Adirondack Balloon Flights Blog

Recently back from a trip down south to visit w/bro Richard and his bride Vicky in Charlottesville VA. It’s a bit of a drive, around 9 hours, but it’s all interstate highway driving, so it’s rather painless, other than the heavy truck traffic on I-81. The worst is when you get stuck behind a snail race of passing trucks up a hill when there are only 2 lanes. Anyhow, the scenery from the highway is somewhat interesting to keep you entertained. One travel tip for anyone who is driving 81 north through Scranton & Wilkes-Barre PA, you may want to consider a go-around if you can, there is a construction back-up between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton that looked rather nasty. Heading back home, we took 80 off 81, to 380 N to 84 to the NYS Thruway. This route took around a 1/2 hour off our drive-time. Our trips to Virginia usually involve visits to wineries, good eats and a Hoos (the Virginia Cavaliers, WaHoos-don’t ask) football game and tailgate.

Here's the first winery on our multi day tour - Keswick

The view inside the tasting room. Virginia wines are similar to New York wines, good but not great; usually better whites than reds. The Viognier is the popular VA white.

Next up was a fav, Horton Cellars. Both wineries are near Gordonsville.

The happy tasters with their Horton souveniers.

Last winery on the day 1 tour is White Hall, near Skyline Drive. I bought a bottle of white, but not worth the drive in my opinion.

That night, we ate out at a Tapas style restaurant, Mas Tapas. It was an interesting place in an out of the way, funky part of town. The building is converted old industrial, with a modern decor. Sorry, no pics, but our food was good, as was our service-we went early. The next morning, we wanted to sample some local diner grub for breakfast. Brother’s bride Vic asked some co-workers at UVA what they would recommend, and they sent us off to The Tavern.

Roof sign says it all!

Portion sizes are huge. Of all the grub on the table, bro's sweet potato pancakes were the best of the lot, and no we didn't eat it all.

On day 2 of the winery tour, we visited Ash Lawn at Highland, the home of the 5th President, James Monroe.

Front of the home, that was an add-on to the original home built by Monroe. The big ash tree to the top-left was around 200 years old.

On the tour, the original part of the home built by Monroe is the white part on the left.

Wifey and Vic checking out the gardens.

For info, click on the link for Ash Lawn-Highland. Next we continued down 795 to the Trump Winery. We checked-in, then checked out-good grief, what an ego! Fortunately, on the same road was the Blenheim Vineyards, which we were told is owned by Dave Mathew’s of the Dave Mathew’s Band. They had some very nice wines and generous pours for tasting.

The Blenheim Vineyards.

Yes, we enjoyed our tasting.

On the way back into Charlottesville, we stopped at the Jefferson Vineyard, across from Monticello. The original vinyard was developed by Thomas Jefferson.

That night, we went out to eat at Orzo Kitchen and wine Bar. The food was good, but I enjoyed a place more that we went on a previous visit, Bang.

Orzo at the Main Street Market.

On next day we started low key with just some Kashie cereal, waiting for Vic to get her work chores done for her boss before we could continue with our food, wine and now Micro Brew Pub tour. We headed toward Crozet on 64, Afton and Wintergreen along 151. Our first stop was The Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton for lunch.

Lunch?

They had a fine selection of brews to sample. Miss Vicky was our dd for the day 3 tour.

Interior look of the brewery.

Next up, we visited a rather small winery, Flying Fox Vineyard. So, so wine, but got a couple of bottles anyway-don’t ask me why, just did?

At the Flying Fox Vinyard.

Heading down 151 for Wintergreen, and a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we came across a real nice Micro-Brew Pub, Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Roseland.

The Devils Backbone Brewery

We sat out on the patio to sample their wares. Brother and I had a real nice Porter, and the girls had coffee and cookies.

A very fine brew.

Next on the day 3 tour, was a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, back toward 64, Charlottesville and leftovers for dinner from the 1st night’s barbecue take-out.

The girls and the view south-west from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Overlook view to the west, northwest.

View to the east.

On day 4, no more touring cause it’s Hoos football day and tailgating. We start the day with breakfast at the Bluegrass Grill and Bakery in Downtown Charlottesville, and a visit to the farmers market and a walk down the downtown pedestrian mall.

The Bluegrass Grill

A very tasty breakfast, a bit more upscale than the fare we sampled at the Tavern a couple of days ago. I got corned beef hash again, but w/a poached egg this time, and a side of biscuits and gravy. My one concession to healthy eating (the poached egg that is;-).

Yam art at the farmers market.

View down the pedestrian mall from a previous visit.

 Now, it’s time for some Hoos football and tailgating.

Some folks getttin' in the mood for some football.

Here's our party.

Time to get into the mood.

It's time for some football.

The view into the stadium from the students end.

It's game time!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the Jackson’s 2011 eating and drinking tour of the greater Charlottesville VA area. We did!!

Back in 2008, the fam got together for a gathering at the brother’s place in Vero Beach FL. Part of the trip was a schlep up to Kennedy Space Center for a tour, just before the launch of STS 126-Endeavor, which just made it’s last launch to the International Space Station today. We drove up north to Satellite Beach, just north of Melbourne to watch the night launch of Endeavor on 11/14/08. It was quite a spectacle, even being about 15-20 miles south of the launch. I’ve posted on my facebook page a video I took of the launch, if you are interested in seeing it, click the highlighted hot link. There were tons of people crowded on the beach and other pull-offs to watch the launch. When it was done, the traffic back-up heading back to the main-land was unbelievable. Fortunately, we just headed down A1A with no traffic.

