More vineyards

On Sunday morning, the last day of my long weekend away, I got up late and went out for a big breakfast. Not quite an English breakfast but still. (I ended up at Cracker Barrel which is ok though I much prefer iHop.) The plan was to head home via some wineries. I am trying to get to as many of the local wineries/vineyards as possible. But I was a little early. I ended up sitting in a car park for 45mins watching my kindle as they didn't open until noon.

The first was Cave Ridge. It was really pretty and the people were lovely. I ended up coming away with 2 bottles, a voigner (white) and a port like desert wine which was really tasty.  Some of the others were nice but not worth the price they were asking. It would be nice to sit and have lunch there with some of their wines.

Courtyard

View for drinking.

On the way to the second vineyard, I stopped a lavender farm to get some fresh lavender for my bedroom. They also had a little farm with rabbits to play with and other animals to feed. I couldn't resist!

Bunnies fighting for lettuce

Having a sneeze.

Slightly freaking looking goat

Pony

Ducks

Turkey!

The air smelt amazing and so relaxing. I spent some time wondering around the gardens

Lavender

Bottle tree

Flower

I did have to do a double take and slightly backed off when I saw this guy. Way too big for my liking.

Spider!

The duck pond was also really pretty and the sun was out. Though the water was a very unnatural blue.

Duck pond

Boy and his firefly jar.

The second vineyard was Crosskeys.  The wines were ok but like with most VA wineries they are really overpriced. The only one I did buy was another port style red dessert wine which was really good. I didn't like this place as much as the last one as the service just was not half as good. The place was beautiful but they people were more stuck up.

Cross Keys vineyard

I ended up getting something to eat and chilling to make sure I was ok to drive home. They had some live music and, though, not much choice in food for me, the salad was very tasty.

Live music

Ice tea and salad

I ended up going down the i-81 to get home instead of the back road as it would have just taken too long. I still hate the i-81. More people try to kill me on that road than another. Most should not have licenses! But I got home safe and it was a great weekend. Possibly the last weekend away for a while. But I still have the hot air balloon voucher so need to rebook that. So maybe....

Shenandoah National Park

On Saturday morning I was up earlier than I expected so after a dismal breakfast at the hotel (thankfully I had packed cereal bars), I got to the Shenandoah by 9am. And it was "get in free" day! (Normally there is a small fee to get into National Park without a pass and my pass ran out a few days before my trip.) I have been wanting to go up the Shenandoah since I got here. It was a beautiful as I had hoped.

Beautiful views.

Looking over the Moorman river. (I think)

I wanted to do a few of the hikes, but the small ones! The first one was to Blackrock summit. It was only a 1 mile round trip and because I was there early I had the place to myself for most of my walk.

The trail

The trees had started to turn so the colors were amazing!

Autumn leaves

Though I will admit when I saw this sign, I did think about turning back. Thankfully I didn't see any snakes, though for the first 10 mins after seeing this sign, a lot of tree roots looked very snake like! I think, thankfully, it was too cold for them at that time in the morning.

Snakes!

The trail up wasn't very scenic so I amused myself taking odd photos. :-)

Leaf!

But then the trail got to the summit after about 20 mins ambling. The trees just suddenly disappeared and the path becomes rocks. And the view was worth the climb.

View from the summit.

The path lead around the summit and meet up with the Appalachian Trail on the other side for the way down.

Path

On top of the world again

Fall has arrived

From the top of the summit.

The way down was along part of the Appalachian Trail. I had through walking the trail (Which is about 200 miles I think) would be cool. Then I read the Bill Bryson book on doing just that (I highly recommend it) and decided it was totally not for me. I am happy just walking a few little sections of it.
Once again on the way back to the car, I amused myself taking photos.

More leaves

Autumn trees and blue sky!

The second walk I did was further north and to Lewis Falls. According to the hiking map, it was a moderately difficult trail. They lied!!!! Going down was fine. Coming back up .... really not fun.

The Appalachain Trail start to Lewis falls

Thistle.

The start of the walk was along a open path in the sun. Very nice

Random door to nowhere in the side of the mountain.

Going in the right direction

Then the path become a little less obvious.

There is a path there. Honest. Somewhere

It took about 30mins to get there. And the view was worth it.

View near the falls.

You then continue round to view the falls, which was a bit disappointing. You couldn't see them very well. :-(

Lewis falls

I saw and ate my lunch viewing the falls before heading back up to the car. It took me quite a bit longer to get back. At the gift shop, they told me that was one of the more strenuous trails. The moral to this story is never trust hiking guides; they are probably written by someone a lot fitter than me!

After the hike, I had had enough walking, so headed for my hotel in Woodstock. The original plan was to go for a hot air balloon flight that night. I was so excited and the weather was amazing, perfect for the sunset flight. Then I phoned to check the flight was on and the owner told me his wife had had a baby a few hours ago and he was going to have to cancel. Congrats for him but of all the days....

So instead I went into Woodstock, found a steakhouse and had a really good meal. The steak was huge and perfectly cooked (finally an American who understands rare!). Back in my hotel room I watched the Little Mermaid and finished the wine from last night before getting an early night and one of the best nights sleep I have had in a while. Not the night I had planned but still pretty good. 

Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday I hired a car for the weekend. After a somewhat epic grocery shopping trip (they had my favorite wine on sale 1/2 price - what's a girl to do?), I headed to Staunton along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It takes a lot longer this route as the speed limit is ~45mph but the view is worth it.

Unfortunately the weather wash;t great for the first half of the trip. But the views were still pretty. 

Cloud hidden mountain

View

It seems like summer is definitely over now. Some of the trees have already turned.

Fall colors.

Still there were some flowers out to remind me of summer.

Daisies. 

I stopped at a few of the overlooks. Some were more like lay-bys - the view was just the woods. Others had little walks to get to the view. I decided to go on the one which was a 6min round trip. My kind of hike!

Waltz through the woods.

For my little walk.

The sun eventually came out and made the views a lot prettier.

Sunny!

My favorite was at thunder ridge. For the most part, thanks to being a Friday I had the parkway to myself. Thunder Ridge was a few mins from the road and the view was amazing. And it was so quiet! It has been a long time since I have heard that kind of silent. Just an occasional bird and acorn falling off a tree. It was rely peaceful just watching the view.

On top of the world

Across Virginia.

There was this great viewing platform that jutted out of the hill to give a better view. Maybe it's because I have been reading the Narnia books, but it felt like there should a throne or something up there.

A view to rule a kingdom!

I could have sat up there all day but I left after about half a hour. Partly because some other people showed up (and I was feeling anti-social - it was a view best appreciated in silence I thought; they did not), and partly because I had forgotten to pack bug spray. And the bugs were loving me. Thankfully no bites but I think I eat a few flies. Yuck. Also I did have to get moving.

My next stop was crossing the James River. It was beautiful! I am hoping to go kayaking down it in a few weeks when the rest of the leaves have turned. Fingers crossed.

James River

James River

The Blue Ridge Parkway ends just as the Shenandoah begins but I took the road west to Staunton to crash for the night. I had packed some goodies in a cool bag for the evening (to save money) so chilled out in my hotel room with one of my favorite wines (seriously R collection wine is amazing!), cheeses, cured meats and crackers. Oh and anchovies. (I like them!) With all that and catching up on Sons of Anarchy, it was a very good night. :-)

Dinner!