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Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary. We celebrated by going down to a little bed and breakfast in Vesuvius, VA.  Which is in the county of Rockbridge (not Rock Ridge) but there was a railroad slated to go through Rockbridge but was never completed.  We stayed at SugarTree Inn, in their small cabin. The cabin itself was nice and spacious and had a Jacuzzi tub and large stall shower. (I’m so installing a Jacuzzi tub when I get a house.) The inn was in a pretty secluded spot on very curvy windy mountain road that would probably be fun on a motorcycle or a high end sports car.  Now the driveway, which seemed like a mini road, was ‘fun’, it had a steep incline and some very tight curves.   However the down side of the location was there was very little to no cell reception thus really no internet. Also I have had better breakfasts at Hampton Inns. The breakfasts were on the boring side basically eggs, grits, ham and baked oatmeal every day and only served for one hour in the morning. The other bed and breakfasts I have been too offered a better variety of food and a longer breakfast time.  While place was nice, I don’t think we’ll go back to that particular bed and breakfast.

Monticello (rear)
Over the weekend we stopped at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home.  Jefferson’s home is interesting but is smaller than Mount Vernon.  You could take pictures of the grounds but not inside the house itself.  Overall I would say it is nice but is a bit overpriced for the depth of the tour and what you actually get to see of the house. 






One of several waterfalls
Now since the government was closed, it meant the National Parks were closed. This changed our vacation plans, since we wanted to drive and hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Thankfully we did find a few things open in the area. We did a hike at Crabtree falls.  The hike was a 1.7 mile hike up the mountain with several little waterfalls dotting the trail.  The trail had several switch backs, I would consider it a moderate hike. The trail was an up and back trail so it was a total of 3.4 miles round trip. There was a beautiful view of the valley when you got to the top.  

We then went to see the Natural Bridge, which honestly should not cost 20 dollars per person to go see. I realize the admission
included the butterfly garden, Indian village and wax museum. But most of the stuff was not well maintained or and was kind of pitiful.  It defiantly fell under the category tourist trap.  




The next day we went to Cyrus McCormick Farm and the fall festival (it was free). The farm is a historical farm, and was the birth place of Cyrus McCormick which invented the first mechanical grain reaper.   We walked around that for a little bit then went into the town of Lexington, VA to wander around. In Lexington we stopped at a small private war memorabilia museum. It was owned and operated by a nice little old lady. It was a pretty extensive collection of items, which were collected by her husband.  She gave a very nice 45 minute tour.  After that we headed up to Rockbridge Winery for their fall festival and tasting. It wasn’t much of a festival but we did get to taste all their wine. I was surprised Jim actually tasted some wines and liked a couple of them.  That was the last thing we did on our weekend getaway.

Cyrus McCormick Farm
Overall it was a nice weekend, just wish we could have enjoyed the National Park. 

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