The Fam tour of Cape Kennedy

On the tour, the assembly building where they put the Shuttle together.

the track they bring the assembled shuttle along to the launch site from the assembly building

Where the track splits to the two shuttle launch sites

Endeavor on it's pad ready to launch

The Apollo rocket

Standing under the Apollot rocket

Sis Kit, bro Richard and me, in front of the Space Shuttle flight simulator

The rocket garden on the way out at the end of a full day

This is our 3rd time visiting Colorado since Grant and Katia moved there from Alaska. Colorado is known for it’s sunny weather and Alaska for it’s lack of sun. So far, we’ve experienced the opposite when we visit. For our 3 trips up to Alaska when Grant was there, we experienced great weather for Alaska, especially for winter travel (I’ll do a blog on our trips up to Alaska another time – a spectacular place). But for our 3 trips to Colorado, we haven’t seen much sun other than the day we arrive and the day we leave. This time, we even brought rain to the desert of Western Colorado – it started raining shortly after our train arrived in Grand Junction. As you’ll see, we got into snow again up in the mountains. So far, we’ve been to Colorado in late April, late October and early November, and each time, it’s snowed on us. We don’t mind, we’re winter people, but I think it’s funny that we don’t seem to catch much dry weather when we are visiting a very dry state, Colorado. In fact, we were lucky that we made our train as I-70 was closed the day we left due to a rock slide in the Glenwood Canyon, which we used to catch the train in Glenwood Springs, heading back to Denver to fly home.

We start the second part of our adventure from Grand Junction by a trip to the Colorado National Monument. The Colorado National Monument rises over 2,000 feet above the grand valley of the Colorado River. The park is situated at the edge of the Uncompahgre Uplift, part of the greater Colorado Plateau which also includes the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Arches. It’s semi desert, only receives around 10-12 inches of precipitation per year (it rained when we were in the area?).

It's a short drive to the park entrance from Grand Junction.

On the drive up the canyon rim road, it appears that the rain we brought with us to the desert freshened the soil and added some color to the sage brush.

The first of many spectacular, breathtaking views.

On the road to Edwards

Beautiful red mountains line the road.

We arrive in dark and dreary Edwards. There's snow in them tar hills.

The next day we headed to Vail Village for breakfast.

More of what Vail looks like

The Colorado Ski Museum has a great exhibit on the 10th Mountain Division that originally trained in the Vail area during WWII. I've met some 10th Mountain Veterans while sharing a ride on ski lifts back east in my area of upstate New York, still skiing after all those years.

Vail Pass on I-70 @10,666 FT AGL. Vail Pass was closed because of snow the day we left by train back to Denver.

The Zephyr arriving in Glenwood Springs to take us back to Denver.

The view out the train, blowing snow and 13'.

Wifey and I am just back from a trip out to Colorado to visit with son Grant, daughter-in-law Katia and grandson Milo. We made stops in Denver, Grand Junction, and Edwards, which is up in the Rockies at around 7,000 Ft AGL in the Vail Valley. We flew into Denver and overnighted at The Oxford Hotel. Next day, we took the California Zephyr from Denver over the Rockies to Grand Junction, to meet-up with Grant and his family.  I’ve decided to break this trip blog into 2 posts because of all the photos. First the Denver to Grand Junction part, then Grand Junction back to Denver. The Zephyr is billed as the premier train trip in the US and I have to say, it’s definitely worth the price of admission for the views. We parked ourselves in the Sightseer Lounge Car to take-in the view, many of which are only available by train through remote Rockies’ countryside. The train takes awhile to climb the front range of the Rockies after leaving Denver. Once you start the climb, the view just continues to outdo the last. You pass through increasingly spectacular canyons – Fraser, Byers, Gore, Red and Glenwood, with stops in Granby, Winter Park/Fraser, and Glenwood Springs on the way to our destination on the train, Grand Junction.

Wheels up in ALB, Albany, Denver bound!

Fog over the Hudson, south bound for a plane change in BWI, Baltimore.

You can tell you're over the mid-west, near Denver, by the crop circles.

Touchdown, DEN - Denver.

The Oxford Hotel, in the heart of Denver's Lodo District.

Grant and me enjoying a pint of Fat Tire in the hotel bar.

Alfresco dining at McCormick's Fish House and Bar

Denver train station, just down the street from the Oxford Hotel.

All-aboard the Zepher for Grand Junction.

We didn't wast any time heading for the observation car to enjoy the view.

Looking East as the train climbs the front range of the Rockies

Into our first canyon, either Coal Creek or South Boulder - not sure which.

Out of the canyon, and on to the next views.

The Fraser River Canyon

More Fraser Canyon

Out of the canyon and on to Byers and the Colorado River.

Byers Canyon

Out of Byers along side the Colorado, heading for Gore.

Coming into Gore Canyon

Gore Canyon and the Colorado River

Next up, Red Canyon.

Entering Red Canyon along the Colorado

The Red Canyon

Leaving Red Canyon

Next up, Glenwood Canyon and Glenwood Springs.

The canyon.

More Glenwood.

Glenwood Springs with The Hotel Denver in background-a good place to stay.

The California Zephyr at Glenwood Springs Depot.

On to Grand Junction and our destination.

Mount Garfield and the Book Cliff Mountains.

Coming into Grand Junction and the end of this post. Phew!