A Quick Trip to Staunton

Sean and I snuck away for a one night visit to my old town, Staunton, to say goodbye to a friend who's moving to Wyoming. I love, love, love Staunton and miss it all the time, so it's always nice to get back long enough to stop at my favorite shops and eateries. I'll be sharing more about those this week, if you're interested, but thought I'd stop in quick to tell you about where we stayed, Frederick House.

It's a sweet B&B with several buildings, so many of the rooms have private entrances. The rooms are comfortable, and we had a great view of downtown (as you can see). The owners, Joe and Evie, are sweet as can be, even when their guests turn down breakfast (I know, what's wrong with us?).

We shopped quite a bit and only came home with one souvenir, but it's pretty great:

An embroidered linen tablecloth, for $42, at 17 Beverley Antiques. I love how it looks old-timey and modern at the same time. 

We also saw Midnight in Paris, which I LOVED, at the Visulite, one of my favorite movie theaters of all time. 

If you've never been to Staunton, it's a perfect weekend visit to the Shenandoah Valley. It's 30 minutes west of Charlottesville, two and half hours south of DC and three hours west of Williamsburg. It has a nearly perfectly preserved downtown, and is home to three gorgeous schools — Mary Baldwin College, Stuart Hall, and the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. 

It's located in Augusta County, an overwhelmingly agricultural county, so many of its restaurants use locally sourced ingredients from area farms. It also has one of the prettiest public parks I've ever seen, complete with a duck pond, a kiddie train and a bandstand.

Last but certainly not least, Staunton is home to the American Shakespeare Center, where you can see Shakespeare plays in a recreated Blackfriar's Playhouse. Seriously, it's awesome.