Cousins - part two!

Mary, Emma, Ben & Will - at their daddies' cousin Paige's wedding last week.

A Tale of Three Wineries

One week ago today, I spent a wonderful afternoon touring wineries in the Charlottesville, Virginia area with my 3 good friends who were my housemates in law school.

The original plan was to go to the spa at the resort hotel where we were staying, but when I was trying to book treatments for all of us at the same time, the idea of doing tastings at some of the wineries popped into my head. The only issue with that was the driving. It wouldn't be as much fun for the person who had to drive, plus there was the issue of us having to find our way to the wineries. I decided to check into how much it would cost to hire a limousine for a few hours. As it turned out, the four of us could be driven around in the limousine for four hours for the same cost as the spa treatments. As my friend Michelle so eloquently put it: "If I understand the question, I can be driven around Virginia on a winery tour with 3 of my best friends or get naked with a strange man. Difficult choice. Okay, maybe the winery tour."


First off, I would highly recommend the limousine company we used: QR Limos. Bonnie, who responds to quote requests, spent 20 minutes on the phone with me plotting out the most efficient trip; I did not receive service like this at all from the other company with whom I spoke. Our driver, Frank, was wonderful. He was very professional but also a lot of fun. We had a great time rolling through the beautiful Virginia countryside and would have enjoyed that aspect of it even without the wine. ;)

Our first stop was the best overall wine-tasting experience. It was Jefferson Vineyards. This winery is actually on the site where in 1774, Thomas Jefferson was the first to attempt to make wine in the new colonies. He failed, but the area around his beloved Monticello is now home to many thriving wineries. When we arrived, we went into the tasting room and were told they were about to begin another tasting. We paid our $5 each (which included the wines and a commemorative glass) and were happy to find that the four of us were going to be our own tasting group with our own guide pouring and telling us about the wines. Our guide was fantastic -- he was so informative and not the least bit pretentious. We got to taste 9 or 10 different wines, and he took his time explaining the various varieties and processes and answered every question thoughtfully. We were lucky to find that when the tasting was done, our guide was also the one who would lead the tour of th winemaking facility. We all learned a lot about how wine is made and had a lot of fun doing it.

When the tour was over, we got back into the limo and Frank took us to our next destination, Kluge Estate. This winery was absolutely gorgeous. When we got there and saw the beautiful grounds, we decided to make our cheese-and-cracker picnic there. Then Frank told us they had food available inside, and we found some wonderful things from which to choose. We settled upon a plate of stuffed olives and a curried chicken salad with pitas. We feasted at a picnic table under some trees and had a lovely, relaxing lunch. Then we moved back inside to do the wine tasting. The tasting, we were told, was $10 for 6 wines. This was in stark contrast to the earlier tasting we had done at Jefferson -- the tastes were smaller, and this guide did not have a fraction of the knowledge that our first guide was able to share. We were not impressed, but it was worthwhile to visit just for the lovely setting and the delicious food. And the staff was very gracious. One young man even went back and had the chef write down the recipe for the chicken salad we liked so much.

Our last stop was First Colony Winery. It was at the other end of the spectrum from Kluge Estate -- no frills, just belly up to the bar and taste some wine. The tastings here were free, and while the guide was not a fountain of information like her predecessor at Jefferson, she was much better than the guide we'd had at Kluge. We tasted some nice wines here, but at this point we were getting a bit "wined out." We ended the afternoon with Frank taking us on our last leg of the scenic drive, back to the Boar's Head Inn.

We could hardly think of a nicer way to spend an afternoon in our beloved Charlottesville. If you ever get the chance, take it!!

The funniest thing we've EVER seen on the road...

More family fun

Tuesday was Point Pleasant Beach -- playing in the ocean and riding the rides on the boardwalk. As you may have seen in the "Cousins!" post, the kids had a blast. So did the grandparents! It is not often that they do not get to spend time with all four of their grandkids together.

On Wednesday, we all went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We drove to Liberty State Park in Jersey City and rode the ferry from there. Like the previous day down the shore, the weather was perfect -- dry and temperate. It was nothing like you'd expect in August! The ferry rides were great, too.

Ellis Island is fascinating for adults with an interest in history and whose ancestors passed through. I'd like to go back and take the audio tour and see some of hte exhibits we didn't get to see. It's not too exciting for young kids, though, and we didn't want to use up their patience and energy too early in the day. (Especially after our LATE night on the boardwalk!) We got lunch and ate it outside so we could enjoy the glorious day. The grounds are beautiful and the view of NYC is excellent.

So back on the ferry we went. The kids were a bit more excited this time as we were disembarking. Grandpa had made reservations in advance so that we could go inside the Statue and climb up to the observation deck.

It was not as cool as when we got to climb all the way up to the torch when we were kids, but it's as good as it gets in this post 9/11 world.

