Favorite Houses

We were worried that we would leave Virginia without having seen the homes of two of our favorite presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Luckily we were able to fit both Monticello and Montpelier into our plans. We didn't get to spend as much time at either home as we would have liked but we did get to see both of them - so we'll take what we can get ;)

Monticello was very busy. We had to wait quite a while for our turn to tour the home so we spent lots of time on the grounds (which are very pretty). We started an outdoor tour but the guide was really negative so we just did the self-guided thing. And then as the luck of the draw would have it, our tour guide for the home was not so good either :( As we waited for our turn we heard other tour guides we wish we could have had. I just don't know why anyone would want to work at the home of a man they didn't like.

So our time at Monticello was nice - we just had to pretend that no one else was there ;)

Then we took off for Montpelier. The drive was lovely - it's really amazing how much land there is in Virginia without houses on it. The only bug was cell reception - that was awful. Both Dan and I had some business we had to take care of over the phone that afternoon so frustration was running high.

Montpelier is going through an extensive remodel to bring it back to the state it was in when the Madison's lived in it. They are almost finished. We want to visit this home again when it's furnished and the grounds around the house have grown back.

Our tour guide here was absolutely awesome! She was not only very knowledgeable, she really loved and admired both James and Dolley Madison. Because of some storm warnings, very few people were visiting this home. In fact, we had the tour guide all to ourselves! Which was good because this is the house in which Stephen announced he was finished touring. He rarely screams or cries but he let loose in this house. So daddy spent 1/2 the tour outside - bless his heart. The cool thing about this home is that the property is so extensive. It sits on 2,650 acres! And 200 of those acres make up this amazing "landmark forest" with a bunch of trails running through it. I really wish we could have spent the entire day here.