The Cavalier Inn at the University Charlottesville

Left Huntersville heading up 77N - 81N toward Virginia Wine Country in the aftermath of hurricane Ida. Quick stop at the Va state line was worth it - great maps. <br><br>Our first winery stop was Rockbridge Vineyard - exit 205. Absolutely wonderful. Not a glitzy new tasting room but very enjoyable. Hard to believe our favorite wines on the tasting were the $10 wines; St Mary's Blanc (Vidal Blanc ...

... given out-of-hours access to an interactive area designed for children which we hadn&#8217;t had time to see earlier in the day, so the children were pretty pleased with that.<br><br>The following day we were due to continue our drive along the ridge of the Blue Mountain range but decided to stop first at a quirky little open air museum called The Frontier Museum. Here they displayed 18th Century English, Irish and German farmhouses which they had bought ...

... food, especially breakfast. Got some salmon hash that came like eggs benedict. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! First night we went to Fellini's and had a bottle of wine. It was really nice!! Definitely partied hard with these guys, although I could not really keep up. Had a blast. On the way down to Duck we stopped by his friend Stephen's. <br>

... improved astronomically (I was ready for him to go after the 4th and 5th movies, in which he acted like a bipolar maniac-- the real Dumbedore would never... I had even joined the facebook group "Remember Kids, Snape Didn't Kill Dumbledore, Michael Gambon did"). But Dumbledore was calm and melancholy in this movie, and it was actually hard for me to see him get blasted by Snape (not a spoiler... if you did ...

... We particularly liked the animated Jefferson -- something out of Terry Gilliam, surely. Then walked up the path to the house, past Jefferson's grave and "Mulberry Row" -- the vegetable garden and level ground that used to support outbuildings. The most impressive aspect of walking up to the house is the realization of how much the top of the hill was leveled, to allow space for the house and grounds.<br><br>The tour was interesting -- just the ...

... the famous traveling rock show &#8220;Lollapalooza.&#8221; For all the planning that went into this trip, Lollapalooza probably was easier to put together and may not have cost as much. <br><br>Pre-Trip<br><br>I made ever-changing lists of destinations, worked up a budget (which fluctuated several times due to changes in the exchange rate), and wore out my satellite modem doing online research on the locations and what there was to do once we ...

... at our usual Wendy's in Manassas, Va (were we always stop on I-66) and decided that the National Park just wasn't going to be a good idea for today.  So we pulled out the I-Phone and started looking for other activities to keep us busy till about 6pm, which was when our friends were expecting us.  <br><br>We picked a new route, route 29...it was a great scenic drive from Manasas to Charlottesville!  We ...

... on the tour. Jefferson's brilliance became obvious as we moved through the building he designed. It also emphasized what a man of means was capable of in the 18th century. A plantation owner/operator. A statesman and revolutionary. Self taught architect and European diplomat and of course, President. I'm convinced that the technology of today still can't compete with having a couple hundred slaves ...

The ride from DC to Charlottesville was long - over two hours. Most of us fell asleep and Mr. Nish got some good photos of that. We checked into the hotel and then ate in Charlottesville - Court Square Tavern. The food was excellent but there was not much of it. The girls pigged out at WalMart afterwards. We need to be up early tommorrow. Bye Kento and David

... coming on slowly, and when the lights were fully on, the opponents were announced and the crowd was eerily quiet, except for a few Drexler fans. The game was great and UVA kicked butt! The 12000 crowd made the evening brilliant, and all the dancing, cheerleaders, competitions etc. were great to be part of. We were up very early on Wednesday morning as the Bartholomews were heading off to have Thanksgiving 8 hours away with friends. So we all gathered for a sad ...