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Ever since we met as pages in the House of Representatives when we were sixteen, our lives have crisscrossed around the country and around the world. We both spent the last decade in New York City, and it was in the backyard of the studio apartment that we shared together in Soho where Spring Street Social Society—the now defunct social club that many of you were familiar with—began in 2012. This trip marked the next chapter in Rebecca’s life, and, by extension, the story of our friendship. Although this was the first time we drove a moving truck down the east coast, leaving piles of post-blizzard New York snow behind us, we are no strangers to road trips. One of our favorite memories together was the Epic West Coast Road Trip of 2005 that took us from Aspen, Colorado, where we were living together at the time, through a debaucherous stop in Las Vegas and up the Pacific Coast, ending with a flight and a two-week trip to Maui. Our trek to Tennessee was a slightly smaller voyage, but we did manage to spend a few nights in Charlottesville, where we stayed at the recently-opened Keswick Hall, a luxurious property situated amidst the rolling hills of Virginia’s horse country. Surprisingly—given its rural setting—the property features a new restaurant from chef Jean-Gorge Vongerichten, a stone clad, leather-bedecked temple to casual fine dining called Marigold. The most delightful surprise, though, was learning about Virginia’s prolific wine output. With over 250 wineries—the best of which seem to be clustered in the state’s Shenandoah Valley—the state is producing some delightfully innovative and idiosyncratic bottles. I especially loved the skin-contact Viognier from Chrysalis and the light-bodied pinot noir from Ox-Eye. If you’re interested in sourcing your own, I recommend checking out The Workshop, a cafe and wine shop located in a historic Charlottesville wool mill that has been converted in to a destination for dining, working, and drinking. The joy of the road trip—just like friendship—is found in the in-between moments and in the delightful surprises that you encounter along the route. Like Rebecca and I say, you never know what’s just around the corner.
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