deMars: Life on the East Coast: Weekend in Virginia

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Weekend in Virginia

A couple of weekends ago, I made one last visit to Alexandria, VA to visit our friends Melissa and Earl Ardales. I have really enjoyed being able to visit them each year that we've lived back east. Last year we did a lot of sightseeing in the Washington DC area, so this trip I asked them to show me some of Virginia. Visiting Thomas Jefferson's Monticello had been on my east coast bucket list so they took me to Charlottesville to check it out. The drive through rural Virginia was lovely. Along the way, we stopped at Barboursville Vineyards for a wine tasting. I was pretty skeptical because I have not been impressed with east coast wine but Barboursville proved to be a great little winery. We then stopped for lunch in downtown Charlottesville. We found a great rooftop restaurant and enjoyed a perfect 75 degree afternoon. After lunch, we headed to Monticello. I love seeing the homes of past presidents. Thomas Jefferson was an interesting person. It's amazing to me that he could draft the Declaration of Independence and then run his household with slaves. The grounds at Monticello are beautiful. The house is not what I expected, yet the decor all makes sense now that I think about it. The entryway has a bunch of animal skins and other things sent to Jefferson by Lewis & Clark as they explored the land that Jefferson purchased to expand the country west. Unfortunately, you can't take photos in the main floors of the house. I was able to take some pictures of the cellar level where the kitchen was located and of the grounds. After our visit at TJ's house, we headed back to Alexandria and finished the day with dinner in Old Town. Once again, Melissa and Earl were great hosts and I had another wonderful visit. Here are some photos from the weekend.