I apologize in advance for the length of this post...
This year has felt like one of the more busy/insane years thus far in my life. I've attended a record number of weddings, planned and executed several work projects and welcome my Godson into the world 5 weeks earlier than expected. In preparation for my Godson's arrival, I had offered some assistance to Jill this week, but because Aaron arrived early my assistance wasn't as necessary and Jill relieved me of my duties. I took full advantage of my already scheduled "vacation" from work and planned a trip. I didn't really know who would go with me on my trip so I started my "vacation partner" interviews in early September. A logical choice would be my husband Mike - but unfortunately, he couldn't take the time off from work. I then asked several friends, but the same scheduling problems kept them from joining me. I was starting to think I'd have to vacation by myself. But then I remembered my sister Lauren might have time off - so I called her and without even an itinerary to offer her she of course said yes. I then began looking online to see if there were any cheap trips to plan through the usual Travelzoo's, Orbitz, Expedia, etc. All of them required flights, hotels and/or car rentals ...and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to keep the trip relatively inexpensive. Then it hit me... why don't we go to Charlottesville, VA and visit as many vineyards as we want, stay in a hotel with an indoor pool/hot tub and whatever else we might happen across. I sent her an email, she loved the idea and our trip was planned!!! By Friday night I was packed and ready to leave Saturday morning to head down to Roanoke to pickup my sister. I left Saturday around noon and had a very enjoyable drive down, very little traffic and a lead foot got me to Roanoke at about 3:30 - just in time to start helping prepare for a cookout. My mom baked some sweet potatoes, made baked beans and my dad grilled out some delicious sirloin steaks. Afterwards we played some cards then made it to bed. Sunday morning my sister and I got up, had breakfast then hit the road. My dad was nice enough to lend us his GPS (which was a crucial addition to the trip). We had done lots of research the night before on which vineyards were on our way and made an itinerary for the first two days of our trip. The first winery we visited was
Veritas Vineyard in Afton, VA.
We had to drive down a twisty turny mountain road to get there, but when we arrived the view was well worth it. We parked the car and walked into the magnificent tasting room where we were greeted with friendly faces and offered tastings. For $5 we sampled all the wines offered. After we had sampled it was time to decide which of the delicious wines to buy. For those of you who don't know it - I'm a wino.... I loved nearly all of the wines we sampled - even the reds. I think the our pourer could see my turmoil in choosing so she explained to me the Wine Club option. You can join the
Veritas Wine Club and members receive a selection of bottles from our limited production, handpicked by the winemaker for your enjoyment. Club members receive a 20% discount on all purchases and free admission for two to the Starry Nights events (June - September). So of course I joined and bought more wine - in total I bought a bottle of the 2007 Chardonnay, 2007 Viognier, 2006 Petit Manseng, 2005 Kenmar, 2006 Cabernet Franc and the 2005 Othello. I can't wait for my December shipment of 3 more delicious wines!!! We made our way back to our car and then plugged in the GPS to send us to
King Family Vineyard in Crozet, Virginia. As we walked up we noticed a game of Polo
being played on the adjoining lawn. How cool... so we walked into the tasting room and began. Again, we sampled all of the wines, but after a few, Lauren was feeling the effects, so we bought food for a picnic. We finished our sampling and again - the hard decision of what to buy. So far the trip was going great, I was relaxed and drinking fabulous/delicious wines. At King Family I bought a bottle a bottle of the 2006 Late Harvest Viognier and a 2006 Late Harvest Cabernet Franc and of course a bottle to go with our picnic lunch - the 2007 Crose. We paid then headed outside to the table to eat and watch Polo...