Note: if you are taking the monument tour like we did, prepare to put your larger bags and ANY food/drink you are carrying into the lockers before you line up for security. It only costs $1.00 and will save you time (and possibly embarassment). We stashed our cooler and water bottles and joined the line, which despite warnings in everything we read were not bad at all. I asked the woman at the door to the security tent where the nearest restroom was because Will had to go. She asked if it were an emergency and then, looking at his face, decided it was. She told me to hand my bag, keys, everything to my family and brought us to the front of the line for security screening. The set-up there is very high-tech. After the typical airport style x-ray screening, you stand under an arch where a recorded voice announces "air puffers on" and you are blown every which way by bursts of air (which apparently detect explosive powders and other dangerous substances). You might want to avoid wearing a skirt if you go! ;) Will thought it was pretty cool.

As we walked out of the tent towards the statue itself (and the much-needed restroom), I realized that my bag contained two large wrapped chocolate chip cookies we'd purchased at lunch to save for a kid-emergency and a couple of baggies of cereal and nuts. Oops! I'd left Emma holding the bag -- literally. It ended up taking the rest of my family a few extra minutes to get through the screening. If you ever hear me called "Contraband" or overhear someone say "Check Lisa's bag!," you'll know why!

This is the original torch, which was replaced when they did major renovations in 1986. The windowed design of it allowed water to seep in over the years, so when they replaced it, they used a solid surface.

Young at Heart

Cousins!!!!!

More in DC, then on to NJ...

Thursday, July 19th

We woke up early for White House tour try #2. We booked a taxi to pick us up at 7:45 to take us to the Metro. While we'd now walked it plenty of times, I thought it best not to start off the day that way. The taxi ride would ensure we could get to the metro and through the commuters' rush down to the WH in plenty of time for our 9:30 tour.

The kids found riding the Metro with the commuters to be a very different experience. While on our other rides they were able to choose their seats, at 8 a.m. we rode for awhile standing in a mass of people before they could sit down. But we made it in plenty of time. We stopped to use a restroom at a Starbucks where the line was too long for coffee-addicted Mom to buy a fix. Then we walked to the White House. We arrived at the Southeast gate before 9 and were surprised to learn that we could go right in.

The White House tours are "self-guided," meaning that you can set your own pace but that no one is narrating for you. However, the staffers who worked each room were extremely knowledgeable and very happy to answer questions. We learned quite a lot from listening to others' questions and the answers that were given, and we got to ask a few of our own. The stories behind the furnishings and portraits in each room are fascinating. And it is amazing to stand in the State Dining Room and think of the many world leaders and famous people who have been there.

We were unable to bring a camera, of course, but once we were outside and allowed to turn phones back on, I took a few pictures with my phone. I am not sure I can transfer them, but I will try later.

We were actually through with a fairly leisurely tour at about the time we expected to start. We walked to the Metro, rode back to Bethesda and walked back to Alex's house, arriving while the coffee date that she and our friend Jane were having was still in progress. :)

The kids rested and played with Frederick when he came home from camp, then we all went up and rested and packed up when he went up for his nap. Later that afternoon, we went over to Jane's house and visited with her and Abby and Caroline, which was wonderful.

We went back to Alex's and had wonderful pizza and salads delivered from a great Maryland chain called Mama Lucia's. And we got everyone to bed at a reasonable hour. I headed upstairs by 10:30 and had my head on the pillow by 11:00 which was by far the earliest night I had all week.

Friday, July 20th

I got up early in the morning to be able to get ready and load the car in time to leave for the National Aquarium in Baltimore by about 9:15. It was the first morning I was dressed before anyone else, though, and I completely forgot about the motion sensor alarm, which went off and took about 10 years off my life when I attemped to go down from the 2nd to the 1st floor. Yikes!!

When Emma and I went out to load the car, we found it was a beautiful, dry, cool morning. She asked why we couldn't have had weather like that to walk around DC!! Oh, well... We headed for the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, caravaning with Alex and Frederick.

What a fabulous aquarium! My kids have been privileged in the last couple of years to visit several major aquariums (though we haven't made it to the nearest major one in Atlanta yet). But I was really impressed with many things about the NAIB -- particularly its emphasis on preservation and habitat. We loved watching the divers feeding the marine life in many of the tanks throughout the facility. (At one point, Will announced that he wanted to jump into the one where the diver was feeding the fish lots of shrimp. LOL!) Will particularly loved the frogs exhibit where he got to see the vibrant colors and huge variations in many of the species he'd read about in his Reptiles and Amphibians Dictionary.

We headed out of the aquarium about 1:15 and walked along the pier towards our car. It was absolutely beautiful out, and we would have loved to spend more time on the harbor. Maybe next time...

Fear of ever-increasing Friday afternoon traffic kept us moving, though, and after paying the exorbitant fee they charge for parking in the Inner Harbor, we headed towards I-95 North and Grandma and Grandpa who were waiting. The traffic on the NJ Turnpike was a bit ugly, but it could have been a lot worse (i.e., we could have been driving SOUTH)! We made it to Edison just before 5 p.m. to a couple of very happy grandparents not to mention a great-aunt who had driven in from Toronto. :)