gitmo234
Line Up and Wait
The wife and I are big drinkers of wine and we wanted to get away. There's a very nice restaurant near us that happens to serve some Virginia wines that we love (Barboursville), so we started doing some research.
Flight - Just my wife and I flew and we arrived on Thursday. Her sister and parents drove and arrived later in the evening. Arriving at KOMH is easy and they have the lowest fuel in the area, it was $4.77 a gallon when we filled up. It was self service but the staff helped for free. No fees and a very, very nice facility. The bed and breakfast arranged a pick up for us since we were 5 miles away, and we were picked up in an escalade with free water, wifi, and an Ipad if we needed.
Second We stayed at the Holladay House bed and breakfast in Orange, VA. This place and the owner/staff are amazing. Two course homemade breakfasts every morning, unlimited coffee and OJ all included. Complimentary wine and beer available around the clock, but it's a quite place. The breakfasts were NOT continental. For example, one was a carmelized peach to start, followed by crepes and local sausage.
The owner has discount passes to virtual anything. We elected to go on the wine tour company she had partnered with. There were 5 of us in total. For $275, we got an Escalade, again with water, wifi, pandora radio, etc and for 6 hours they drove us to all the local vineyards, and we had free tasting coupons for all of them. The $275 is the same whether you have one person or six, split up between 5, it's quite the deal.
By the end of the day we werent really comprehending the tasting but there are some really good vineyards in the area. We were just shy of 1 AMU spent on wine alone. There are over 30 vineyards within an hour or 90 minute drive and I'd probably be dead if we tried to visit them all.
We did our tasting on Friday. Came back around 3 or 4 pm and napped for a few hours. What I didnt enjoy was the choice of dining in the area for dinner. Orange has a great burger place for lunch, but when you really want a dinner youre going to have to drive. The Palladio at barboursville is an option but is very expensive. $80 a person without wine, $110 with wine.
Saturday we spent the day doing historic things. The civil war medical museum, tour of montpelier, and then in the afternoon we picked 3 vineyards closers to charlottsville to visit. Of those we really liked two and the views were great because they were further into the mountains. Had an OK dinner, and this morning we were greeted with creme bruelee french toast and "steak bacon" for breakfast.
After doing W&B we were a bit too close for comfort to the edge of the envelope. I handed off one case of wine to the in-laws to drive back and we flew with the most valuable goods and luggage. Made a good choice because she got off the ground okay but was a bit sluggish to climb. Flew at 7500 feet and felt like it took 1/3 of the trip just climbing out.
So the wife and I definitely plan on coming back. Its <2 hours flight with the right winds, about half a tank of gas, and you're very much in the middle of nowhere.
I personally enjoy both craft beer and good wine. We didnt visit any of them but there were more than enough breweries to visit and a handful of distilleries as well.
Flight - Just my wife and I flew and we arrived on Thursday. Her sister and parents drove and arrived later in the evening. Arriving at KOMH is easy and they have the lowest fuel in the area, it was $4.77 a gallon when we filled up. It was self service but the staff helped for free. No fees and a very, very nice facility. The bed and breakfast arranged a pick up for us since we were 5 miles away, and we were picked up in an escalade with free water, wifi, and an Ipad if we needed.
Second We stayed at the Holladay House bed and breakfast in Orange, VA. This place and the owner/staff are amazing. Two course homemade breakfasts every morning, unlimited coffee and OJ all included. Complimentary wine and beer available around the clock, but it's a quite place. The breakfasts were NOT continental. For example, one was a carmelized peach to start, followed by crepes and local sausage.
The owner has discount passes to virtual anything. We elected to go on the wine tour company she had partnered with. There were 5 of us in total. For $275, we got an Escalade, again with water, wifi, pandora radio, etc and for 6 hours they drove us to all the local vineyards, and we had free tasting coupons for all of them. The $275 is the same whether you have one person or six, split up between 5, it's quite the deal.
By the end of the day we werent really comprehending the tasting but there are some really good vineyards in the area. We were just shy of 1 AMU spent on wine alone. There are over 30 vineyards within an hour or 90 minute drive and I'd probably be dead if we tried to visit them all.
We did our tasting on Friday. Came back around 3 or 4 pm and napped for a few hours. What I didnt enjoy was the choice of dining in the area for dinner. Orange has a great burger place for lunch, but when you really want a dinner youre going to have to drive. The Palladio at barboursville is an option but is very expensive. $80 a person without wine, $110 with wine.
Saturday we spent the day doing historic things. The civil war medical museum, tour of montpelier, and then in the afternoon we picked 3 vineyards closers to charlottsville to visit. Of those we really liked two and the views were great because they were further into the mountains. Had an OK dinner, and this morning we were greeted with creme bruelee french toast and "steak bacon" for breakfast.
After doing W&B we were a bit too close for comfort to the edge of the envelope. I handed off one case of wine to the in-laws to drive back and we flew with the most valuable goods and luggage. Made a good choice because she got off the ground okay but was a bit sluggish to climb. Flew at 7500 feet and felt like it took 1/3 of the trip just climbing out.
So the wife and I definitely plan on coming back. Its <2 hours flight with the right winds, about half a tank of gas, and you're very much in the middle of nowhere.
I personally enjoy both craft beer and good wine. We didnt visit any of them but there were more than enough breweries to visit and a handful of distilleries as well.
h