even though we really had no clue what was actually going on. Then we packed up and headed to our last tasting for the day at
White Hall Vineyard with 30 minutes to spare before closing. As we walked in there were a couple of people being led up to the "ballroom" area for a tour, we were invited and hopped into the elevator. We got up to the second floor of the building and walked around...from the ballroom you could see mountain tops, grape vines and trees for what felt like miles. It was beautiful. And I noticed a trend...every vineyard we went to Lauren would say "this would be perfect for my wedding reception" which I just found hilarious because she said after my wedding she would be eloping when she found her Mr. Right!!! But she was right, all of the vineyards would be a beautiful and romantic place to house a wedding and reception. After our ballroom tour we went back down to the tasting room and enjoyed some more wine. Since we were the last tasting of the day the pours were a lot fuller than previous vineyards, but what can you do :) At White Hall I ended up buying a bottle of the 2006 Sugar Ridge White, the 2007 Vin Gris, the last bottle of 2006 Petit Manseng and the 2006 Soliterre. We loaded the wine in the trunk and then headed to our hotel. Funny story -
Because this was a pretty last minute trip I booked our hotel through Priceline Saturday night. I knew we wanted a nice hotel somewhere in Charlottesville but not in a busy or loud area. I entered a bid for a 4-star hotel on Priceline for $50 a night, thinking no way they'll accept it...but they did and we ended up at the Doubletree by Marriot. When we arrived Sunday afternoon at the Doubletree I realized I had stayed there the previous year for Mike and Laura Pattie's wedding and reception. It was a very nice hotel, and we were looking forward to lounging around before dinner. We got to our room and freshened up a little bit. We were sure what we wanted to eat but knew we wanted something quick and easy - it's amazing how draining drinking delicious wine can be. We actually drove around for a bit before deciding on Panera for dinner. Afterwards we headed over to Kroger for some bottled water and sodas and snack food for the hotel room. Once we got back to the hotel Sunday night neither one of us stayed up for long, I think we actually both fell asleep watching HGTV. Monday morning we woke up around 9:30 and laid around for a bit. We showered and watched a little tv and before we knew it, it was nearly 11:30, so we skipped breakfast and headed over to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some much needed lunch before our busy day of wine tasting. We enjoyed our steak wrap and quesadilla then paid and were on the road again.
We were looking forward to our first winery of the day -
Barboursville. We had both heard many great things about it and arrived to see a breathtaking brick building with lush flowers and shrubs. This vineyard was different than the 3 from the day before because they had a restaurant on the grounds and a large gift shop with lots of wine related items. The gentlemen pouring our samples was probably the most genuine and educated pourer thus far. He explained each wine to us and recommended food pairings, which I found helpful for future entertaining. There was an older couple not far from us that had traveled to visit the area from Texas, it was funny to hear their comments about the wines and the area. I had already bought 12 bottles of wine the day before, but couldn't pass up the great wines at Barboursville so I bought a 2006 Cabernet Blanc, 2006 Chardonnay, 2 bottles of Phileo, a bottle of 2007 Riesling and 2 bottles of the 2007 Rosato. After we had paid we made our way to the car to load up the wine but stopped to take a couple pictures. This was probably the prettiest vineyard from the outside, Veritas, in my opinion had the nicest tasting room. Before we left, we noticed a gravel road leading up to the Barboursville ruins - a second generation estate house at Barboursville plantation that was designed by Thomas Jefferson, one of only 3 residences he designed for his friends.
The Barbour family continued to occupy this residence until it was destroyed by accidental fire at Christmas, 1884. So we drove over to take a look, but drove too far - into an area that said "Guest Only", but we continued. Up a little hill we found a little
cottage. How neat - you can actually rent it (Hint Hint Hubby). After pictures we programmed the GPS to take us to Keswick, per a recommendation from a couple we met the previous day at White Hall. But as we were driving to Keswick we ended up passing by another vineyard that I had heard of and tasted previously at the Reston Wine Festival. So we pulled into
Horton Vineyard because it was simply convenient...I mean - we didn't want to pass up more wine. As we walked in we could tell this vineyard was a lot more relaxed and casual than others.
