The travel habits of the New York Times journalist are as peculiar as the animal itself, but we’ve detected a pattern in the mammal’s moves thanks to "36 Hours in Charlottesville," a travel essay that will appear in Sunday’s New York Times. The essay is currently available at nytimes.com, along with the first"36 Hours" piece devoted to Charlottesville in November 2002.
So what of the creature itself? The New York Times journalist seems to return to Charlottesville once every six years in the fall. It seems to carry an ingrained, possibly genetic appreciation of wine and brunch, and our city continues to nurture the creature’s cravings—in the current travel essay, Bluegrass Grill and Bakery replaces the journalist’s 2002 love of Duner’s. Despite kind words, however, the journalist ventures 50 minutes away from our city to wet its beak with Old House Vineyards wine and Vidal Blanc, rather than sample more local fare. Fascinating!
Charlottesville rejoices at the return of the majestic The New York Times journalist for wine and mimes. Yes, mimes. (Read on.)
This tendency to stray, in fact, informs other portions of the essay. The journalist found Monticello a novel visit in 2002, but this year opts for James Monroe’s Ash-Lawn Highland. The flight instinct is paired with what is perhaps a defense mechanism refined through evolution: The creature does not shop, but instead conserves money for dinner at Barboursville Vineyard’s Palladio Restaurant. However, some old stomping grounds are revisited, including Shenandoah National Park.
Locals may, however feel concern for the rare species known in the Latin as scriptimus maximus.* The creature shows signs of poor visual recognition and an inability to heed its proscribed 36-hour travel limitation: It identifies "students kicking the Hacky Sack" and "street mimes" on the Downtown Mall, and stays in Charlottesville for a grand total of 44 hours.
*The Wile E. Coyote Latin, that is.
