DMV
Winchester, VA
It seems a little unlikely that anyone will need this blog post since we only picked Winchester to stay in for the proximity to the venue of the wedding we were attending. That said if you happen to find yourself here, it’s a cute little town with a surprising amount to offer. It’s pretty typical of towns this size and location to have a big focus on the civil war and this place does not disappoint in that way.
We arrived in Winchester Friday after work and began our stay with dinner at the pub across the street from our Airbnb: Piccadilly’s Public House and Restaurant. I remember we were starving and both ordered beers and burgers. Strangely our burger didn’t come with lettuce, tomato etc like I was expecting. I don’t know if that was a chef error or just how they do it. I won’t shame them though, we also didn’t ask for a replacement.
Saturday was supposed to be a “relaxing walk around town” – the sort my mom might have taken me on when I was a kid. It was way hotter and more humid than we would’ve liked but we walked through a flea market, saw the downtown area with bars and restaurants, and toured the Mt. Hebron Cemetery
From there we walked back through town all the way to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. That’s about a mile ish outside of downtown so it was a bit of a long walk in the heat. There’s a 711 we stopped at on the way for water. It costs 15 bucks each to get into the museum but the air conditioning alone was worth it. When we were there they had a really cool Norman Rockwell exhibit. The rest of the museum included a local artists exhibit called Rock Paper Scissors and a historical section about the civil war and history of Winchester going back to the original Native Americans. It’s a little on the small side but price of entry also includes the botanical gardens which are pretty expansive.
They accidentally locked us in the gardens because we were hanging out in there past 5:30 PM and the warden missed us on his loop through! Thankfully they came back to unlock the gate so I didn’t have to hop the fence or anything.
From there we walked back to our Airbnb and ordered Thai food from Thai Winchester. Our Airbnb host had recommended Chop Stick Cafe but I looked at the reviews and they were rough lately so we avoided it. Thai Winchester was actually really good, much better than I was expecting from a small town in Northern Virginia. I got the spicy pad thai and it was actually spicy enough for me, and flavorful.
And that was supposed to be my chill day! We ended up being exhausted from all the walking and made sure to spend Sunday actually relaxing and reading. We shopped for the week at the Aldi about 15 minutes drive away but there are some markets closer to town.
Thursday I had my nails done at Laze Nail Salon mainly for its proximity to our Airbnb. The lady was very nice and did a fine job on my nails. Afterwards we walked down to Loudon for ice cream at Red Fox Creamery where I got the caramel swirl and it was delicious!
That night an old college friend arrived for the wedding so we went out for pre-wedding drinks at Cork Street Tavern. They’re the bar that’s open latest in Winchester that’s not a sports bar. It’s a little confusing but there’s an east and west door and the west door is how you get to the patio seating. We rounded out the night with a beer at our Airbnb after the bar closed at midnight!
Friday we were planning on going back to Shenandoah but we were too tired and hung over! It worked out okay though since a storm front came it and it was rainy all day. It also got quite cold. We just had to recover in time for the rehearsal dinner at Brewbakers Restaurant where we had drinks and dinner. It was a nice venue space and the food was pretty good.
Saturday before the wedding we had breakfast/brunch at Water Street Kitchen. The breakfast was good but the options for breakfast were basically non existent (really my fault for not reading the menu before going) and the interior space is very cramped. It was raining in earnest Saturday so we sat indoors.
The wedding was at a lovely local venue and was a ton of fun! And then we headed back to DC Sunday afternoon.