From Clemmons to Charlottesville

After a really great weekend, Alex and I decided to take our time on the trip from Clemmons, NC back to Charlottesville. We had passed several vineyards on the way down to NC and so we thought it would be fun to make a few stops on the way back to taste some wine! We left at around 11 am with some "lunch money" from Alex's family. After a quick stop at the grocery store for some crackers and cheese, we were on our way!

The first vineyard we stopped at was RayLen Vineyards and Winery in Mocksville, NC. We shared a  full tasting but we both definitely got good pours! The woman helping us was just a few years older than me and she had gone to JMU to study music. She was really nice and gave us some good info on wine and tasting! The wine was really great and we left with a bottle of reserve Chardonnay (2007).



The second place we visited was Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, NC. From the outside, the vineyard was very elegant and fancy. We arrived shortly before 2 pm, just in time for a tour of the vineyard. The tour was just under 20 minutes and gave us a general history of the brothers who started the vineyard and how the wine is made from harvesting the grapes to bottling. After the tour, we did the tasting. Alex and I agreed that none of the wine was worth purchasing. I thought about buying one of the larger bottles of wine for $10, but Alex said that he thought Barefoot wine is better, so I didn't buy anything. We got to leave with wine glasses though!




The third place we stopped was Round Peak Vineyard in Mt. Airy, NC. We really loved the down-to-earth feel of this winery and all of the wines were really great! We ended up leaving with a Cabernet Franc and I bought the port. Alex and I appreciated the prices of all of the wines we tasted in North Carolina. They are much more affordable than those in Virginia! Not only did we leave with two wines, but we also each got a wine glass and a wine bag with the Round Peak logo on it.


Our fourth and final stop was at Chateau Morrisette in Floyd, VA. Alex had always wanted to go to Floyd, so we figured this would be a good stop. We were cutting it close and made it to the vineyard at 4:45 pm. Because the vineyard closed at 5 pm, we couldn't do a full tasting, but the woman said that she would waive the cost of the tasting and let us try four different wines. The wines we tasted were really good and we decided that we would have to come back another time for the full experience. Chateau Morrisette also has a restaurant and outdoor seating--both of which we are interested in experiencing next time! The woman helping us with the tasting then gave a suggestion for dinner in Floyd--Mickey G's. We ended up going and sharing a margarita pizza with some red wine. Yum!



After dinner, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while. The views were amazing!




We finally arrived home at around 10:45 pm...what a trip! These are the bottles of wine and the glasses we came back with.

We will definitely have to make another trip to NC in the near future. It was really fun to be with family and the vineyards were an added bonus!

Happy Passover

Saturday Alex and I drove down to North Carolina for Passover with his family. It was so much fun! There were 37 guests at the Seder and many stayed the night. Dinner, desserts, and drinks all around--it was great! We also got to hang out with the many pets of the family including a chinchilla!! He was so cute.

Sunday we relaxed and spent time in the pool. Then I got in contact with my uncle who lives in NC and Alex and I went out to dinner with him and my cousin. It was a really nice way to spend Easter, especially considering that I didn't think I was going to be able to spend it with family in the first place! The four of us went to a restaurant on the campus of Wake Forest University and then took a walk around a garden that was close by. After that, we had a glass of wine at a bed and breakfast that looked like a castle followed by a tour of the campus of Wake Forest. It was a really nice evening.

Driving to Carolina

On our way to North Carolina for passover dinner.

Little bee

I finished reading Little Bee today and it was really good. There are a lot of parallels between this book and Chris Cleave's other book, Incendiary. I can't wait to discuss them with Desiré!

I'm volunteering at the shelter tonight until nine so I'll probably start my next book: The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley.

Internetz and being lazy

I went to Shenandoah Joe's this morning because the internet at our apartment has been really slow recently. I ended up staking out a spot and stayed there from 9am-1pm. I got some serious facebooking/apartment seeking/gchatting/netflix watching done and drank one large coffee. When I got home I was starving and shaky from all of the caffeine. I spent the rest of the day watching Grey's Anatomy, blogging, and recovering from my caffeine crash. 

Around 7, I went to Alex's house and we watched Doc Hollywood with his Dad and sister. Then I had to practically beg so that we didn't watch the end of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. See below.

We like wine

Alex didn't have to go to Harrisonburg today so we decided to go on an adventure. First we went to Waynesboro to go to Target and Michael's craft store to find a scrapbook. We decided that we wanted to make a scrapbook of the wines we taste! Our trip to get a scrapbook was successful, so we took a drive through the mountains and ended up at Keswick Vineyards. We did the tasting there and their wines were pretty good. We didn't want to shell out big bucks at Keswick so we decided to go back to my apartment for a glass of the port I'd bought at Horton Vineyards a few weeks ago. We also took our first couple picture for the scrapbook!

Sunday funday!

The weather today was absolutely beautiful! Alex and I had thought ahead when the forecast for today was for wonderful weather and we planned on going for a hike. After we had breakfast, we decided to go to Crabtree Falls in George Washington National Forest! This hike was absolutely beautiful. The weather could not have been better. The temperature was great and the hike was challenging but not too hard. It was 1.7 miles to the top of the waterfall and we had a great time up and back.

At the end of our hike, we were happy but hungry so we decided to go to Devil's Backbone for some brews and food. Devil's Backbone is one of the breweries on the "Brew Ridge Trail." I got the "mystery tap" and Alex got the Wintergreen Weiss. We agreed that mine was a little bit better. :)

We sat at a table outside and it was glorious! The sun was shining, the mountains were beautiful, everything was great! We shared an appetizer and then we both got burgers with sweet potato fries. My burger was vegetarian though. It was a really nice dinner!

After dinner, we took a little drive and stopped at the Batesville Store. It was really quaint and filled with delicious smells. I really wanted dessert but I was able to control myself. Then we went back to Alex's house and watched another romantic comedy!

Rainy Day Saturday

The weather forecast was for rain all day Saturday, and I was okay with that. Alex and I woke up really late and I packed up my things and we headed to his house. We made it there just in time for a huge part of the storm to hit. It absolutely poured! Alex poured us a glass of bubbly pinot grigio and we sat outside and enjoyed the storm.

Once the storm passed, Alex and I plopped in front of the TV to watch Sweet Home Alabama. We enjoyed our wine and relaxed. Around dinner time I prepped some veggies and tofu that we ate in tortillas...they were sooo good.

A few weeks ago when Alex and I went on our first big wine tasting trip (Cardinal Point, Pollak, and King Family), Alex purchased a $33.33 bottle of wine called "3." It was a wine made from contributions from Pollak, King Family, and Veritas.

When Alex bought it, he said that we could drink it on a special occasion which would either be to celebrate my acceptance to graduate school or to commemorate my last night in Charlottesville. That's why we decided to drink the wine Saturday night--to celebrate my acceptance to GW! We were both really excited about it and I think it definitely held up to our expectations. It was so good!

We ended the night by falling asleep to a movie called Code 46...we do not recommend it.