what i love about my town

i'm a follower of my net finds blog by kathie. today, she deservingly won one lovely blog award. she, of course, had to pass on the blog love to other bloggers. being nosy, i felt the need to check out these other blogs and see what they were about. when i saw one was titled always a southern girl, also being member of grits i felt a gutteral calling to check it out. (if you don't know what grits is, well i'm not talking about the food. its the acronym for girls raised in the south.) her very first post had me intrigued. the point of the post was to talk about what you love about where you live and then link up with mr linky. so, i thought i'd give it a whirl.

fredericksburg is my adopted home about 2 hours north of my hometown. however, i've been here for 14 years if you count my college years, so i might as well call this home. and, there's lots to love about here, so i thought i'd list some of my faves.

1. carl's- i know i've talked about carl's before, but it is like an institution here. i'll be in goodwill as i was last week and overhear people talking about whether they've been to carl's so far this year. plus, going to carl's is like time travelling back to the '50s. it's neon lighted sign and design give it a retro feel. and, in this modern drive thru world, it's nice to have a place to slow down the pace about and stand in line outside catching up on goings on with a friend. then, there's the ice cream which just plain rocks for amazingly cheap prices even these days.


2. downtown-downtown fredericksburg is filled with antique shops, historic buildings, and restaurants/bars. it's welcoming to artists with galleries and many places where artists can sell their wares. many of the bars regularly feature local musicians. there even used to be open mic nights for amateur and up and coming comics.


3. my alma mater-mary washington college or now it's now known university of mary washington is located in downtown. i am proud of it and that it brought me to this town.




4. the rappahanock river-i love the water. it has an odd calming effect on me. not sure if can be attributed to growing up on the water and it being part of my heritage, or if it merely matches up with me being a scorpio, a water sign. the river itself here is nice for a boat ride, but there is a sweet spot in the semirapid area where the rocks make little mini whirlpools. i haven't gone there in a few years, but it so relaxing to just sit and be.




5. the history-call me a dork, but there is something cool about all of the historic locations being in my backyard. maybe that's having grown up outside williamsburg, yorktown, and jamestown. we have 4 civil war battlefields, ferry farm(george washington's childhood home), the james monroe museum, belvedere plantation, belmont home to artist gari melchers, and soon to be home to the national slave museum.