Lots of things make a travelers’ heart palpitate. For many of us it’s a great diner.  One you discovered when you just wanted a cup of decent coffee and something with egg but with one thrilling glance realize you can have a Bloody Mary and artisan bacon to boot. One that makes you wonder why your hometown can’t be cool enough to have a diner like that and causes you to consider taking out your life’s savings to start one (a frighteningly strong urge after a couple of Bloody Mary’s – I’m not saying I had a couple…).  Sadly, discovering them doesn’t happen all that often. Oh they’re out there but passers-through seldom have such luck.

Blue Moon Diner, Charlottesville Virginia

Near the University of Virginia we stumbled upon just such a diner. A tiny place on the corner of West Main, heads bobbing at the bottom of the windows were the only indicator of life (we beat the crowds).

With a front window full of LPs, blues music coming from the turntable, a tiny dining area with carefully tucked tables, a bar area with nostalgic barstools, the gleaming chrome topped by black leather, fun little touches of moons and ambiance strategically placed,  my mind was only on one thing – coffee. Okay, two things – coffee and bacon.

A bottomless cup of coffee served in weighty blue speckleware, just like all coffee should be served.

My brain sated with the coffee I thought I’d better see what they had to go with bacon.

• Apple Omelette with sausage, blue cheese and granny smith apple slices

• Mediterranean Omelette – spinach, feta cheese, tomato, red pepper, and capers

• Huevos Bluemoonos

• Blue Moon Monte Cristo with french toasted Surryano ham, turkey and swiss on sourdough

• French Toast with cinnamon swirl bread and house vanilla-ginger syrup

• Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly

With great pain I chose and ordered the Mediterranean omelette with the side of artisan bacon, then opted to extend the torture and began to check out the rest of the menu. For dinner, how about starting with Portobella Mushrooms stuffed with local organic andouille polenta topped with sweet jalepeno relish followed by Chicken Pot Pie with organic chicken, carrots, celery, onion, peas, and corn served in a dutch oven topped with puff pastry?

Look! I never said this was your everyday diner!

For dessert, how ’bout a Grills-With, a grilled Krispy Kreme glazed donut with Vanilla ice cream and Hershey’s syrup? Or an ice cream sandwich with black raspberry ice cream on an oatmeal cranberry cookie or “Elvis” banana ice cream with chocolate dipped peanut butter cookie?

The barstools give an indicator of how cool this place is.  First, there are barstools, a very important component of diners, secondly, the floor is a retro black and white check, not so much a requirement, but very cool.

There are no food shots. Why you ask? Because by the time my food was served, I was way beyond photography. Here however, is the exterior of the place. I had my wits back by the time we left.

** For more food related travel experiences of note, check out Wanderfood Wednesdays at Wanderlust and Lipstick.

Resorts of its age, refinement and historical significance are rare. The classical revival architecture, the interior still replete with the grandiose traditional style of Dorothy Draper, the famous decorator who honed the Greenbrier’s interior, the exterior of perfect walkways carved from the jungle lushness of rhododendrons big enough to swallow children and small animals –  its scale and elegance overwhelmed me.

Born and raised Southern, I thought I was comfortable with all things Southern. Until I stood in front of The Greenbrier.

side note: technically, West Virginia was divided in the Civil War meaning my “southern” classification of it is my own perception/opinion of what corner it best fits into.

My husband hails from West Virginia, has a sister who married at The Greenbrier, and is familiar with its grandeur. I wasn’t. Nor was I prepared for the awe, even intimidation when he asked if I wanted to go inside. “No, umm, I’ll just snap off a few shots from out here.” What if I went inside and tripped on a priceless rug, slinging the camera gear into a priceless urn, landing directly in front of the Main Dining room? In the Main Dining room coats and ties for the gentlemen and ladies’ finery, still reign.  I wasn’t dressed properly for either a humble stumble, or lunch.

The Greenbrier sits on 6,500 acres in the Allegheny Mountains.  It’s a AAA Five Diamond Resort. For 230 years the elite families of the South made the spa their home-away-from-home.  After the Civil War it became the center of American aristocratic society especially after the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad entered the scene. Even the activities offered indicate the resort’s ability to treat one to the best life has to offer – croquet, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sporting clays, falconry, flyfishing, trap and skeet shooting, a golf academy, a 40,000 square foot spa, horseback riding, and here’s two I could handle – carriage rides and bowling.

In the late 1950s, the U.S. government approached The Greenbrier for assistance in creating a secret emergency relocation center to house Congress in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The classified, underground facility, dubbed “The Bunker” was built at the same time as the West Virginia Wing from 1959 to 1962. For thirty years, The Greenbrier maintained an agreement with the federal government that in the event of an international crisis, the entire resort property would be conveyed to government use, specifically as the emergency location for the legislative branch. The bunker’s existence was kept secret until The Washington Post revealed it in a 1992 story. No one can keep their mouths shut anymore.

The Greenbrier Pool

The last 3 photos are from Vicky Sawyer, because well, like I said, I was too intimidated to go inside.  So I made a decision to go back and spend an anniversary there. Something about writing a check dissipates any intimidation a place or setting might wield over me. I become quite confident very quickly, as in write the check, snap my fingers. The Greenbrier seems like a snap my fingers kind of place. Especially after I checked their lodging rates.  I wonder if we could sign up for 1/2 a day?

The Greenbrier is located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Their website: http://www.greenbrier.com/ has all the information you’ll need to begin dreaming of or planning a trip there.

After getting 22 hours away from home on our holiday road trip, my husband and I decided we were ready for our own bed. So we drove home in a day and a half.  It was a good decision – 10 nights on the road without our Tempurpedic mattress threw us into foam-deprived withdrawals.

One thing I didn’t miss: the computer. I made one post about a lonely, homeless fireplace from West Virginia, haven’t tweeted, facebooked, flickr’d, emailed, or stumbled. And all reading was done the old fashioned way – a book.  It was nice, but I’ve missed you.

Thank you for reading the SRT blog during 2009, for your comments, your encouraging kind words. Without you the blog would have been discontinued during one of my many road trips and never resumed even after a great night’s sleep in my own bed. You made 2009 a year I won’t forget.

Here’s wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. – Tammie

New Year’s Eve 2009 blue moon taken on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.