6/30/2012

Anniversary Dinner!

Dan and kathryn suggested several options for dinner. After reading reviews, looking at pictures and peeking at the menus, we had reservations at 8:00 here -

 It was definitely quaint and very cozy.

White or Red?  (I love that song by Billy Joel "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"!)

We chose a Barboursville Chardonnay....how fiting?! (wink, wink)

Scallops as our appetizer -

followed by salads -

Steak for me -

Salmon for him -

When we first got there only one other couple was dining.  Ironically enough, their anniversary was the SAME day.....25 years!  And by the end of the evening, we were dining alone.  PERFECT!

Yep, a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Check back if you're interested in how we spent Thursday in Charlottesville.

6/29/2012

Three perfect days.....

So on Wednesday, we headed to Charlottesville, VA to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We started planning this many months ago and after taking several things into consideration, decided to stay fairly close to home.

With that said and the fact that the Charlottesville area is the Napa Valley of Virginia, we landed on a Bed & Breakfast that was rated in the top ten romantic B&B's.

We stopped for a nice breakfast -

I made my 'routine' wishes and dropped a few pennies in -

then it was time to get out of the county.  Out of three Map Quest options, we picked the scenic route.

The ride was beautiful and this was just one advantage -

The place looked quaint so we turned around. The owner just happened to be pulling up to mail a letter so let us in. We chatted, looked around, purchased some preserves that his wife made and Ronnie grabbed a bottle of Mountain Dew!

A few pictures later then we headed on our merry way.

This part of the country is pure beauty. The store owner told us we would see this barn on Route 231 and he wasn't wrong.

Our check in wasn't until 4 so we took our time, stopping wherever we wanted. We saw a sign for this winery -

it was closed but we didn't mind - we wouldn't have gotten to see this beautiful farm

The more south we travelled, the cheaper gas was which wasn't a bad thing either =)

Using our Wine magazine, I wanted to stop at Barboursville first. This one was rated the most romantic =)
I can certainly see why -



Lots of great wines, beautiful place and an added benefit was that our 'pourer' was from Italy.  Very, very tall, ha!

We checked out the 'ruins' -


Then headed to Horton.

We have purchased some of their wines at Virginia Festivals -

Not too impressed.  The building doesn't appear to be maintained.  The staff?!  Well, we were greeted by a guy who was washing dishes and apparently should have worn an apron.  His shirt was just a tad wet, haha!  And the 'pourer', well while she was definitely friendly, she wouldn't be who I would want giving the first impression.  She was also very opinionated about their wines, telling us before we tasted, which she didn't like.  Hmmm.

And then there's Keswick -

I always read about the winery before we go.  The write-up mentioned quilts being available for the lawn.  Not so sure I would want to use someone's quilt but they were available =)

There might be room on this table for your wine glass, ha!

The place was very pretty -

and the wines list included some nice whites and reds -

After our purchase, we headed out to our fourth and final winery of the day!
The place was pretty nice.  The typical tasting is $5 and you get to keep the glass but here, $10 and the glass doesn't even have their name/logo.  What's up with that?!  The wines were good but a little pricey as well.


We did purchase a bottle and then it was time to go check-in!  Yay!

We chose the Fox Field Inn.  Dan and Kathryn had our "Garden Room" all ready -



they even had two glasses of Virginia wine waiting.

What a perfect day so far.  Check back to get the scoop on our Anniversary dinner =)

6/27/2012

Today's our day! Twenty (yes 20) years ago the weather was just as beautiful as today. We've experienced a lot through these years but our love has continued to grow stronger.



I look forward to many more to come. Happy Anniversary to us! Now we're off for our 20 year adventure =)

6/26/2012

A new day -

All Stars is upon us!

CTR (Charles Town Ranson) played a great game tonight - A WIN 14 - 3!

Tomorrow is another day and another game.  We won't be there but will certainly be checking in to see how they are playing.

Good LUCK Chase and the rest of the team!  We'll be cheering you on from Virginia.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 55th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

It seems like just yesterday we were planning for the big celebration of 50 years.   Time sure flies. I hope you have a wonderful day!

6/24/2012

Scenes from Sunday -

This is the first weekend so far this Spring/Summer that I haven't had ANYTHING to do. And, better yet....there was no rain!

I was able to spend some much needed, quality time thinking, napping, getting my priorities straight, reading, laying by the pool, floating in the crystal clear, blue water, planning our upcoming trip this week and sipping on lemonade, ha!

Today I decided to take my camera out to capture the all the beauty around me.

It was Bike West Virginia day -

I am not kidding when I say thousands of bicycles went by our house (there's an advantage to living on the corner, by the road).

My flowers are lookin' pretty good -





Scanlon always enjoys going across the lane, into the woods -

The birds were singing - And then suddenly I noticed something overhead. It was soaring.  It was graceful.  It was moving slowly, peacefully.  A buzzard?  A goose?  I thought for sure it looked like a bald eagle!

So I took some pictures and sure enough, it is!  Ronnie will be sorry he missed the show =)  As it turned out, my neighbor pointed out that there were actually three eagles flying overhead.  Very cool.

But I can't neglect to show you this lady that catches my eye every time!

I always think it is our neighbor, lol. (where's her pants?! Steve?)

The clouds eventually appeared but that was ok with me.  There's still laundry to be done, dinner to be started and of course figuring out the final touches to our anniversary excursion.  I'm just a little bit excited!

Two days then off we go - yippee!

I hope you all had a great weekend and this coming week is exactly what you want it to be =)