Weekend wanderings: Williamsburg and more

I can't pass up a chance to
make him take a selfie with me!

"When you choose to collect experiences rather than things, you will never run out of storage space."

 -Joshua Becker

This weekend, the hubs and I decided to slip away to Williamsburg area and visit Cumberland Falls, specifically to see the famed Moonbow (more in a later post). We had looked up the dates some time back and I had suggested we go down this weekend. However, since things are so busy at his work, I had given the idea as lost.

Until last Friday, when he came in and said his request had been approved.

Well, when the Moonbow is expected, things fill up fast! But, we did find a room in Williamsburg, less than 30 minutes away, and home to The University of the Cumberlands, my college alma mater. Honestly, I hadn't been on campus since I graduated more than 10 years ago and we have talked about it every time we travel past, so it seemed a good weekend to do both.

It was a wonderful, relaxing visit.

First, the campus and the town of Williamsburg have both changed a lot since I was a student. Our beloved Milly's on Main closed, but next door a new set of shops, called the Marketplace on Main & 3rd, have opened. 

It includes the Cumberland River Coffee (we didn't actually make it during open hours - I KNOW!), the Moonlight Meat Shop, and the Moonbow Merchantile. We popped in the Moonbow Merchantile, just to check it out. It's a really cute little place, highlighting some KY-based items and complete with a sandwich shop and milkshake bar in the back. I had a hazelnut milkshake that was amazing!

Epic fail in that I forgot to get photos of our milkshakes. But totally worth stopping in. The young lady working at the counter was a student of the college and really friendly! She told me about some of the changes on campus and let me share a little about my experiences, too.

We wandered aimlessly around the downtown, with me sharing other changes with my sweet husband. Dinner with friends and a tour around campus followed, but I didn't get a lot of photos. 

So much has changed -- as always, some is good and some isn't so great. But some of the cool new features for students include moving tennis courts to walking distance of dorms. The team does have to share them with all students, however they're in great shape. There's also a great seating area nearby, an outside workout area, and even a little putting green. 

The Brick Oven sits next to
The Butcher's Pub, both on 
Main Street

The campus library is in the midst of a massive change, too. I really wanted to check it out inside, but we missed the opening hours. And the student center (which changed some years back) features a fitness center that is open to students and the public.

It's hard to believe so much has shifted! Williamsburg has also experienced growth off downtown -- there are now more hotels and restaurants to visit. It's also a wet city now, meaning restaurants can serve alcohol. 

We visited one of the new restaurants, a locally-owned place called The Brick Oven. It was fantastic. One of the young employees shared with Jim that they used a wood-fired oven to bake their pizzas. You could definitely taste the difference!

To be honest, the food was more than we could finish. We started with a small order of cheesesticks and had a large pizza to share. 

I have a feeling there's no wrong choice here. We also bought two slices of cake to bring to the hotel for later. Both were fantastic. 

I'll update another post with our Saturday and Sunday explorations, including our visit to a rebuilt fire tower -- the highlight of the trip for Jim.