We made our way to the tasting bar and were oddly greeted by Bob. Bob was a middle aged gentlemen who reminded me of our friend Chris Hillers. He was friendly but didn't really seem to have a wealth of knowledge like the previous pourers we had encountered. Horton has over 40 different wines, so we knew if we tasted them all we wouldn't make it back to the car, much less our hotel. So we picked a few we thought we would like and Bob began to pour our samples. At previous vineyards the pourer would give us our sample and explain what grape was used, how long it was in the barrel before bottling and what type of foods to serve with the wine - but not here, Bob would simply pour the wine, repeat the name of the wine about 3 or 4 times and the akwardly hold the bottle in front of us until we were done drinking. Each time we sent Bob to get us a different wine to taste my sister and I would burst into laughter because of Bob's wierd but friendly personality, only in time for him to return with our next bottle. But, the akwardness didn't keep me from purchasing, and I walked away with a 2007 Eclipse Red, a 2007 Eclipse White, a 2005 Late Harvest Viognier and 1999 Vintage Port. Thank you Bob for being so helpful :) After that visit we questioned if our string of good luck was fading, but we made to trek out to
Keswick Vineyard anyway. When we entered to tasting room we had a seat at the tasting bar and waited for a group to finish up. After about 10 minutes we were greeted by a women who seemed to have had some wine herself. She was friendly but there was something quirky about her. She asked if we would like to have a tasting and I felt like saying "no, we'd like a number 2 combo, value sized please" - but I refrained and said "Yes" and we began our tasting. This vineyard by far had the least number of wines to taste - 7. So we knew it would be short. But as the tasting drug on we found this woman to be almost as peculiar as Bob. She was very flighty - and then she made a comment that stunned me - she said "Oh yeah, I love my job, and I haven't killed anybody yet so it's great" later on she stated that she had previously been a nurse, but found her current job more relaxing. Wow - I'm just glad she hasn't applied for a job at Sibley - it was rather scary. I know this will shock everyone reading but my sister and I left Keswick without buying a single bottle of wine - although I really wanted to buy a bottle of the 2005 Nektar - I just couldn't bring myself to pay $28 bucks for it. And frankly I just wanted to get away from the weird woman pouring the wine. Lauren had also had enough wine for the day so we decided to head to dinner - and went to Chili's - mainly because it was happy hour time and we knew we could get cheap margaritas and free wings. It was delicious and the service was even great. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and took an hour break before heading down to enjoy a glass of wine while relaxing in the hot tub. We took a dip in the pool and after about an hour we decided to go back out - but this time to taste some ice cream. I love the feeling and thought process I have when I'm on vacation - I think it's a good motto to live by - "calories don't count when your on vacation" and my sister agreed so we bought some ice cream at Kohr Brothers. Then we stopped off at Chick-fil-a for some waffle fries. That night we sat around enjoying our snacks and watching Ever After (with Drew Barrymore). We fell asleep around midnight then woke up Tuesday morning and check out of the hotel around noon. We wanted to eat lunch and pick up a UVa shirt for my mom before heading back to Roanoke so we drove towards campus and parked. We ate lunch at
The College Inn on University Ave for lunch. It was great, it's really a UVa landmark, as it's right across the street from campus and is decorated with all kinds of sports memorabilia autographed by the players. Then we went next door to the bookstore and bought a cute shirt for our mom - from the kids section - yes, that's right, my mom is so tiny that she fits into a child's large shirt...I guess I got my genes from my dad :) Before we left we stopped at Starbucks so I could get an iced coffee for the 2 hour drive back to Roanoke. Overall, the trip was everything I could have hoped for and more. I can't wait to go back to the wineries we visited with Mike, or plan a girls weekend trip. If I had to recommend a winery to visit I would say my first choice would be Veritas, and my second would be Barboursville. If I had to rank my top 3 favorite wines purchase I'd say #1 - Veritas Cabernet Franc, #2 - Barboursville Phileo, and last but not least #3 - King Family Late Harvest Viognier. So if you're ever down around Charlottesville, Virginia and are looking for something enjoyable and inexpensive visit the many wineries I listed and more.
