What a great Saturday Ron and I had with our two Virginia granddaughters, Ariana (14) and Sarah (10). Bill and Lisa brought the girls over to the RV in the morning under very sunny skies (thank goodness) for an overnight visit. We left the RV soon after to tour Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson's hilltop home located in Charlottesville.
It was Jefferson's home from 1770 until July 4, 1826 when he died in the house exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Much of the house was pulled down and put up several times as Jefferson remodeled. The home includes Jefferson's innovations, book, maps, scientific instruments, time saving inventions and items from the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Our view of the inside of the house was a scheduled tour of the first floor only guided by a gentleman docent who was very knowledgeable and encouraged questions from us tourists. Ariana had several good questions which the docent answered without hesitation. No picture taking is allowed in the house.
After a 40 minute tour, we were on our own to view the outside of the house, the kitchen and storage rooms under the house including the dumb waiter for delivering the wine to the dining room,
the beautiful flower gardens, the extensive vegetable garden and Mulberry Row (the center of the plantation where slaves, free and indentured workers worked and lived). The girls were especially interested in the vegetable garden and walked the entire length as they recognized many of the vegetables growing in the garden.
The Visitor Center at Monticello includes a Theater with a 15 minute video about the home and Jefferson, a Discovery Room for children to explore many different items, a Gallery with a model of Monticello among other things, and of course a very nice gift shop. Our trip back to the Visitor Center from the house on the shuttle included a stop at Jefferson's headstone.
The girls worked up quite an appetite during the tour, so we stopped at Ruby Tuesday's for an early dinner. They were happy to return to the RV afterward as they had a chance to swim in the pool. The evening was spent playing a game of UNO and watching a movie they had brought along. We were all quite tired and slept well. We did find out how quickly we could inflate the hide a bed and the girls assured us that it was quite comfortable.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
After a nice leisurely breakfast, the girls wanted us to again teach them how to play " Chicken Foot" which we had done several years ago. Ron won one game, Ariana one and I came in last both times. Lisa and Bill arrived to pick them up around 3 p.m.
Our Granddaughters
What a pleasure it was to spend time with the girls whom we had not seen in quite a few years. They are both very well behaved and a pleasure to be with. We look forward to spending more time with them when we return from our trip down to Red Bay to get the work done on the RV.
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