Day 3 - Monticello and Ash-Lawn Highland

It was hard waking up early, we still hadn't fully adjusted to the time change but The Inn at Court Square serves a gourmet breakfast between 8:00-9:00AM, so we made an exception.
Their in-house Chef prepared two different kinds of delicious quiche, I chose the red pepper and Stephen had the bacon (No surprise there!) ;-) The quiche was so moist and fluffy and the flavors were spectacular! They also served their home roasted coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh baked pumpkin spice muffins and yogurt (from a local dairy) with homemade granola...we were in breakfast heaven!

Monticello (Behind the Scenes Tour) - the home of Thomas Jefferson

The mansion itself is gorgeous, I loved seeing all of the inventions and designs that Jefferson came up with whether it was architectural or inventing the polygraph, the clock that also keeps track of the day of the week (even if Saturday is in the basement) or the improvements to the plow. Jefferson and Madison were definitely some of the great minds that founded this country.
I was a bit disappointed to not see or hear that Thomas Jefferson felt as strong a friendship to James Madison as Madison to Jefferson but maybe it was just the tour guide not mentioning these connections. The tour guide seemed to be more interested in discussing slavery at Monticello and the mistakes Jefferson had made rather than mention his knowledge and his innovation.

Ash-Lawn Highland - the home of James Monroe

James Monroe was not known for being a thinker and an innovator like Washington, Jefferson and Madison were. He was a good man that stood behind the cause, the revolution that is. His home was the first home of a president that has the appearance of a home not a mansion, it was a farm that wasn't exceptionally fancy. The interior had fine furnishings and you could tell the Monroe's liked to entertain but I was under the impression that Monroe was a humble man.

Day 2 - Montpelier and Charlottesville, VA

Sept 29th, 2013
Stephen and I woke-up nice and early to head down to James Madison's Montpelier and then off to Charlottesville.

Wanting to take the scenic route to Montpelier we took the back roads that paralleled the highway. We saw some amazing houses, even the smaller houses were so quaint looking with their brick structure, adorable painted shutters and large front porches. Each lot looked to be no less than 10 acres, some with clean cut meadows framed by their own personal forest of trees, some with fields of tobacco, others with rolls of hay (not stacked and cut hay bale as you'd find in CA.) Also, a majority of these properties don't have a single fence...this is quiet different than properties in California.

At Montpelier we had the pleasure of having Bud be our guide through the mansion, not only was he very knowledgeable in regards to the Madison family and friends but you could tell he truly cared about presenting an accurate account of the history that laid before us.
James Madison was a very intelligent man, small in stature and he was a hypochondriac. Mr. Madison did an enormous amount of research of history, politics, civilizations, the rise and the downfall of many a government and king. He created the Virginia Plan which later became the groundwork for the Constitution. Mr. Madison was also the fourth President of the United States.

The Mansion itself is very beautiful, the structure, the pillars, the brick it was so lovely to look at. Inside the mansion the wall coverings and curtains are so ornate and vibrant in color. Interestingly, in the drawing room, paintings cover almost every inch of the available wall space. (unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior)

James Madison's Montpelier

Since travel was difficult in the late 1700's guests visiting the Madisons (such as Thomas Jefferson, close friend of James Madison) would be staying for weeks or months at a time. I can't imagine trying to entertain guests for that long. That must be one of the reasons why the garden at Montpelier is so large and gorgeous with several intimate spots for conversation and relaxation. There are so many different things to see and discover at Montpelier, I'm glad we had a whole day to explore.

Entrance to the Gardens (it became more of a flower garden in the 1900's when Mrs. duPont became the owner of Montpelier.)

 

 

The Temple - beneath it lies an ice well where the Madisons kept their ice cream and other perishable items cold (they were famous for being one of the first families in the US to have ice cream)

 

Slave Quarters in the South Yard (they are still being reconstructed)

On to our B&B in Charlottesville... The Inn at Court Square
This was by-far one of the most wonderful places we have stayed, on any vacation!
Built in 1785, the Inn at Court Square is the oldest existing house in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. We stayed in the Susan B Fowler room, it had a king size four poster bed, adorable sitting area with a fireplace a dressing room with vanity and an amazing whirlpool tub!

I wish I could describe every detail, this room along with the rest of the B&B was like you stepped into the late 1800's with the latest in French fashion and décor and the hospitality was beyond measure!

Day 1 - Anniversary Trip to Virginia

Sept 28th, 2013 - After getting off of work at Midnight, Stephen and I packed up our last minute items, toothbrushes and chargers, and headed out the door. Our flight was leaving SFO at 6:15 AM and we had to find long term parking and head-out to the airport on the shuttle. Luckily check-in and baggage check were virtually painless...we always expect to have a few delays.

Our long flight seemed shorter than expected, maybe it's because we were sleep deprived but we were both able to sleep a bit on the plane. We had a short lay-over in Atlanta, just long enough to grab a bite to eat at one of the airport restaurants. The flight to Richmond was only about an hour long from there, once we landed we grabbed our bags, (yay, they were there!) got our rental car (thank you, Mark from Advantage for being so helpful!) and headed out to the Courtyard Marriot. It was a very nice clean hotel and the gentleman helping us at the front desk was very friendly. So far people from Virginia have exceeded my expectations for great customer service!

Stephen and I decided to take a quick nap before doing any site seeing...5 hours later we woke-up and it was about 11PM Virginia time, hardly anything was still open for dinner, we found a 24 hour diner in the city, 3rd St. Diner and decided to give a try. From the outside this place doesn't look fabulous, in fact neither did the inside, it smelled of Windex and still looked dingy...I was hesitant to even try the food. Unfortunately, we didn't have many other choices. To our surprise the food was good, quiet satisfying and no adverse after shock.