For those of you who don't know, Lucy Noel Harlow is a dog, but not just any dog, she is my sister and parent's dog. She is a 4 pound chihuahua, the baby of my best friend Christine's dogs Princess Fiona & Fancy Pants. For years and years, my sister, mom and I begged my dad to get a dog. For years and years, my dad said No. About a year and a half ago Christine's chihuahua's had a litter of puppies, and once my mom saw pictures she couldn't resist bringing one home. She actually said if dad gave her a hard time it was either the dog stays or he goes. (I don't know that she ever would have the actual courage to say that). But she didn't have to...my dad agreed and welcomed little Lucy to the family. 
If you've ever seen Lucy interact with anyone in the family you'd know that she is the spoiled rotten baby. I think my dad loves her the most of anyone - which is shocking. She really is cute. But on Sunday, September 21st I got a horrifying call from my sister Lauren. Lauren was crying so hard I could barely understand her. The only thing I could make out was that someone was really sick and dying. My first thought was that something had happened to my mom or dad - I started to get upset but didn't want to cry and make things worse, so I told Lauren to calm down and say it again so I could understand her. She proceeded to tell me that Lucy had been in my parents yard and had eaten some mushrooms that were growing. My mom, who was with Lucy at the time saw Lucy start to get sick and weak, and quickly called the vet. They took Lucy to the emergency vet and were told that the mushrooms that Lucy ingested were toxic, that during the week they had already treated 4 other dogs that had eaten mushrooms and that 2 of the larger dogs didn't make it. They continued by telling my parents and sister that because Lucy was so small they weren't sure they could do anything to reverse the toxicity, so to prepare for the situation that Lucy may die. Now, I know that some of you who are reading this are pet owners, and may be thinking, it's a dog, get over it... but let me just say that a pet quickly becomes a member of the family, loved and needed. I'm not comparing an animal to a sibling or parental relationship by any means, but it can be devastating to lose someone you love - even and especially a pet. It was so hard listening to my mom and dad tell me what was going on over the phone, I could hear them getting choked up just talking about it. My first instinct was to get in the car and drive to Roanoke. I offered but they said they would keep me updated and it wasn't necessary to drive 4 hours. So I sat by the phone and waited for updates. At about 11:30 Sunday night they called to say that she was still in critical condition but she had a long road ahead if she was gonna survive. Monday, while at work, I got a call from my mom who said that Lucy had received a plasma and blood transfusion (I didn't know they did those on a dog) and that she was doing a little better but that her liver enzymes were ridiculously high, from the toxicity. But Lucy was strong and she continued to get better. She ended up staying with the vet until today when she was released to go home. What an ordeal. I kept trying to put myself in my parent's shoes, and imagine what I would do if Emma were sick. I woudl be heart broken if Emma got sick and died, I'm not sure what I would do. She really is like our child. And Lucy is like a sister (no offense Lauren). But I'm so glad that Lucy is better and we wish her and my family a quick and easy recovery. Emma was also glad to hear that Lucy was getting better, and can't wait for their next playdate!!!
I know we haven't seen very much of eachother since college, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna forget your birthday. Looking forward to getting together soon...we need to plan another girls getaway. Hope you and Cassie are doing well!
We got to their house around 2:30 and I helped watch Aaron while Brett & Jill got dressed and ready for the reunion. The plan was for Mike to join me around 5 after he got home from the Maryland football game and picked up our dog Emma. Great right!!! Brett & Jill left at around 3:30 to make the hour drive up to Maryland to pre-game with friends and make a quick visit to see Brett's dad. Peter had just woken up from his nap and Aaron was just falling to sleep. Peter and I had a great time playing with his toy blocks, rings and his music machine. But I soon learned, as Jill had previously told me, he doesn't like playing with stuff for very long before he wants to move on to something else. Peter is only 13 months old, so there's only so much you can do to entertain a child of his age, so we crawled around for a while, wondering through the family room, the dining room, and we soon made our way to the kitchen. 
