little but it was well worth it!

Fall colours
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We made a couple of stops along the way, one at an orchard where we bought some apples for the road, and the other at a little one horse town called Sparta to rest up for the night before our final leg along the parkway to Charlottesville.

We arrived in Charlottesville for Halloween and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After visiting the local visitors information centre we got the low down on what was happening in town and found out that the main trick or treating action was happening at the university. So we boarded the free trolley to the uni to sneak a peek!

Setting out for a mini hike
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It was huge!! There must have been at least five thousand people there of all ages dressed up in some of the most amazing costumes. You could really tell the ones who got into it as they were dressed up along with their kids! After making fun of Halloween all week both Em and I were pretty impressed with the whole community side of it and were a bit sad at not being able to get in on the action!

That night we had probably the best meal in the USA yet at a little wine bar/restaurant downtown. Between us we devoured: baby back ribs, hush puppies (crumbed corn meal cakes), rosemary mashed potato, a serve of biscuits (sort of like scones but lighter), un-meatloaf (vego meatloaf) and a serve of broccolini! I think you can work out who ate what! I also tasted the pumpkin beer, in honour of the day!

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Earlier that evening we were trying to work out what to do that night for entertainment when we stumbled across a band unloading equipment from a van. After quizzing them about when and where they were playing they gave us a free CD to bribe us to go and watch them later on (or maybe they were just being nice?) which we decided to do.

We ended up seeing four bands, all great, all for free and it was a great night, which along with the musical entertainment also included a dress up competition for Halloween. Em and I just hid in a corner so no one could tell we weren't in costume!