Open Roads and Space Invaders

October 9, 2013

This time three years ago I made the best decision ever. Marrying Jason has changed my life in more ways than I can count. I have someone to laugh with, make funny faces at, and cuddle with during cold days. I have someone who knows all of who I am, even the stupid and difficult parts, and still wants to be with me. I'm unbelievably lucky. After three years of dating and three more years of marriage, I can honestly say that I still can't wait to come home to Jason. I, too, know all of who he is and I'm still very proud to have him as a husband. There will never be enough words to explain how much more wonderful life is with him in it. It's just like leaving evergreen Georgia to find yourself in the warm, colorful world of Virginia. Jason's brought color to my life and warmth more than anyone else could. The best decision I've ever made was three years ago and I can't help but find October 9th to be the most magical day in existence.

We started today off without alarms or clocks or any disturbances. We woke up when we were fully rested, as we all should, and just in time for breakfast. We showered, dressed, and walked down the stairwell toward the tea room. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, Jason told me he could hear someone other than Juliette. The day before yesterday a new man had arrived, so we assumed this must be him. First time we saw him we noticed he was all dressed up and had his black hair slicked back. We assumed he was a businessman and began trying to guess what his name might be. Jason guessed it was Reginald and I guessed either Rolando or Ricky. Still don't know what his name is but we did learn at breakfast today that he is a New York businessman. A zillion points for us! We're good at guessing. We sat and talked to him at breakfast while Juliette served egg croissants, cooked peaches, and sausage. So good. We ran a little late for breakfast today, but she was nice enough to go ahead and put out breakfast and the pear juice Jason always asks for. She's so nice!

After breakfast Jason and I went upstairs and started planning our day. Originally we discussed possibly going to a vineyard for a wine tasting, but we also wanted to drive through the Blue Ridge Parkway. We decided to first head out on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the scenery. As we headed that way Jason saw a sign for a zoo! He suggested we go and I, always having loved zoos, agreed without hesitation! I googled it and also learned that they offer African Elephant rides!!! How amazing! I've always wanted to ride a camel and an elephant and this would be a perfect way to cross that off the list. Sadly, I learned they only do this on Saturday and Sunday afternoons... boo. Oh well, one day!

Once we arrived at the zoo we noticed two large buses. Apparently a bunch of kids went on a trip to this particular zoo, so the zoo was filled with people and the animals were active. There were quite a few weird things that happened, so I'll first show the normal pictures of animals that were just cute that didn't have weird stories with them:

 Notice that his legs are crossed... just taking a break and relaxing. You know how we elephants be!

 I has a buddy!

 Bird with... hair??

 I guess he's already hibernating... didn't want to come out to play.

 This is what a bunch of kids will do to you... passed out!

Now for the interesting ones. Let's start with this guy:

 This poor chicken had a hurt leg and was hopping around. Not only that , he wasn't caged anywhere. You could just walk up to him and pet him if you wanted... probably what led to his hurt let, I assume.

 This cute, little money we found playing in a puddle of water. Next to his cage is a big puddle which he continually placed his hands in and then clapped together to make a big splash. He did this over and over again... probably is still doing it.

 Jason was looking through the glass to find see the monkeys and out popped this guy from above. It was like he was waiting on someone to look in so he could scare the crap out of them! He would randomly show up and then disappear and then show up again. Like playing a weird version of peek-a-boo. Monkeys are awesome!

 Okay, now for the camels!! I love camels. This guy was awesome. I loved this camel and was able to feed him! He was nice, polite, and didn't even slobber on me. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only camel. The picture below shows a horrible camel who was a bully and mean... I did not feed him. I simply refused.

 The camel in the back kept trying to bully his way in. Eventually he would make it to the front, but I pulled back before he could get food. He also was extremely slobbery and was visibly drooling. He even got some drool on my wrist, but I was able to wash it off. Poor other camel... just trying to eat some before fatso pushed his way through.

 Next, the giraffes! They were beautiful! Jason and I looked around their cages and found a sign that said you could feed them! I was super excited! Never have I fed or giraffe! I tried to get their attention for a while by shaking the food bag, but none seemed interested. Eventually I walked to the end of their cage and found a camel trying to eat the cage. Jason said "Maybe he's working on his escape plan?" Haha! I think he was just hungry because he actually came over to us when I shook the food bag! He bend right down and let me feed him... they're kind of intimidating that close up! Super tall!!

 Jason got to feed him, too! A couple of times he lifted his head all the way up and tried to get the food from over the fence rather than threw it. To quote Jason, "Oddly enough, neither one of us are tall enough for this to work out, buddy." Still super cool! I liked him a lot!

 He even posed for a picture!

 Now for this guy.... the white tiger. Man oh man, what you don't know about tigers! As you can see, this tiger is actually next to another cage. He continually paced up and down that wall there, we think, trying to get the attention of another white tiger on the other side. He wouldn't come close to me even though we tried to get his attention, respectfully of course. Eventually however...

 He did decide to grace us with his presence as you can see. I quickly took a picture as he was turning, knowing he was simply going to go back to the other cage. However, what I was unaware of was how sly this guy is. Jason, luckily, had actually walked back from the cage. I stood there with my camera facing him as I noticed liquid spray into the air to my right... precisely where Jason had just been. "What?!" I heard Jason yell, "Did he just pee on you!?" I looked at my camera and then felt my clothes... luckily I escaped it! He did not pee on me, but he definitely just tried to pee on us! I didn't know they could even do that! We must have pissed him off (no pun intended) pretty badly for him to come over to us just to do that. Jason later learned that tigers can spray pee up to 6 feet and that numerous people get peed on at zoos by them. Crazy!