Peter apparently loves tupperware. He loves it so much that often he reorganizes Jill's tupperware drawer but throwing everything out onto the kitchen floor, only to have the nearest adult hustle to put everything back in before he can throw more out. It was a game that went on for about 30 minutes. I never knew tupperware could be so entertaining! By now it was about 5:30 and I was quickly exhausting all of my "tricks". Peter was getting fussy, probably from a short nap and hunger, and Aaron was starting to wake up.....Oh NO!!! Every time Aaron would make a sound Peter, my handy assistant, would quickly crawl over and poke/jostle the crib to make sure everything was okay. And although I'm sure Peter had good intentions Aaron was not fond of the movement. I would redirect Peter back to the "play area" and try many distraction techniques, some of which worked, others did not. After a while, Peter became completely uninterested in anything I had to offer. Amazingly the one thing Peter did want to play with was the trash can sitting next to the desk. Unfortunately for me the trash can had stuff in it, mostly paper and other "desk" trash. It's shocking that a 1 year old crawler can be so quick to beat me to the trash can and pull it over before I can pick him up. Be warned - he's a quick one. After me telling Peter "NO" and "No touch" repeatedly he became agitated and belted out some of the loudest cries of heard from him. His cries set Aaron off - and now I was alone with 2 crying (but adorable) babies. I had no idea what to do, because every time I picked Aaron up Peter would start crying again and wanting to touch and pull on Aaron and every time I set Aaron down to comfort Peter, Aaron would start to cry again. It was a hopelessly endless cycle. By this point I was growing weary of my capability of watching 2 children. I picked up the phone to call Mike to see where he was, he was supposed to be there 45 minutes ago. He was just leaving the football game. GRRRRRRRRR. It was almost time for Peter to eat and Aaron needed a bottle too. So in a moment of intelligence I ignored Peter long enough to bundle Aaron tightly in a blanket and set him back in the "crib". I picked Peter up and brought him into the kitchen where I heated up his macaroni. I set Peter in his crib and gave him some star puffs and then went back into the living room to bring the crib into the dining room to set at the floor by my chair. With a baby on each side I began feeding Peter and the propped up a bottle for Aaron by using a towel on top of his blanket. I felt like MacGyver. Surprisingly it worked, both Peter and Aaron were content. About 15 minutes later, just as we were finishing up the feedings Mike walked in with Emma. 
If you could have only seen the smile on Peter's face when he saw her, you might melt. I was of course relieved, I don't know how Jill does it?!? The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We had come over the night before so we could learn the "bedtime routine". It was now Mike's turn to participate in the babysit activities. After a short playtime with Emma, Mike took Peter upstairs for his bath, playtime, story time then bed. I could tell Mike was doing a great job because I could hear him and Peter talking and giggling over the monitor. So I stayed downstairs and snuggled with Aaron & Emma. I could also tell when Mike was putting Peter in his crib for bedtime because of the crying that I heard. Mike made his way downstairs and we listened for about 5 minutes as Peter's crying got softer, until there was no more! Yay...Peter is asleep. GREAT JOB Mikey!!!! Now it was our turn to eat dinner. Jill had cooked us a chili casserole for dinner, so I reheated in the oven for us to eat. It was delicious. After we ate we sat back down