Winchester, Virginia

Being from Virginia, I almost take for granted how many charming towns there are strewn about the state. When I was younger, we went to Winchester a few times, but our trips were not that memorable. In the past few years, the only stops I made in Winchester were pit stops on our many travels. I am so glad to say that I now know that Winchester is a lovely weekend destination!

For my mom's birthday, she wanted to participate in the "43 mile yard sale crawl" I kind of inwardly cringed when I learned about this, but what a fun time we had and so many bargains were to be found. And yes, believe me it was driving at a crawl speed!

We decided to stay in Winchester at the George Washington Hotel and resort and was surprised to find such a fabulous hotel at such a reasonable rate. The hotel was ideally situated a stones throw away from the historic downtown area and therefore we were able to walk every where we wanted to!






The downtown area has a plethora of cafes, bars and shops to suit your fancy. I was just really excited to discover that our hotel itself had an amazing bar/restaurant with fabulous food and even better happy hour specials. This is one of the bummers about living in North Carolina: No happy hour! My cranberry margarita was really tasty but really, the pretzels people. Oh my goodness. I only wish I hadn't delved right in and taken a picture!





The roman style pool was also really cool and they had a full spa that I was able to take advantage of after my mom had headed back up to her room.

The lobby is very bright with a few stores and they have the sweetest wedding chapel I have ever laid eyes on! I was just really bummed that after I checked in and went to our room and came back downstairs, it was closed and I was unable to capture how adorable it really was.

This whole area is so historic and I could go on and on for days but George Washington had a office right down the street from the hotel and it is now a museum and in basically the same state it was over 200 hundred years ago. I just love history!

Right outside of the downtown area is a gorgeous countryside and one of the many things that make Virginia great. I loved all the barns. If you are in the Virginia, Maryland, DC or West Virginia area, I can not implore you enough to check out this town and hotel for an exemplary weekend away!


Twisted Paloma

One drink that I have found myself ordering more and more when we are out is The Paloma. Apparently it's the true drink of Mexico instead of the margarita. I am not sure why they both can't be, but I will drink either and not be discriminatory. 



A traditional Paloma is tequila, grapefruit juice and soda water. Sometimes it is made with tequila and grapefruit soda, usually I see it done with Izze. I will admit that I tend to prefer it the second way the best. They are both pretty tasty though. 

I had some friends over the other day and had planned to make my own version of Palomas when I realized I had not grabbed grapefruit soda but instead blood orange. I had some grapefruits in the fridge and just decided to play around. 

This is what I came up with and I really liked this version. The blood orange kind of cuts down on the bitterness of the grapefruit and they actually paired well together. 

Twisted Paloma

1/2 a pink grapefruit
1 lime
1 1/2 oz tequila
3 1/2 oz blood orange soda
salt/sugar for rim 


Cut the grapefruit and limes and muddle together thoroughly. You can either keep them or toss the pieces. Add in the tequila and stir vigorously. Add in the ice and top with the blood orange soda. You can garnish with lime. 

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