Jason and I woke up to our first full day in Staunton. We showered, dressed, and made our way to lunch. We walked up and down the hilly streets, feeling gusts of wind as it spill into the city. It was a perfect day. The sun brightly lit the red-bricked buildings as we passed through Beverley Street. The hotel gave us a $10 off coupon to Shenandoah Pizza upon check-in. Little did the hotel know, our memory of the pizza was motivation enough to visit their restaurant. Sadly when we arrived for lunch, we learned they opened a little later than we expected. We walked down to one of our favorite antique stores and browsed. We found this while wasting time:
My pepperoni pizza rolls (below).
After lunch, we found our car in the parking garage below the hotel. We decided our first day would be spend at Monticello. On the way, we stopped for a drink and to buy some gas. Jason found Sprecher, a low-calorie root beer. It was really good. I also purchased Diet Cheerwine (my favorite drink, which cannot be found in Georgia). Below is a picture of Jason with his drink:
We arrived just in time for the 3 O'clock tour. We purchased our ticket and made our way to the gift shop to see if they had the Historical Chocolate that we love so much. Turns out they did! We planned to buy as much as possible on this trip, since it cannot be bought online or at home. At this time, however, we were simply browsing. We thought we'd purchase everything later on, so we wouldn't be obligated to carry it on the tour.
We walked up the brick steps to get in line for the tour. Most people have their ticket scanned and then take the shuttle up the mountain to Jefferson's house. We, however, decided to walk. They don't normally tell you there is a walking trail until you reach the top of the mountain. We remembered from the last trip and decided to just walk up the trail as well. Our tickets were scanned and I informed the lady we would be walking. Surprised we said this, she excitedly told us that would be okay.
It was the perfect day to walk. Breezy and cool yet still very bright and cheery from the sun. It was clearly still an early spring day. Once reaching the top, Jason and I discussed how different our health is compared to last time. We can walk more and with greater ease than previous trips. Still, it wouldn't hurt to improve our cardio. We walked around the gardens a bit and then decided to get in line for tour. We walked up as a man named Ed explained some of the history of the house. Most of it we remembered from previous trips. Soon we met our tour guide who walked us into the house.
Most of the information on the tour was the same as the last few times we went. The only thing that was new this time was learning that the Jefferson lived in a smaller house on the property when they first arrived to the mountain. We had not heard this until this tour and we made sure to grab a picture. Below you can see the massive house to the left and to the right of the picture is the small house they originally lived in. Quite a difference.
After the tour we walked down to the shop situated in the slave quarters. We purchased some bags of chocolate and a bag of Virginia peanuts. The man behind the counter was nice enough to cut the bag of peanuts for me. Jason also bought us two waters as well. As we were checking out, a woman walked in and greeted us with extreme welcome. I turned around to see who was so excited to see us. The moment she caught a glimpse of my face her excited dwindled, "Oh! I thought you were someone else" she said. It was a lady who worked there. The man behind the counter said, "Well, introduce yourself and you'll know her now!" We all had a nice laugh about it. She actually looked familiar to me, too, although I don't know why. She said she was new to Monticello and was very excited to be working there. I can't blame her--I can't imagine having lunch every day in the gardens. Jason thinks it would ruin it for you. I disagree.
We sat down in our usual spot to enjoy our snacks and took pictures:
We then went to the front of the house to take more pictures (we had never taken pictures of this side before):
Below are pictures of the blacksmith house. This was new to us. Jason said it was apparently there the last time we visited but neither one of us remembered it. It was still a neat spot:
After walking around and enjoying the beautiful day, we took the trail back. We also asked a woman to take our picture with Jefferson once we reached the bottom:
We then stopped in the shop and purchased most of the chocolate, along with a chocolate bar and hot chocolate mix. We might have an issue with chocolate... oh well. We also purchased some root beer. A older woman with white hair checked us out. She appeared happy to be alive and thrilled to be working somewhere historical. I placed the many items down and told her I was pretty sure they were officially out of chocolate. She laughed and then told us the history of the candy. Apparently they found a recipe from the 1700s for this chocolate. They recreated the recipe while adding a small amount of sugar for our taste today. The spices are what make it so tasty. Back in the 1700s they would use the same board to make things with. When preparing the chocolate, the spices were picked up from the board, which is what added that wonderful flavor. Pretty good.
She also told us the story to the root beer. It wasn't a long story. Basically they use honey instead of sugar. It was really good.
After checking out we made our way to the car and headed toward Staunton once more. When we returned it was dinner time. We dropped off our items in the hotel room and walked across the street to the Mill Street Grill. Jason pointed a door on the side of the street with the picture of Hugh Laurie on it (from House). We always notice it each time we visit. I love how little this places changes over the few years we've known it.
We were seated for dinner in no time at a booth close to the bar. A man greeted us and dropped off some bread with Irish butter. Below is a picture:
We browsed the menu, noticing all the Irish dishes. I guess they are still trying to get rid of their St. Paddy's day items. Jason and I both ordered the Irish Stew. He also ordered a beer (Dixie Blackend Voodoo Lager). I asked the waiter what kind of bourbon he had. He listed a few and then said the magic word "Woodford..." I stopped him right there. "Ooo! Woodford--that's perfect!" He seemed surprised and asked if I wanted it "straight up." I said yes and Jason also asked for one. Only a moment later, however, he returned to tell us he had accidentally lied. Apparently they do not have Woodford. He recommended a local Virginia whisky. I gave it a shot. He returned with two small glasses of amber colored drink, and encouraged us to put a few drops of water in it. He seems to know how to drink whisky; we were impressed. Below are pictures:
Below is a picture I took of the stream outside of Mill Street Grill. I took it on our way into the restaurant:
Jason and I walked back to the hotel, laughing all the way. We were worn out from the day and turned in for the night. I would like to add that I was so warn out that this happened: I took off one sock, got in bed, chit-chatted with Jason, and later realized I left the other sock on. We had quite a laugh. Never boring here in Staunton.
