Virginia Sept 15-16, 2007

It was time for an escape from NC, so on Friday Tory Ann and I headed to Monticello. Just four hours north of Raleigh-Durham, fall was at least two weeks "further along" than down south.

Our first night on the road we camped in Shenandoah National Park, just above Waynesboro, VA, which afforded us a quick drop down into Charlottesville on Saturday morning. A slight miscalculation: it was a home football weekend, so we got out of there pronto, and headed to Monticello.

What a glorious day! It was perfect early fall weather. Though Tory Ann wasn't allowed in Monticello, she was allowed on the grounds (and on the Plantation Life Tour, during which she behaved better than the small children). Below are photos of our 5 hours at Monticello; I haven't yet figured out how to make captions.

The gardens at Monticello are still flourishing, with seeds and produce being distributed to the paid staff and docents. Although the labels look 18th century, I'm not convinced that they are really growing heirloom (TJ) varieties.

But their figs are doing VERY well.

I need more practice at formats in this Google blogger, but you get the idea.