29 Hour Vacation - Part 2: What to do in Kilmarnock VA

OK, we got through reasons 1-3 to go to Irvington and Kilmarnock. the other day. (See the post here.)  Just to recap, for the people in the back, all three reasons had to do with the Hope and Glory Inn.

Now moving on...The rest of the reason all have to do with cool things to do and eat in Kilmarnock/ Irvington.

BTW, I don't think I was very clear in the first post about the difference between Kilmarnock and Irvington. Just to be clear, they are both small towns on Virginia's Northern Neck. If you are coming from DC, and driving down Route 3, you get to Kilmarnock first. In Kilmarnock you take Route 200 south and then in about 5 minutes, you are in Irvington. So for this girl of the 'burbs, they are close enough together to count as one location, though they really are two separate cities. Irvington is the more upscale of the two. That's where the Hope and Glory Inn is located.

Now back to our "regularly scheduled' vacation:

REASONS TO GO TO KILMARNOCK VA

4. Windmill Point-

This is the "beach" in town. But it is actually the Chesapeake Bay, not the ocean.
You'd never know from the views:

The hotels say that sections of the beach are "Private".

The laws and the locals say the whole thing is public.

I say "It is easier to get forgiveness, than permission," and went wherever I wanted.

Amazingly, we had the whole beach all to ourselves.

It was a fantastic place to watch the sunset.

So we did just that.

Enough said.

5. Thai Pot Restaurant

Thai Pot is one of the most delicious Thai restaurants I have ever eaten at. Here is a Yelp! review if you don't believe me. It is located along Main Street in Kilmarnock. (36 N Main, to be exact). The owner is this cute, little, high energy Thai lady. She waits tables with the staff and walks the floor to make sure everyone is happy. We instantly became her favorite customers when she took our order and we said we wanted "medium heat." I guess the local palate prefers things a little less "colorful."

 

I ordered the fried fish dish with tamarind sauce. I had to keep myself from licking the plate. I really did have to tell myself, "Self, you are in public. You cannot lick this plate just to make sure you ingest every last drop of this sauce." Fortunately for the other diners, I listened to myself this time.

You really do want to eat there. It's beautifully decorated with original Thai art, like this golden finial in front of the kitchen. The kitchen is open to the dining room, so you can watch them make all your little goodies. I love that.

6. The Crown Donuts Truck

We stumbled upon this one by accident. After a futile attempt to go shopping before the stores actually opened, we looked across the street and saw all these people lined up in front of a truck. Now I don't know about you, but if I'm on vacation and there is a line up to a brightly painted truck parked in a gas station, I'm going to go check it out.

That's one of the delights of not having anything better to do.

 

This particular truck was full of donuts. Well maybe not full of donuts, but they had this cool little machine that was cranking them out as fast as people could by them.

 

 

So we bought some. A bucket full to be exact. For the kids....of course.

7. Christ Church

 

 

This is a cool original brick Anglican church built in 1735. I am always amazed that anything can survive that long. Especially in Virginia's humidity and rain. Here is the website of the Christ Church Historical Society. They can tell you a lot more about it than I can, because the visitor center was closed when we got there. So we did what all intrepid travelers who have to leave so the babysitter doesn't abandon their kids. We parked in front and tried to peek in the windows.

 

Sadly the windows were way too high. So we walked around the grounds and read the gravestones.

 

 

There is a guy buried there that was a doctor in the Revolutionary War.

And a few soldiers from the War of 1812.

 

 

 

I don't know about you, but there is always this sense of "I wonder if all that really happened?" that gets shattered when you see something from that era that has made it across time until now. I never realized that I didn't "believe in" the War of 1812, until I saw the gravestones of people who had actually fought in it. Funny how things work.

 

So while all of this "history really happened" stuff was super cool, I still really wanted to see the inside of that church. So I started looking for options. And then I found one.

 

 

I did it. I totally looked through the keyhole, just to see what I could see.

 

 

And my guy thought it was so funny, he took a picture to show the kids.

I promise, I totally did not stage that photo.

 

The best part was, I actually could see the inside of the church through the keyhole! And through the miracle of technology (and my guy's Blackberry camera,) so can you! Ahh the things a man will do for his woman's blog....

 

 

Everyone loves a nice pair of antique carved wood ten commandments, right? I suppose, someday I should go back and actually take the tour. If you all ever do, let me know what I missed, OK?

 

 

8. The Drive Along Route 3

 

I was so ready to be away from Northern Virginia and the DC Metro Area, that even the drive was total bliss. (Execpt for the two hours it took us to go 30 miles as we were leaving said metro area. Not so much bliss there. Thank goodness for the bumpin' mix CD my guy made for the trip!)

 

You get to Tappahanak, which is a very cool name for a town, and then cross a bridge to the penisula that makes up the Northern Neck. The road that takes you all the way down to the tip is Route 3. It's a charming and calming drive. Little towns, no traffic, beaucolic farms everywhere. I kept wanting to stop and take pictures, but I only had one card with me and it could only hold 70 pics, so I held off. There were a million little places I wanted to stop and check out, but my guy was impatient to get to our destination after being stuck so long in traffic, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the view. It looks nothing like where I live, so it was perfect.

 

Here is the coolest old broken down farmhouse. I made him stop on the way home to take pics.

 

 

Totally worth stopping for, right?

 

So I walked around the front to get in a little closer and quickly realized that I was not the first person to have this idea.

 

 

So I didn't go any farther than the ominous "No Tresspassing" sign,

but I couldn't resist taking this last shot.

 

 

I plan on titling it "But Honey....Think of the Potential".

