Virginia is for Lovers

This past weekend, the hubs and I took a trip to Northern Virginia. Instead of buying Mother's and Father's Day gifts, we decided to put the money into a get-away. I had researched the Blue Ridge Wine Way, so we had a plan to visit some of the wineries in the area. Before our trip, I ordered a Garmin GPS unit, now known as Louise, to assist us in navigating the Virginia countryside. Louise couldn't have been more helpful, despite getting a bit testy and insistent when we don't follow her commands. Before the trip, I had programmed all of the wineries into Louise. When we were ready for our next destination, I could look at my list of wineries and see which one was closest. It made it so much easier to get from one place to the next and plan our routes in a logical manner.


On Saturday, we visited four wineries. The first two shared the same owners. The third one was owned by a Greek fellow, Louie, who has been making wine since 1961. Some of the wines we sampled there differed from anything we've ever tried before. For example, way back when (I want to say the 1500s?), Grecians were traveling by boat between the Greek Isles and transported their wine in barrels lined with pine resin, creating a note of pine in the wine. Louie replicated this in one of his wines.


Our last stop was at a winery across from Louie's. While it wasn't listed on the Blue Ridge Wine Way, we figured that is was worth stopping. The wines were fabulous and the scenery breathtaking. We met the owner, Kate, who we learned from her new boyfriend is going through a bitter divorce. (Later at dinner, our server shared with us that Kate has supposedly stabbed her husband, but we were unable to verify this information via court records or local media sources.) Kate's boyfriend is also going through a divorce and seems to still be dealing with a lot of emotions related to it. We found out his youngest son is spending the summer in Fiji as a punishment for smoking pot. Fiji. That's a bitch. How did I learn all of this? Once I disclosed that I'm a therapist, the boyfriend just spilled his heart and soul out to me. I got a free glass of wine out of it, so all's well that ends well, right?


Then we headed to Sperryville, where we were spending the night at Hopkins Ordinary B&B. The house and innkeepers, Kevin and Sherri, were delightful. Upon our arrival, Kevin asked if we had dinner plans and promptly made a reservation at the restaurant across the street. We had a tasty dinner on their outdoor deck.


The next morning, we had breakfast in the dining room. Kevin and Sherri served homemade muffins and three different kinds of frittatas, all made with fresh veggies and herbs from their garden. Shortly after we began eating, we were joined by another couple who shared that they were from the area and were enjoying a stay-cation in celebration of their 39th anniversary. They were a nice couple, but the wife was a bit odd. I think she can be summed up in one picture:

Since she and her husband were celebrating their 39th anniversary, she offered us newlyweds some advice: board your horses. Taking care of your horses on your own property is too much work. Ummm, OK. We don't have any horses. And even if we did, our 20'x14' yard would probably not be the best place to keep them.

After breakfast, the innkeepers asked what we were planning to do for the day. When they found out we were planning to check out some local wineries, they gave us a bunch of coupons and even a pass to get into a fairly exclusive winery. The pitchfork couple wife said she wanted to check out the pottery shop across the street. Sherri told her just a few yards farther, she'd find a yarn shop. I thought pitchfork wife was going to have an orgasm because she was so excited. She clapped her hands in merriment and shrieked, "Ohhhhh, myyyyyy, goooooodness!!!" Perhaps she was in the market to buy some yarn to knit sweaters for her non-boarded horses.



We headed out to the car to plan our route for the day. We wanted to be sure Louise was ready to take us to our first stop. Little did I know that I was about to experience one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.



Kevin came out to the car and said, "Is everything OK? Do you need directions anywhere?" We said we were fine and were just trying to decide which winery to visit first. Then Kevin said, "You left something in your room." "What's that?" I asked. "Your underwear," he replied, as he handed me a knotted shut plastic grocery bag containing said underwear.



Oh. My. Goodness. (This circumstance is much more deserving of an "oh my goodness" than finding out there's a yarn shop within walking distance.)



After that moment, we got the hell outta there. We toured several wineries and then headed back home. It was a fantastic weekend, and I highly recommend Northern Virginia as a vacation destination.