Thursday -

one of the great things about B&B's is the breakfast. I read all about Kathryn's famous cooking which meant we were very prepared for some yummy stuff.

Our breakfast time was 8:30 with coffee starting at 6:30 (thank goodness). There were ten of us sitting around this big table -

Our first course was oranges...marinated overnight in something -

then some warm rasberry scones -

the main course?  Roasted tomatoes with eggs florentine =)

and the finishing touch was a lemon poppyseed cake with fresh blueberries.  Awesome!

no need for us to look for a lunch spot, ha!

We headed back to our room and found this guy just hanging out in the bird feeder -

Busted?!

he didn't care.  In fact, he just moved to the other side so I could get a close up, lol.

Needless to say that once we shared this story with Dan and Kathryn, the bird feeder was moved =(

After breakfast we headed to Monticello.

No pictures inside but this was a really cool tour. Thomas Jefferson was very innovative.  The stories and creations inside this building are endless.

after the inside tour, we walked the grounds.  Here are some of my fav pics -

Check out this tree -

and the ice house - the story talks about getting ice from the river and filling this deep, deep pit -

this gutter was designed under the walkway to catch all the water to be used -

The cook's 'quarters' -

right beside the kitchen

and of course the wine cellar got our attention -

and I'm betting lots and lots of people traveled this walkway -

Jefferson graveyard is still very active with one of the family members being buried there just last week -

and lastly, it's a little hard to see but Thomas Jefferson kept the trees cut so he could see straight through to the 'dome' he designed at the University of Virginia -

This is definitely some place we would love to take Chase and Cierra.....a lot of history and fun information gained during this tour.

Next up - Thursday afternoon winery visits.  Check back if you're interested.