This past weekend, a series of events fell into place that allowed my wife and I to travel down to Virginia to visit our niece at university. We had been planning on going anyway, but flights to Virginia were expensive and all at really weird times, so it didn't look like it was going to work out.
Then our nieces dad reached out to let us know that he and his wife were heading down there and if we could find a way to Ohio, we were more than welcome to ride with them. We left after work on Thursday afternoon to head down to the Columbus, OH area, and then on Friday morning, we packed the car and made for Radford, Virginia.
That's actually not entirely true, we actually went right to Charlottesville, Virginia where the University of Virginia is because her softball team had a game there on Friday night, but after that we headed back to Radford.
The photo above was from our hotel room and while the hotel was amazing (more about that at the end of this post), I don't think the $10 extra we paid per night for a "mountain view" was really worth it. You can just see them in the background above.
Radford University was founded in 1910 as a public university in the state of Virginia. It began as "The State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford", but in 1924 the school was renamed "The State Teachers College at Radford". Obviously, the primary intent was to be a school for teachers. In 1943, the school merged with Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg (home of Virginia Tech). VPI remained the male campus of the school while Radford was the female campus.
In 1964 that merger was dissolved and by 1972 Radford became its own co-ed campus. It remained a college until 1979 when it grew big enough to earn the label university.
After getting back late from the softball game the night before, we slept in a bit, then we took a stroll around campus with our niece to see all the places that she visits on a regular basis. Our first stop of course was her dorm to meet up with her and see where she lives.
These dorms are much nicer than what I remember from college. They are almost like mini apartments with each set of roommates getting their own bathroom. No single bathroom per hall prison style accommodations for these kids!
The campus is small enough that it is very walk-able and it has a modern yet quaint feel about it that really makes you feel at home. I never actually went away for university, but I would like to think if I had, this is the sort of school that I might have attended.
I've been to universities before where everything is spread across a several mile space and I don't think that has the same charm as schools like this.
There is actually a fair amount of green space as well throughout the campus. I can imagine students all over this field on a warm day in the early fall or late spring. Throwing a frisbee or just sitting under a tree and reading.
The mascot for Radford is the Highlander, so many of the buildings and surrounding businesses have a very Scottish feel to them though I haven't been able to figure out what the actual connection is to Scotland. The campus itself is 211 acres with just shy of 4000 students living on campus.
Since we spent the morning walking around campus, I am going to include this post as a #wednesdaywalk post sponsored by 
It was a crisp morning for a walk with the temperature being somewhere in the 50 degree range. In fact, it was so chilly, we had a hard time believing it was supposed to reach over 80 degrees later in the day, but it did. I'd say our stroll took just about an hour before we decided to find a local place and grab some breakfast.
We ended up at a place on campus called BT's that our niece had actually never visited before. Apparently, the food in the dining hall is quite good if you can believe that and since she pays for the meal plan she usually eats there. The student union also has a Chick Fil A and there is a Wendy's in the dining hall too, so she has plenty of options.
Like I said, the highlander theme is prominent throughout the town as evidenced by this statue inside the restaurant.
Breakfast at BT's was pretty fantastic. I got the steak and egg omelette that you see in the first picture above. 
The breakfast club was interesting, but it would have been way too much for me to eat. It's basically eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese between pieces of french toast. Then some potatoes on the side. My brother in law said it was amazing!
I can attest that my steak and egg omelette was exceptional, and the biscuit was a no brainer being in the south. It was phenomenal.
After breakfast we headed back to our hotel that was right on the edge of campus. It's a Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel called "The Highlander" duh. Like the dork I am, I couldn't help but say "There can be only one" everytime someone said the word "Highlander".
The Highlander hotel was actually one of the nicer hotels we have stayed at since Covid, and I will definitely be staying there again. They have specials for parents of students and a pretty fantastic restaurant on the top floor that I will be writing about in a future post.
It's safe to say Radford has captured my heart and I can see why our niece chose to go there. I can't wait to get back and visit her again in the Spring.
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
