More Photos from the Kluge Winery

The Tasting Room in the Kluge Winery.

The Award winners in the shelves.
And below are the wines we bought.
- Sparkling Wine, a Desert Wine, and a Cabernet Meritage Blend wine.

Visiting First Colony Estate Winery

We visited the First Colony Winery also in Charlottesville, VA. Since I was driving, Cheryl sampled their award winning wines - though I did take a tiny sip now and then.
Virginia wines do well with the almost consistent daily rain showers in late afternoons - hot days - and cool nights.
Cabernet Franc is the Virginia wine which they are most famous for. They also do a wonderful Port Wine - a Ruby which was delighful (I did take a little taste of that one)
So of course we bought a bottle of Cabernet Franc and a couple of Ruby Ports - one for us and one for a gift!

Blanche & Lucy visit President Madison's Estate

Today we visited President James & Dolly Madison's Montpelier Estate in Virginia. The home was beautiful and the grounds were great.

Visiting with James & Dolly Madison

Blanche and Lucy found these beautiful Bronze Statues of James Madison and his wife Dolly in the back yard behind the Montpelier Estate.

Where in the World is Blanch and Lucy Now?!

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estates in Alexandria Virginia.

On Sunday we spent all day visiting Mt Vernon.
This is the entryway to the estates. Dogs were permitted all over the grounds except inside the buildings. So we took turns touring the different buildings.
The girls had fun playing with all the dogs they met along the way - even another little Westie named Lexie who was only 3yr.
They enjoyed their history lesson for the day. It took several hours to tour the grounds and they were very tired little girls by the time we got back to camp around 6:30pm.

Mt Vernon Estates

This is the exterior of the main building and one of the exterior rooms. The Kitchen was not in the main house - it was in an 'exterior room' accessory building beside the main house. Main house held the living rooms, dining rooms, card room/chat room, and several bedrooms - 3 floors 2 side wings a beautiful back porch that looked out onto the Potomac River with huge lawn down to the water.

Colonial Character

This gent was making lace in one of the tents that was on the grounds on the day we visited. They were having a celebration of sorts - Market Day. Many Colonial people making crafts and playing music and just generally socializing in period dress and speech - sort of like Sturbridge Village does in Mass.

When walking about this dude saw someone taking a photo and wanted to do the same.... Photography is always drawing new players.... though he didn't seem to know how to use it at first sure got into it after a while....

Meet n chat with Martha Washington

The characters assumed the roles very well - they spoke in the language of the day. Martha spoke of George Washington as "the General" as in "the General enjoyed Virginia Ham as I did for dinner often"

Photos inside the Mt Vernon Estates

On left is the kitchen
on right is the Blacksmith in a seperate building - making curtain rods for renovation of some rooms.

Arlington Cemetary

We could have spent all day in Arlington - viewed the Kennedy gravesites, as well as many others - the amount of grave markers took your breath away. The grounds are kept beautiful and the scene is a very somber and quiet one... the girls were very respectful and quiet.

Arlington Cemetary

Changing of the Guards at the Toumb of the Unknown Soldiers was amazing

More Stain Glass from Cathedral

The reflection of the Stained Glass windows on the interior of the Cathedral was just beautiful and at the same time eerie ....

Interior of National Cathedral

Could have stayed inside this Cathdral for hours shooting... for photographers: had to hike my ISO up to 1600 to shoot inside without a flash.

The National Cathedral

This is the exterior of the Cathedral - the Gothic Architecture is spectacular looking closely you can see so many beautiful details.

Where in the World is Blanch and Lucy on Friday?!

We rented a car today and took the girls to tour DC - we drove through Georgetown, drove up Embassy Row and stopped at the National Cathedral - the tallest location in Washington - because it is built on a hill it even stands higher than the Washington Monument.
The girls met lots of other dogs walking around this beautiful Cathedral... we took turns touring the interior... and the girls played with dogs and chased squirrels outside with one of us.

Ford Theater

After the Capitol Building we walked to Ford Theater where we viewed the renovated Museum and Theater.... the Museum is very compelling and took 2 hours to view all (it's free just rent Headset for $5) a must see if you visit.

Washington Monument

Walking around the Mall we got a great view of the Washington Monument and noticed other tourists getting a tour the easy way - on Segways.... very cute!

Inside the Capitol

Inside the Capitol was beautiful... this is the ceiling in the Rotunda and as we passed through CP decided to drop in on Pelosi

The Capitol

Our first day in DC we visited the Capitol... absolutely beautiful building and grounds. So big and yet kept so clean. We went into the Senate to sit in the room where all the big decisions are made - unfortunately being Friday session was out!! boy easy work week for the decision makers.

Shuttle bus

We took the shuttle Bus from the Campground to the Metro to get into DC - the Metro was very clean and fast!

Visiting Washington DC

We visited the Capitol Building on our first day in DC. We had tour passes to view the Senate - but no session on Friday...CP was very bummed.

Day 2 of Blanche & Lucy's Great Adventure

We left Cindy's house at 8am today (Cheryl's sister) and said goodbye to her beautiful Hydrangeas and the neighborhood and drove through the rest of Mass., Conn., New York, New Jersey, Delaware and ended up in Md. at a little past 5pm....
The first day is the worst driving day from NE because all the major cities we drive through are congested - full of toll booths on the Parkways - all going through constructions of some sort and are loaded with huge trucks zipping by us....

After more than 8 hrs of white knuckle driving my back was done and I had a right leg charlie horse.... ready to crash.... looking forward to easier driving from now on....

Driving under water

Once in Baltimore we had to cross the Patapsco River that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.... through this long tunnel.... as Cheryl rode with window open feeling pretty claustrophobic.... I put the pedal to the metal to get us through fast.

It was pretty and cool actually....

Rainy Freeways at rush hour

After 8 hrs of driving we finally arrived in Baltimore during rush hour traffic in the rain and in some places with orange construction barrels and jersey barriers right beside us...... white knuckles and charlie horse right leg... ready to stop.... thank goodness most days are not this long driving and not this stressful.

The hardest drive from NE is the first day getting through those major cities and Parkways full of tolls, and construction.

That's now behind us... cooked easy BLT's tonight in the rain.... but sure tasted good in the warm RV.... all girls getting to bed early tonight .... looking forward to a fun day in DC tomm.... pearl

Where in the World is Blanch and Lucy?!

Blanche & Lucy and their mommies - Pearl & Cheryl are on the road again....

We are going to Washington DC, Charlottesville, VA, Little Rock, AK, Alburqurque, NM, Littleton, Colo, and finally Apache Junction, AZ.

We sold the house in Newburyport & we've been camping in the Salisbury Beach Campground - The Beach Rose - for the last 3 weeks.

The girls (and us) are sad to say goodbye to our friends and family for the next few months but are looking forward to our new adventures - and we want to take you all with us - so log in often to see what we are up to.

Cheryl's 'favorite' job on the road

Before we can leave any campground poor Cheryl has Poopie Patrol .... that means she has to 'dump' all the tanks - dishwater, bathwater, and toilet water (yuk!)

Bye-Bye

Leaving Salisbury -Beach Road Campground. Now that we are all packed up we can leave - but it's 12 noon and that means we won't be going too far.

Let's go!

Getting ready to leave - girls are getting excited

Stopped in to say goodbye to Mom & sister Connie