in the family room and turned on the television. About 45 minutes later Aaron began to cry. I knew he wasn't hungry because he wouldn't take the bottle, so I figured he must have a dirty diaper. As I was laying Aaron on his back to change him, Mike got this puzzled look on his face. I said "what's wrong" and he didn't respond. I then asked "You did put a diaper on Peter, right?" To which he cutely replied, "Um, ...no" - it was hilarious. But now the task of waking Peter up to put a diaper on him and then get him back to sleep. So we put Aaron in his crib and went upstairs to wake Peter up. When we got upstairs and looked in the crib it was one of the cutest things Mike and I have ever seen. Peter was wedged up against the far end of the crib tightly gripping a stuffed animal. He looked like an angel. But, we knew we had to get the diaper on before....well, you know. So Mike reached in and picked him up. We turned on the light and laid him on the changing table. I ended up putting the diaper on him, because we wanted to be quick. He was so sweet, he didn't cry, he just rubbed his eyes and yawned...so sweet! Once the diaper was on him and we re-buttoned his sleeper we put him back in the crib and went back downstairs. He only cried for a couple of minutes before falling back to sleep. Downstairs was pretty uneventful for the rest of the night. Mike ended up falling asleep on the couch at around 11 leaving me up to watch Aaron who had a tummy ache. But I kept myself entertained by watching "Tomorrow Never Dies". Brett & Jill got home around 2am to relieve us and we slowly made our way to the car and home. I must say, it was a great experience watching 2 children under the age of 2. Mike and I really enjoy spending time with all of the Gardner's - we had a lot of fun. But don't think it wasn't exhausting....I have a much better appreciation and understanding of Jill's daily schedule. 
We had to drive down a twisty turny mountain road to get there, but when we arrived the view was well worth it. We parked the car and walked into the magnificent tasting room where we were greeted with friendly faces and offered tastings. For $5 we sampled all the wines offered. After we had sampled it was time to decide which of the delicious wines to buy. For those of you who don't know it - I'm a wino.... I loved nearly all of the wines we sampled - even the reds. I think the our pourer could see my turmoil in choosing so she explained to me the Wine Club option. You can join the Veritas Wine Club and members receive a selection of bottles from our limited production, handpicked by the winemaker for your enjoyment. Club members receive a 20% discount on all purchases and free admission for two to the Starry Nights events (June - September). So of course I joined and bought more wine - in total I bought a bottle of the 2007 Chardonnay, 2007 Viognier, 2006 Petit Manseng, 2005 Kenmar, 2006 Cabernet Franc and the 2005 Othello. I can't wait for my December shipment of 3 more delicious wines!!! We made our way back to our car and then plugged in the GPS to send us to King Family Vineyard in Crozet, Virginia. As we walked up we noticed a game of Polo 
being played on the adjoining lawn. How cool... so we walked into the tasting room and began. Again, we sampled all of the wines, but after a few, Lauren was feeling the effects, so we bought food for a picnic. We finished our sampling and again - the hard decision of what to buy. So far the trip was going great, I was relaxed and drinking fabulous/delicious wines. At King Family I bought a bottle a bottle of the 2006 Late Harvest Viognier and a 2006 Late Harvest Cabernet Franc and of course a bottle to go with our picnic lunch - the 2007 Crose. We paid then headed outside to the table to eat and watch Polo...
