Vi-own-YAY
Two gorgeous fall days have been filled with gorgeous fall hikes!
Tate and I were up for a little exploring yesterday afternoon and found this awesome system of trails less than 10 minutes from our house!
We crunched up the mountain a mile or so and came out at Carter Mountain Orchard. This is the same company/family that owns Chiles Peach Orchard, where I work, but it was the first time I made it up there. The views were spectacular! Charlottesville is right on the edge of the Piedmont Region and if you look to the East it is flat for as far as you can see!
We noticed that we were close to Jefferson Vineyards and decided it was as good a time as any for a little wine tasting.
(It looks like someone threw a handful of grapes at that sign!)
The tasting included at least 8 wines.
This is a mighty fine Viognier, my friends, mighty fine.
It seems standard in Virginia that wine tastings are about $5 and you get to keep your wine glass. In the Willamette Valley where we went tasting many times from Portland more of the vineyards offered complimentary tastings or would waive the fee with a purchase. Free is certainly nice but it’s kind of fun to have souvenir glasses and the few tastings I’ve done have been extensive, at least 8 wines.
These dark evenings are so hard on my motivation! We got home last night just before 5 and I had to keep telling myself that it was “only” 5pm, not time to throw in the towel and curl up on the couch yet. So I did a lovely 35 minutes of yoga and then hit the couch ;).
This afternoon I met two girl-friends and their cute-cute-cute babies for another hike. We covered a leisurely 3 miles or so along the Monticello-Saunders trial system.
I am SO thrilled to have wooded hiking so close to home!
Time to pack, I am making a last minute trip to Florida this weekend to visit my grandfather as he recovers from open heart surgery and keep my grandma company. I am really looking forward to seeing both of them and am glad that I am able to make the trip.
After work tomorrow I am driving to West Virginia to see my sister perform in a dance concert and then leaving from there on Saturday morning. I will be in Florida until Thursday. Besides the pleasure of seeing my grandparents I am going to see one of my dear friends from when I lived in Peru, she now lives in West Palm Beach. She’s had a baby since I last saw her and I can’t wait to meet him!
I am hoping to sneak in a run on the beach also but we’ll see how it all plays out.
Gotta pack because we are going to see David Dorfman Dance tonight at UVA!
