A Wonderful Family Weekend

The Labor Day weekend brought some beautiful weather, not too much traffic and an opportunity to spend some quality time with my immediate family*. The weekend also served as a pre-birthday celebration for me because I will..ahem, ahem..be celebrating my 60th in a mere 14 days. The weekend activity planning fell to me, and with Northern Virginia as the venue, the choice of what to do was easy.

After Courtney met us at our hotel in Sterling late on Saturday morning, we set out to follow as much of 'The General's Wine Trail' as we could. We were able to visit four wineries in the course of the afternoon, and we all agreed that Virginia wine just keeps getting better. The hills, the sun, the temperate climate, and the soil in that area are really perfect for growing the kinds of grapes that flourish in the piedmont regions of both France and Italy.

The Sangiovese vines at Three Fox Vineyard.

Courtney and Dale enjoying a tasting in the sun.

... that was followed by a picnic on the terrace.

Next stop, Philip Carter Winery, is named for one of the sons of Robert "King" Carter, a distant ancestor. He actually was the first to plant grapevines in this very area close to 250 years ago!

We then climbed to 1700 feet where we enjoyed several tasty wines at Fox Meadow Winery

and its view over the first peaks of the Blue Ridge.

Our last stop of the afternoon was The Winery at La Grange, with its tasting rooms housed in both the barn and the original homeplace. Take note of the size of those boxwoods!

Back at the hotel we changed into those famous Virginia Tech colors and then drove to Jimmy's Old Town Tavern in Herndon to enjoy pub grub and Hokie football in a Hokie friendly environment. It was the first game of the season for the VT Hokies, and although our team lost to Alabama, we enjoyed the game and our evening very much. On Sunday we visited Great Falls Park, an absolutely beautiful park on both sides of the Potomac that we had amazingly never visited. It is part of the National Park System and truly a natural wonder. We spent almost 6 hours at the park and hiked most of the trails from one end to the other.

During the course of the afternoon, we witnessed this helicopter rescue. At first we thought it was just a training session, but after talking to some fellow hikers, we learned that it was indeed a rescue in progress. It was only on Tuesday, while watching our local news, that I found out what really happened. A young man proposed to his girlfriend while hiking on the Maryland side of the park. She said "Yes!", and in the process of celebrating, lost her balance and fell over 10 feet off the side of a steep trail onto the rocks below. Due to her position, the helicopter rescue was necessary. She suffered some injuries, but she will be fine. What a story that couple has to tell about a proposal that will never be forgotten!

The view downstream from the Great Falls

The Falls. Notice the tiny kayakers trying to enter the falls for some "surfing"

Sunday evening we took the Metro into DC with the intention of attending the outdoor concert of the National Symphony Orchestra, but a sudden, out of nowhere, thunderstorm put an end to that plan. After dodging raindrops through Capitol Hill, we came upon this wonderful little Turkish restaurant, Cafe' 8 Mediterranean, where we had a really delicious dinner.

On the way back to our hotel on Sunday night, Stefano called to say that he had checked into the hotel, too, after several days of doing business in Virginia. He always manages to turn up!

Monday morning Courtney and I worked on the t-shirt design for this year's SJSC Dragon Boat Team, and then after breakfast with Stefano, we took off to Dulles Town Center for some shopping. I found a great dress for 'The SJSC Bash' in November, and I thank my "personal shopper" for her assistance.

Ashley and Jason had been in the area all weekend so that Ashley could be in the wedding of Jackie Lichter, one of her bridesmaids, and we were thrilled that we were able to include a visit with them in our weekend activities. We met them for lunch at Sweetwater Tavern on Monday, and that just proved to be the perfect finishing touch to a wonderful weekend. We had such a nice visit with them until they had to head to Dulles for their flight back to London.

It was really a wonderful weekend, and I thank my terrific family, Stefano included, for an amazing time.

*Only Jeff was missing :-(. He was on a 'guys only' fishing trip with is dad and brothers, and while we missed him so much, we are sure he had a great time, too!