Fredericksburg

Here's the second part of our little road trip to Fredericksburg, VA (you can see the first part here). In theory, Fredericksburg is only an hour away. However, in reality, it's more like two hours (or more) because traffic on I-95 South outside DC is always bumper-to-bumper, any time of day or night. We talked about all manner of random things, as you do when you're bored in traffic, and at one point Peter turned to me and said, "When exactly did you turn into a total fruitcake?" To which I just laughed. Who knows the answer to that one.

Anyway, Fredericksburg is a cute little town with a historic center. Peter thought there was a disproportionate number of dive bars and antique shops compared to everything else, and it certainly seemed like that was the case, but maybe that's just the part of town we were in. We did find a few cute shops, of course, and I took lots of photos.

Goolrick's Pharmacy is an old-fashioned drug store that still has a soda counter and offers cherry cokes, malts, sandwiches, and the like. I really wanted to go in here, but the lady was locking the door right as we arrived. I love the signage both outside and inside the shop.

We realized soon after we arrived that there was some sort of vintage car festival going on because they blocked off the street we were on and all these vintage and antique cars started pulling up and parking. I think I've mentioned before that Peter and I have a knack for suddenly finding ourselves in the middle of fairs and festivals without meaning to; in this case, it was a good thing. So many cute cars lined the street!

It was a little bit like stepping back in time in the best possible way.

One of these days, I'll buy a lens that can actually fit in the whole church.

My favorite place we went, by far, was Riverby Books, a used bookstore with a really good selection. It's actually the sister store to the Riverby Books on East Capitol St. in DC, though that location is much smaller than this one.

There were so many cozy spots to sit and browse.

This title cracked me up: What you should know about the Purple Martin: AMERICA'S MOST WANTED BIRD. Any store who's staff selects this book to highlight/display has got to be a good one, right?

And so many art books! I almost took home a Vermeer book until I realized that I already have it. Yeaaah, I have a problem. I actually didn't buy anything, which is amazing because their prices were really reasonable (full-color, large art books for $15; fiction paperbacks for $5). We really don't have room for more books, but that usually doesn't stop me.

If there is one pink house in a town I will find it; I swear they have a magnetic pull over me! This one was a trifecta of dreamy pastel colors. Someday I will live in a sherbet-colored house. Sooooo pretty.

This place does it all.

Peter was blending in with his environment.

We stopped in Eileen's Bakery and Cafe, which is located in a renovated church. I love repurposed buildings, so I had to go inside and check it out.

In the vestibule.

A peek inside at the coffee menu.

Another one from the vestibule because the light was just so pretty in here. Note to self: use frosted glass church windows in next house. ;)

We stopped in a consignment shop called Forage. I found a polka dot skirt that was cute (shocker - I was actually wearing a similar polka dot skirt at the time), and also a Marimekko for Anthropologie tank top that was also, yep, polka dot. But I didn't get either because I thought the prices were a little steep. Anyway, I'd still definitely recommend checking Forage out if you're in Fredericksburg because you never know what you might find.

I spotted Old Town Yarnery toward the end of our visit but didn't go in because Peter was really ready to head back to the car and get on the road at that point. I don't have any projects requiring yarn at the moment anyway, but I always like to go in and just look at all the pretty colors. Plus, it's nice to get to touch yarns that you've only seen online to test softness. Or maybe I just like touching things.

One other place we stopped in that I didn't get photos of was PA Dutch Food & Candy. They had a good mix of what I'd call old timey candy (lemon drops, taffy, etc.) as well as the usual fare, plus pancake mixes, jellies and jams, that sort of thing. They also had locally-made fudge and chocolates, but those were priced a little high. A small bag of fudge (5 or 6 small bite-sized pieces) was $10. At first we grabbed two bags to try, until we realized that was $20 for an amount equivalent to one bite for Peter. Really. So we put them back on the shelf.

All in all, we did a lot of browsing and not a lot of buying. But it was still a good time. If we happen to be in Fredericksburg again in the future I would absolutely stop in all these places again.

Believe it or not, I did actually take more photos, but at this point I've been editing photos and writing this post longer than we were even in the town. Isn't that always the case? Maybe that's just me.

If anyone has a suggestion for our next small town visit, please leave me a comment! xo, Mary