Next is this guy:

Yes, this llama is definitely standing next to me with no cage or fence separating us and, no, this is not as cool as it looks. This was the scariest llama ever. We still don't think he should have been allowed out of the cage, but somehow escaped. This could also explain this llama:

The llama in this picture never escaped but the other one definitely did. I kept trying to feed the giraffe but was having difficulty getting their attention because the runaway llama kept following me, trying to get the food. It was unbelievably creepy! He would stare at you, walk very slowly toward you, and then invade as much personal space as possible. I thought he was going to hurt us a few times. We eventually threw food on the ground and then were able to feed the giraffe. As soon as he finished eating, however, he found us again. Jason quickly put more food on the ground and then we left to go find the white deer. As we were feeding the deer we looked over to see if he was still following us and were happy to discover he was being entertained by some kids. Unfortunately for those kids, he decided he didn't like them. He jumped in the air and headed toward their direction like he was about to charge. He didn't and the kids ran away screaming, but he definitely didn't seem like he should be out of a cage.

After the zoo, Jason and I decided to find Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoy the fall scenery. After a while of trying to figure out where to go, we found it! Jason and I quickly learned that if we want to ever live in Virginia we cannot have a stick shift... far too many hills for a car like that. Here are some pictures from the trip and lookout points:

After the drive, we decided to stop at Smiley's BBQ. This is Jason eating his sandwich. Not the best, but pretty good. 

 Smiley's and us making funny faces together!

After eating, we headed back toward town and decided to take a break at the cottage and finish off the fudge from the day before. I realized once we got back that I was wearing the same shirt I wore on our wedding day... before I put on the wedding dress. Didn't even mean to do it!

Jason also noticed a groundhog in the cottage's garden. I was able to grab my camera in time to take pictures of him from our window! How cute is he! It's been a great animal day :^)

After viewing our first groundhog in the flesh, Jason and I decided to walk down to Staunton's square. Today was the coldest it's been in Virginia since we arrived. The lows were in the thirties and the high were in the fifties. We loved it. We bundled up in our warm coats and enjoyed the chill in the fall air. Juliette's hot tea was also perfect for days like this. Cozy doesn't begin to describe it. As we walked past the cottage's fireplace I realized that a warm fire was all that was missing. Although we noticed how cold it was, Jason and I were unaware of the small raindrops that were falling until we had walked all the way into town. Finally we realized we were soon to be rained out and were without an umbrella. Jason and I quickly had to decide what to do--continue walking with the chance of being rained on or return without any adventure. We chose to continue exploring and just try and hurry. We were desperately wanting to visit a chocolate shop in town and it wasn't far from us. We finally made it and were able to sample their chocolate...delicious! After purchasing some truffles, we left and headed for the town grocer next door. It was called "Cranberries Grocer." We popped in and quickly went to their wine section. We decided on two wines to purchase. One was Petite Verdoy and a merlot called Woodbridge. The Petite Verdoy said Monticello on the bottom, so I assume they either make it there or sell it at least. Either way, both were said to be locally made wines. They seem to be big on local food and wines, probably because so many farms exist in Virginia. After purchasing our wines and chocolate, we headed back to the Inn in order to avoid the rain. We were afraid we would get rained on but somehow managed back without any issues.

There is one small moment I captured on film that I would like to note. We plan to visit this place later on the trip, but decided to take a picture in case it rains the rest of the time and are unable to. Here it is:

 This church is Trinity Episcopal Augusta Parish. It is the oldest church in the area and has graves dating back from 1776. Below is the fence surrounding the church. I mainly wanted this picture because of the beautiful fall tree, but my camera can't pick up on how orange and yellow it is... it's beautiful. The leaves on the steps of the above picture are a better representation of how beautiful the tree is.

Once we walked into the inn, we were greeting by Juliette and another couple we had never met before. They must be new guest and must know Juliette and her husband pretty well, I assume from how friendly they were with them. She asked how the wine tastings were. I explained how we changed our mind and ended up visiting the zoo instead. She and her guest gave a chuckle and asked if we had also gone on the safari. We didn't because of the price and also because we were told that some animals would ram your car if you didn't feed them fast enough. I did mention to the guests and Juliette that we had heard about the elephant rides but were sad to discover they were only on the weekends. Juliette said she had visited the zoos in Bristol, where she grew up, and that they offered camel rides! Always fun things to find out about people... now we know she's from Bristol.

After visiting a little with the guests and Juliette, we excused ourselves and then planned for dinner. We left shortly after to drive to a place called Byers Street Bistro. Here's a picture:

 We ate upstairs, probably where that last window is to the right of their sign.
This is the inside:

We had a waiter named Nick and ordered bacon and corn hush puppies. Here's a picture:

 Above, as you can clearly see, is a picture of Jason at dinner. I probably take too many pictures, but I don't care. I'll be grateful many years from now that I did. We also ordered two salads. After dinner we quickly jumped back in the car, still trying to avoid the rain that appeared to be ever on the horizon. Never did get caught in the rain. Once back at the cottage we were greeted by Juliette's cats. We let once in, since we were told they were both inside and outside cats. The rest of the night we just stayed in and relaxed. Perfect relaxing and beautiful day.