 

So that's how I spent a very pleasant 29 hours. The only vacation I had this summer. And we made it back just before the babysitter had to abandon the children.

29 Hour Vacation

You have a babysitter for 29 hours. It's your 18th anniversary. Your husband has been home a total of 10 days this month, and your "vacation" is sitting in your laundry room in the form of a new washer and dryer, due to the last one dying suddenly and taking the existing peel-n- stick floor tiles with it.

 

Where do you go, as go somewhere you must?

Why to Kilmarnock, Virginia of course!

Never heard of it? That's exactly what I said when my friend Tammy told me I should go there. But the more I poked around, the more I realized she was absolutely right.

REASONS TO GO TO KILMARNOCK, VA

 

1. The Hope and Glory Inn. (click to go straight to their site)

 

 

 

This darling B&B was rated one of "the Top 10 Coastal Inns in the Country" by Coastal Living Magazine. It is a well deserved honor. The main inn building is a re-purposed Victorian style school house. They have cleverly turned all the classrooms into beautifully decorated suites.

 

 This is what greets you as you walk through the door:

 

This is the view to the right, a nice checkered game table and comfy sofas in front of a fireplace:

This the the view around the staircase to the left, another darling game table.

And if you keep going to the left you'll find....

 

 Detention. Which is an excellent name for a bar in a school, if you ask me.

Check out what's written on the board:

And you gotta love a deer with a tie. An impersonation of the Vice Principle perhaps?

 

 When you go up the stairs, there is a spa waiting at the top of the first landing. They have a masseuse on staff so all you have to do is schedule your massage and show up.

 

 

 It smelled divine inside this room. And the door walks out to a large balcony. The massage room is right around the corner to the left.

 

 

Here was my darling room in the attic. I was on a budget, so I literally got the cheapest room in the house. It comes with a claw foot tub in the room. Love!

 

 

Sorry, my pics of the bed didn't turn out so well. You will just have to imagine a big, plush, over pillowed bed with a picket fence headboard and a bunch more white framed vintage mirrors around the whole thing. The mirrors were so cool. They gave the whole room this really understated sparkle.

 

 

 Behind the main building are cottages, the former teacher residences and a few newer buildings, also for rent and lavishly decorated.

 

 

Cottages, one of which has an upstairs and downstairs. There are more cottages to the right of the path in the picture. They were very charming, actually. But I was just there more for an escape than a blog shoot, and my photo card was getting full. So you'll just have to go there to see them for yourself.

 

There is another campus to the hotel, a simple bike ride away, in a nearby vineyard.This section is comprised of cabins, referred to as "tents", which surround the hotel's swimming pool.

 

Vineyard

 

 

Here is my favorite of the "tents":

 

 

Overall, it was luxurious, accommodating, beautiful and comfortable. If you need to escape, this is a great place to do it. Starting at $240 a night on summer weekends, their rates are on the very top end of what I would spend, but it really was a gorgeous place and I would definitely stay again, given the opportunity. Also, they prefer a two night booking on the weekend, but if you only have time or budget for one night, call. They are super pleasant people. Most likely they would be happy to make an exception for you. They did for me.

 

Here is the link to their site. They have way better pics of their rooms than I do. Plus their site has relaxing music in the background. Norah Jones will make your worries melt away.

BTW, The Hope and Glory Inn knows that I am blogging about them, but they do not know what I am writing, nor have they compensated me in any way for this post. They did, however, generously allow me free reign to take pictures anywhere I wanted, as long as I didn't desturb the other guests.

All opinions here are truly my own.
 

2. The Bikes at the Hope and Glory Inn.

 

  

We never actually had time to use these, but I loved that they were "comfort"bikes. I totally want one. The town of Irvington, (where the Hope and Glory is located, just 3 mintues down the road from Kilmarnock), is very charming and would be a lovely canvas for an afternoon bike ride. Ooooo...especially in the fall when the weather was cool and the leaves had started to change. Hmmm. Might just have to come back for that.

Here is where the bikes can take you: And yes, that is a 40 ft corkscrew.

This gorgeous locale is the Hope and Glory Vineyard. They have tastings, and events here. And the pool for the hotel is on the vineyard grounds as well.

 

 

3. The Outdoor Tub and Shower at the Hope and Glory Inn

I know you are all gasping and going "Me? Naked? Outside?" Well worry no more! You too can partake in this decadent ritual without the fear of prying eyes.

This is what you see outside the tub surround:

 

 Can you see through that fence? Well, neither could I. And I have to admit, I checked very carefully, albeit from the path, to see what was inside. I really wanted to use that tub. And it was in almost constant use from the time we got there until the next morning after breakfast.

We ate and busted down the path to see if we could get our chance .....

 

and were greeted with an open gate (The sign that the tub is available) and this view:

 

 

You are completely surrounded by a stockade fence, so no one can see you. Well I suppose if somebody wanted to put their face right up to the wood and look through a crack, they might be able to see you, but it's a risk worth taking because it is AMAZING to bathe outside!

This is the view from the tub. Don't you just wish you were there right now? It is super relaxing. And if you look up, all you see is the sky and leafy trees. It's heaven. And just a little bit naughty.....

 

And they even went to the trouble to add a mirror, so you can be beautiful in the outdoor tub where no one can see you. Or maybe that's just for when you go back to the Real World. Hmmm...

 

 Allen and I are already talking about where and how to build one of these at our place.

 

 

*Note to the reader*

 I had originally planned on doing one big post (which is why it has taken me so long to post), but things have become rather unweildy. So think of this as the "where to stay" portion of the post. Later this week, I'll add part 2: "What to do in Kilmarnock." So until then, you'll just have to wonder what we did.....and with me, that really could mean anything.