even though we really had no clue what was actually going on. Then we packed up and headed to our last tasting for the day at White Hall Vineyard with 30 minutes to spare before closing. As we walked in there were a couple of people being led up to the "ballroom" area for a tour, we were invited and hopped into the elevator. We got up to the second floor of the building and walked around...from the ballroom you could see mountain tops, grape vines and trees for what felt like miles. It was beautiful. And I noticed a trend...every vineyard we went to Lauren would say "this would be perfect for my wedding reception" which I just found hilarious because she said after my wedding she would be eloping when she found her Mr. Right!!! But she was right, all of the vineyards would be a beautiful and romantic place to house a wedding and reception. After our ballroom tour we went back down to the tasting room and enjoyed some more wine. Since we were the last tasting of the day the pours were a lot fuller than previous vineyards, but what can you do :) At White Hall I ended up buying a bottle of the 2006 Sugar Ridge White, the 2007 Vin Gris, the last bottle of 2006 Petit Manseng and the 2006 Soliterre. We loaded the wine in the trunk and then headed to our hotel. Funny story - 
Because this was a pretty last minute trip I booked our hotel through Priceline Saturday night. I knew we wanted a nice hotel somewhere in Charlottesville but not in a busy or loud area. I entered a bid for a 4-star hotel on Priceline for $50 a night, thinking no way they'll accept it...but they did and we ended up at the Doubletree by Marriot. When we arrived Sunday afternoon at the Doubletree I realized I had stayed there the previous year for Mike and Laura Pattie's wedding and reception. It was a very nice hotel, and we were looking forward to lounging around before dinner. We got to our room and freshened up a little bit. We were sure what we wanted to eat but knew we wanted something quick and easy - it's amazing how draining drinking delicious wine can be. We actually drove around for a bit before deciding on Panera for dinner. Afterwards we headed over to Kroger for some bottled water and sodas and snack food for the hotel room. Once we got back to the hotel Sunday night neither one of us stayed up for long, I think we actually both fell asleep watching HGTV. Monday morning we woke up around 9:30 and laid around for a bit. We showered and watched a little tv and before we knew it, it was nearly 11:30, so we skipped breakfast and headed over to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some much needed lunch before our busy day of wine tasting. We enjoyed our steak wrap and quesadilla then paid and were on the road again. 
We were looking forward to our first winery of the day - Barboursville. We had both heard many great things about it and arrived to see a breathtaking brick building with lush flowers and shrubs. This vineyard was different than the 3 from the day before because they had a restaurant on the grounds and a large gift shop with lots of wine related items. The gentlemen pouring our samples was probably the most genuine and educated pourer thus far. He explained each wine to us and recommended food pairings, which I found helpful for future entertaining. There was an older couple not far from us that had traveled to visit the area from Texas, it was funny to hear their comments about the wines and the area. I had already bought 12 bottles of wine the day before, but couldn't pass up the great wines at Barboursville so I bought a 2006 Cabernet Blanc, 2006 Chardonnay, 2 bottles of Phileo, a bottle of 2007 Riesling and 2 bottles of the 2007 Rosato. After we had paid we made our way to the car to load up the wine but stopped to take a couple pictures. This was probably the prettiest vineyard from the outside, Veritas, in my opinion had the nicest tasting room. Before we left, we noticed a gravel road leading up to the Barboursville ruins - a second generation estate house at Barboursville plantation that was designed by Thomas Jefferson, one of only 3 residences he designed for his friends. 
The Barbour family continued to occupy this residence until it was destroyed by accidental fire at Christmas, 1884. So we drove over to take a look, but drove too far - into an area that said "Guest Only", but we continued. Up a little hill we found a little cottage. How neat - you can actually rent it (Hint Hint Hubby). After pictures we programmed the GPS to take us to Keswick, per a recommendation from a couple we met the previous day at White Hall. But as we were driving to Keswick we ended up passing by another vineyard that I had heard of and tasted previously at the Reston Wine Festival. So we pulled into Horton Vineyard because it was simply convenient...I mean - we didn't want to pass up more wine. As we walked in we could tell this vineyard was a lot more relaxed and casual than others. 
