This past Friday, J and I celebrated the third "anniversary" of our wedding. We both took the day off from work and had a leisurely morning, sleeping in a bit, then going to visit J's horse, then working our way to Charlottesville, VA via Highway 20. Along the way we stopped off at James Madison's Montpelier (picture below), which is now open for viewing although the restoration work isn't set to be complete until September 17, Constitution Day. In many ways, seeing it in the middle of restoration was more interesting, as you could see the details of construction first hand as well as understand exactly what it took to "find" the original house after a century of renovations done to it by the duPonts, the last owners.

Our next stop was at Barboursville Vineyards, which I'll try to say a bit more about later, as I took fairly good notes on the twelve (!) tastings we had there.

For the night, we stayed at High Meadows Inn in Scottsville (picture below), about 20 miles south of Charlottesville, and had dinner at the Downtown Grill in Charlottesville. I'd highly recommend the B&B, and only recommend the Grill if you wanted "all midwestern, corn-fed beef." We managed to put together a dinner to our taste, but it was difficult, although we did get to enjoy a full bottle of the 2004 Barboursville Octagon, of which I stated on my tasting notes a single word: "Incredible."

Thanks to all who sent congratulations, including our parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and friends. Most people's wedding anniversaries seem to only be remembered by themselves or their parents/children, but it's fun to have ours be so memorable for more people that they send notes. That's the little village our marriage has created and we love to be a part of it.