Heading North - Part 1

Last Fall, I had the opportunity to travel to Ottawa, Canada.  It was my first time above our northern border, and I have to say - I'm absolutely smitten by Ottawa.  

It is such a beautiful city, even when it's covered in snow (there will be a post about that... eventually).  Luckily, my first trip was in September, so I was able to enjoy the transition from summer to fall.

I was even luckier to have the opportunity to participate in a 'Monuments and Memorials of Ottawa' photo safari hosted by local photographer Ray Pilon and his lovely partner Isabel.  They were extremely knowledgeable about photography and the iconic landmarks of Ottawa - I really could not have asked for a more perfect introduction to such a wonderful city!  In fact, many of the pictures I'm posting here are from that excursion; you can find the rest in the Picasa album from that trip.  It was with their help that I was able to take my photography up a notch - so if you're ever in Ottawa and have a couple of hours to spare, I strongly recommend that you contact Ray and set up a photo safari.  He was extremely kind to schedule a one-on-one excursion for me, so don't think that you need to wait for an already scheduled event!

In addition to improving my photography skills, I also learned quite a bit about the city and its landmarks.  I stayed in the gorgeous Chateau Laurier, which is right next to Parliament Hill, ByWard Market, Rideau Canal and the War Memorial.  I'll have lots more about my visits to those locations in the next post - stay tuned!

 

New iPod and other tidbits

I bought a new iPod yesterday. It's cute - one of those blue 8GB nano thingys. I guess it was some kind of defiant act of thumbing my nose at the world for having the last one stolen. Oh, and the fact that I'm flying to Nashville on Saturday for a show, and I hate flying without music (I need something to distract me from my hatred of flying). So while said new iPod is synchronizing and charging, I thought I'd post an update for everyone.

This weekend, I created a new family blog. I would like to add more pictures, but the battery in our digital camera has died and needs to be charged. I had to purchase a universal charger since we can't find the box with the original charger so.... yeah. I'm hoping to get it taken care of today so that I can drive around and take some pictures before all the leaves fall. The colors are just amazing!

We had our first frost last night, and let me tell you - it was dang cold this morning!! I had to go in search of all of our thick blankets last night, because it went down into the 20's. Brrrr!

iPod sync update: Finally done, and I still have 3.5GB left!

I'm off to buy new pants for Cameron, as he's grown more than an inch and all of his pants are too short for him now. Hugs to all!

Day out with Hubby

Hubby and I were able to get a babysitter today (due to my exquisite planning, of course), which allowed us to spend a child-free afternoon exploring the NOVA countryside. Well, we had planned to go into DC and visit the Library of Congress for the first time (I've been meaning to get my LOC card). However, after waiting 30min for the Orange line to arrive at Vienna, we decided to blow off our original plan and try something else. After all, this was our only chance for just the two of us to celebrate his 30th birthday next week (!!), so we didn't want to waste our time trying to transit into crowded DC.

Last night, we had briefly discussed going to Millwood, VA, because of an article that I found in the Washington Post this week. So, deciding to go with that idea, we swung by the gas station (where I was hit on by the clerk inside - weird!), filled up the tank, and off we went toward Fauquier County.

First of all, the changing colors of the fall foliage is GORGEOUS. Unfortunately, because we cannot find the charger for our digital camera, having moved three months ago and still surrounded by unpacked boxes, I do not have photos for you at this time. I'm sorry!!

OK - Back to our adventure.

We drove through Middleburg, which I swear is a New England version of Carmel, CA. I love Carmel, so I think Middleburg is great. More on that later.

We finally made it out to Milltown, after much oooohing and aaaahing at the scenery and the amazing houses on the way. We passed a few quaint towns, a horse show and a roadside stand at 50 and 15 where they were selling live Maine lobsters. Seriously!

Milltown is very small (there's no website!), and there was no parking in sight. Apparently, quite a few people had seen the article in the Post. In any case, there were a couple of antique shops (one was so crowded with overpriced junk I'm surprised that we were able to move), a pottery shop and the Locke Modern Country Store. Going to the store was well worth the trip!! The sandwiches that we had (Turkey BLT with dill havarti, avocado and scallion mayo) were fabulous, and the store was packed with some amazing local goodies. They happened to be hosting a wine tasting, which Hubby and I enjoyed immensely. We purchased three bottles from the vineyards that were providing the tasting:

Fabbioli Cellars, Loudoun County, VA
- Chambourcin 2007
- Raspberry Merlot (Red Table Wine)
Pollak Vineyards, Monticello, VA
- Meritage 2005

We also picked up a new Bordeaux to try: Chateau Suau, Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, 2005

I really enjoyed the Chambourcin; it was a Bordeaux-like blend with a nice spice to it. And the Raspberry Merlot was great; considering that I generally detest dessert wines, I thought this was a terrific apertif that would be great to have for the holidays. As for the Meritage, Hubby and I both really enjoyed that as well.

Hubby and I followed up the fabulous tasting with a stop at the deli counter, where we ordered our sandwiches, then picked up a couple of teas, chips, cranberry dark chocolate and some apple cake. All told, between lunch and the wines, I was surprised that I only threw down about $100 for everything!

We sat at a picnic table near the mill. Sunshine, good food, good company - it was a perfect lunch!

On our way back home, we stopped through Middleburg. We peeked into a couple of shops, but didn't find anything we wanted to buy. Then we steered toward the Boxwood Tasting Room, where we had a great time. It was a little odd that some of the customers brought their dogs with them (there was one woman with a puppy strapped to her chest with a Baby Bjorn - seriously!), but it made for an interesting atmosphere. We each purchased a "Bordeaux Flight", where we tried 1oz glasses of different types of Bordeaux. Here's a link to Hubby's blog with the details of our tastings that he dutifully typed up in his crackberry. Anyway, we discovered some new wines that we loved, and some that we hope never to encounter again. Either way, we had a great time!

It was actually a really terrific day. Hubby said that he enjoyed himself, and I know that I had a great time. I hope we can do it again soon - we passed some B&B's on our drive, so maybe I can find someone willing to babysit overnight so we can stay at one of them...