Current Location: Misty Mountain Camp Resort, Greenwood, Virginia

Today was spent sightseeing around the area. We were out the door about 8:30 am and drove to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, where we had 9:35 house tour tickets. We boarded the bus and rode to the top. We wandered around for a while until it was time for our tour. They are working on part of the grounds, restoring the original road that went along one side of the property to all the buildings that are no longer there. They are also starting to rebuild the missing buildings. Should be nice when they are done.

We took our tour and walked around the grounds for a bit. Afterwards, we walked back down to the parking lot area and browsed the gift shop before leaving. Here are pictures from Monticello (they don’t allow photography inside the house):

Statue of Jefferson at the bus loading area

Monticello main house from the front

Cool sun dial on the porch. You move the semi-circular metal bar until there is no shadow on the side, which then shows the time.

Monticello from the back

The wine cellar (photography allowed here).

Gorgeous views all around.

After visiting Monticello, we headed just down the road to Michie Tavern. We had visited here on Monday for lunch, but today we took a tour of the tavern (as well as eating lunch again). We found out from the tour guide that the tavern actually used to sit 17 miles away but when traffic had died down, the owner at the time had the building dismantled and moved to just down the hill from Monticello (in the 1920’s) to take advantage of the tourist traffic. It appears to have been a wise financial decision. Here are some pictures.

Guest room

Game room and bar

Dining room

View of the building from outside

After our tour at Michie Tavern, we headed back up the road to visit Ash Lawn – Highland, which was the home of President James Monroe. It wasn’t as big and elegant as Monticello, but the guide told us a lot of history about James Monroe as well as some history on the house. Later owners purchased the house and added onto it over time, then left it in their estate to William and Mary college, which now owns the property and runs the tours and gift shops. It was an interesting place to visit. Pictures follow (as with Monticello, photography was not allowed in the main house).

Guest room in an exterior building.

Statue of James Monroe

Plaque

The actual house (later additions to the left).

Requisite artsy shot from the garden path.

After our trifecta of historical sightseeing, we headed into Charlottesville to find a Walgreens to fill one of Malcolm’s prescriptions. Once we had that in hand, we drove down to historic downtown Charlottesville and walked up and down the Main Street area, which has long been closed to traffic, making it a nice stroll among the shops and restaurants lining the road.

We had dinner at Citizen Burger Bar. It was really good and we ended up each bringing half of our burgers home with us. They were big. Once back at the trailer, Malcolm emptied tanks and started unhooking the cable and water (we will run on the pump and tank). He also stowed the bikes on the carrier and covered them up. That leaves us less to do in the morning when we hook up to head to Urbanna.