We made our way to the tasting bar and were oddly greeted by Bob. Bob was a middle aged gentlemen who reminded me of our friend Chris Hillers. He was friendly but didn't really seem to have a wealth of knowledge like the previous pourers we had encountered. Horton has over 40 different wines, so we knew if we tasted them all we wouldn't make it back to the car, much less our hotel. So we picked a few we thought we would like and Bob began to pour our samples. At previous vineyards the pourer would give us our sample and explain what grape was used, how long it was in the barrel before bottling and what type of foods to serve with the wine - but not here, Bob would simply pour the wine, repeat the name of the wine about 3 or 4 times and the akwardly hold the bottle in front of us until we were done drinking. Each time we sent Bob to get us a different wine to taste my sister and I would burst into laughter because of Bob's wierd but friendly personality, only in time for him to return with our next bottle. But, the akwardness didn't keep me from purchasing, and I walked away with a 2007 Eclipse Red, a 2007 Eclipse White, a 2005 Late Harvest Viognier and 1999 Vintage Port. Thank you Bob for being so helpful :) After that visit we questioned if our string of good luck was fading, but we made to trek out to Keswick Vineyard anyway. When we entered to tasting room we had a seat at the tasting bar and waited for a group to finish up. After about 10 minutes we were greeted by a women who seemed to have had some wine herself. She was friendly but there was something quirky about her. She asked if we would like to have a tasting and I felt like saying "no, we'd like a number 2 combo, value sized please" - but I refrained and said "Yes" and we began our tasting. This vineyard by far had the least number of wines to taste - 7. So we knew it would be short. But as the tasting drug on we found this woman to be almost as peculiar as Bob. She was very flighty - and then she made a comment that stunned me - she said "Oh yeah, I love my job, and I haven't killed anybody yet so it's great" later on she stated that she had previously been a nurse, but found her current job more relaxing. Wow - I'm just glad she hasn't applied for a job at Sibley - it was rather scary. I know this will shock everyone reading but my sister and I left Keswick without buying a single bottle of wine - although I really wanted to buy a bottle of the 2005 Nektar - I just couldn't bring myself to pay $28 bucks for it. And frankly I just wanted to get away from the weird woman pouring the wine. Lauren had also had enough wine for the day so we decided to head to dinner - and went to Chili's - mainly because it was happy hour time and we knew we could get cheap margaritas and free wings. It was delicious and the service was even great. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and took an hour break before heading down to enjoy a glass of wine while relaxing in the hot tub. We took a dip in the pool and after about an hour we decided to go back out - but this time to taste some ice cream. I love the feeling and thought process I have when I'm on vacation - I think it's a good motto to live by - "calories don't count when your on vacation" and my sister agreed so we bought some ice cream at Kohr Brothers. Then we stopped off at Chick-fil-a for some waffle fries. That night we sat around enjoying our snacks and watching Ever After (with Drew Barrymore). We fell asleep around midnight then woke up Tuesday morning and check out of the hotel around noon. We wanted to eat lunch and pick up a UVa shirt for my mom before heading back to Roanoke so we drove towards campus and parked. We ate lunch at The College Inn on University Ave for lunch. It was great, it's really a UVa landmark, as it's right across the street from campus and is decorated with all kinds of sports memorabilia autographed by the players. Then we went next door to the bookstore and bought a cute shirt for our mom - from the kids section - yes, that's right, my mom is so tiny that she fits into a child's large shirt...I guess I got my genes from my dad :) Before we left we stopped at Starbucks so I could get an iced coffee for the 2 hour drive back to Roanoke. Overall, the trip was everything I could have hoped for and more. I can't wait to go back to the wineries we visited with Mike, or plan a girls weekend trip. If I had to recommend a winery to visit I would say my first choice would be Veritas, and my second would be Barboursville. If I had to rank my top 3 favorite wines purchase I'd say #1 - Veritas Cabernet Franc, #2 - Barboursville Phileo, and last but not least #3 - King Family Late Harvest Viognier. So if you're ever down around Charlottesville, Virginia and are looking for something enjoyable and inexpensive visit the many wineries I listed and more. 
I'm very lucky to have a great set of "in-laws". I married into a family that above all other things is loving. I have a wonderful sister-in-law, which I consider to be an actual sister, and more importantly a friend. The Merrill family may have gotten their start in New York, but I thank God every day that they moved south so many years ago. I have known Mike and Patty for over 10 years, and have had the oppurtunity to spend a lot of time with them...making dinner, playing cards, traveling or simply sitting on the couch. Whatever we're doing I always feel like I belong, like I've always been part of the family. I'm sure that their love for eachother and everyone around them is the reason we can today celebrate their anniversary. I feel lucky to have such a wonderful set of role model's - Congrats & Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
