Occasionally, I get frustrated with Blogger and consider canning the blog. But it isn't only about telling everyone what we are doing. We started it to keep friends and family posted. The whole process of sitting down to do the blog has become its own part of our endeavor. It is more of a hobby, much like when I used to quilt.
When we first started traveling with my job, we both kept journals. On occasion we would sit down and read each other's. It was fun to see how the other person saw the day. We would write down thoughts of our days in email to our families.
Now after our days of exploring, we sit down and go through our pictures. We talk about the day and how we would have forgotten moments that we don't necessarily post about. As we write the short tales of our days, new memories come back.
I am not a writer. As a nurse before computers, we seldom used full words much less sentences. It can be intimidating but fulfilling when we get to interact with people that read along. It looks like we will keep up the process. We do enjoy your thoughts and comments.
On to Charlottesville. VA and the rest of our time here.
Carter's Mountain Orchard
This orchard is high on the mountain overlooking the beautiful valley that Monticello also overlooks. There are vineyards, apples and peaches growing on the hillside. We headed up in the morning and spent some time walking the paths among the trees after the Saturday morning 5 K completed.
We listened to music as we tasted our flight of hard cider along with a cider donut. I don't usually like donuts. But I chowed down on this warm one.
We visited with a local gal as we sat overlooking the valley and talked about the area. She gave us some tips on places to hike.
Baby apples
Baby peaches
After our morning on the mountain, we headed into Charlottesville to check out the University of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was the founder and that was the theme of the day. We parked near the visitor's center and took the free in town trolley to the university.
The rotunda was designed by Thomas Jefferson. (I find myself wanting to call him TJ but that would be disrespectful. He was the President after all.)
It is definitely an impressive place with all of the old architecture.
Then we headed over to the Special Collection building to see the Declaration of Independence exhibit.
University chapel from 1889 with the original lead windows
Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence suffered great losses in family and fortune as they were singled out and targeted by the British. Thomas Jefferson at the time said that he felt like he was placing a noose around his neck as he signed. If the war had turned out differently, that would have been a death sentence.
There was also an exhibit on William Falkner in another section of the building. Our heads were getting full of information. After spending some time looking over his life story and work, we were ready to get back to our little home. I wish I could go on and on. But sometimes it is good to call it a day.
The downtown pedestrian mall
Our last morning, we took a walk along the Monticello Trail. The trees were a great relief from the sun and increasing temps.
Tulip poplar log
We took Carter's Overlook Trail after walking the 2 miles of the Monticello Trail through some red mud from all of the rain recently.
If you are reading this part, you will see that blogger once again published before I got a chance to finish and do correcting. Very frustrating but maybe a challenge to continue to undertake.
