Iceland: apparently I never actually posted anything but Reykjavik?!

I would have bet (and lost) some serious cash money that I had written a second post about Iceland, but the archives don't lie. I realize no one but future-me has been waiting with bated breath for this, but future-me will indeed want to see these pictures, so apologies, current-everyone-else! Not at all timely trip recap post ahoy!

I know I mentioned it in my other post, but the fact that there are only a few hours of daylight in Iceland in January was both really hard to get used to, and at the same time really easy to get used to, since there wasn't anything you could do about it. But I did amuse myself by taking photos to timestamp the progression of daylight while there, since it was so foreign.

For example, here is a shot from our tour bus as we picked up folks around the city for a Golden Circle tour, at full-on 9am:

By 10:30am, the sun had started to rise while the moon set:

And this is about an hour later, with the sun as fully up as it was going to get:

That pinkish glow just.. stayed. All the time. It was incredible.

Our first stop was a town called Hveragerdi, which is (I think?) the only town in the world built entirely on a geothermal hot spring. There are literally columns of steam rising from cracks in the ground throughout the tiny town - like, just in people's yards, or on the side of a hill - and like most of Iceland, the entire town is run on geothermal power. I have virtually no good pictures of this, since we rolled through town in the bus and it was still pretty dark, but the picture above with the setting moon is from just outside the town, and you can see the steam just sort of randomly pouring from the ground. There's even a restaurant there that cooks the food entirely using steam - not, like, with steam POWERED ovens, actually cooks the food IN the steam. That is on the list to try if we ever go back.

Our next stop was the Faxi waterfall (which means horse's mane, named after the appearance of the falls). It was VERY COLD AND WINDY here.

But see how it looks like sunset even though it was like 11am? It actually made for challenging photos, since I always wanted to capture the brilliantly-colored sky at the same time as whatever I was actually taking a picture of in the foreground (and I need more photography chops to do that effectively) but it's hard to screw up these views too badly no matter what you're doing.

Next up was another waterfall, Gullfoss:

This one is famous because it's apparently quite rare for falls to make a 90⁰ turn between two tiers of the ravine like this:

If I thought it was cold at Faxi... I was wearing two pairs of pants, two wool sweaters, a giant winter coat, and snowboots here at Gullfoss, yet felt like I was wearing nothing more than a pair of cotton pajamas, the way the wind cut right through me. After a few photos (me: "GOOD ENOUGH!") we beelined it inside for some incredibly wonderful lamb soup to warm up.

After lunch we hit one of the most famous stops on the Golden Circle tour: Geysir park, home to the original & famous geyser (literally named "Geysir") that unfortunately does not regularly erupt anymore... but also home to many smaller and more regularly-erupting geysers for the viewing pleasure of tourists.

It smelled VERY strongly of sulfur here. Overwhelmingly, nearly gaggingly so, if one happened to be, say, around 8 weeks pregnant at the time.

Strokkur is now the main attraction, erupting about 30 meters into the air every 7 minutes or so:

Because the water erupting from the geysers is literally boiling, it causes an interesting (and slippery) dynamic around the park: the ground just below Strokkur was covered in standing water from the frequent eruptions, but everywhere nearby that wasn't getting doused in boiling water every 7 minutes was just covered in a nice thick layer of slippery ice from the runoff.

I fell a lot. Chris did a lot of arm-grabbing-and-hoisting to keep me from slamming into the ice too badly.

As we had been driving around the countryside all day, we routinely passed fields full of adorable, shaggy Icelandic ponies. We asked our driver if we could stop to get a better picture of them at some point.

Boy, did he deliver. He pulled over next to a fence at the side of the road and called out to the horses, who all came trotting obediently over to the fence, hoping for treats.

It was so awesome.  They were adorable and wild and shaggy and had chunks of ice and snow woven throughout their manes and coats and didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest. I really wish we had had some apples or something as thanks for letting us get so close and pet their sweet faces.

By this point it was getting late in the day, in terms of sunlight (you know, like, 3:30) so we hopped back into the bus to try and hit one more sight, Thingvellir National Park.

Incidentally, this is what virtually all roads we were travelling on looked like. This was not a "bad" road; it was apparently just the normal state of roads in the winter.

None of the cars or buses or vans had chains on their tires or any apparent special snow/ice equipment. Everyone just.. drove on the roads like this, at normal speeds, and did fine. Coming from the DC Metro area, which shuts down schools for weeks at a time at the faintest suggestions of snow, rain, or ice... well, color me impressed, Icelanders.

By the time we arrived at Thingvellir, we were catching the very last of the daylight (...at like, 4pm) and the landscape took on a stunning monochromatic aura as a result:

We hiked up a short pass through the hills to the site of Iceland's first Parliament, established here in 930 (and where it remained until 1798!).

That last photo is after manipulating the saturation and exposure in the original to normally unheard of levels in order to eke out the very last of the light and colors available in the near-darkness.

And.. that's it. We were only there for two days and two nights, mainly in an effort to see the Northern Lights - which didn't happen. The first night out we had ostensibly perfect conditions, with reports of activity to the north of us, but the lights never migrated south enough for us to see them. I specifically booked us on a tour that would allow us to try again another night if the lights were a no show, but by night two I was so exhausted from jetlag and cold (and being 8 weeks pregnant!) that I couldn't handle the thought of spending another night freezing my tuchus off instead of snuggling in a warm bed and getting some desperately needed rest. So after we got back from the tour, we warmed up with a quick nap and then had a lovely, quiet dinner in downtown Reykjavik before packing up and heading to the airport at an ungodly hour the next morning.

I'd absolutely, totally go back. Just maybe in the summer, next time. :)

Reykjavik!

Baby update first:

We had our first regular ob/gyn appointment yesterday now that we've officially been released from the IVF world, and everything looked great. The fetus was measuring exactly 9w2d, which was precisely how old it should be, and we finally got to hear the heartbeat this time instead of just peering uncertainly at a grainy flicker on the screen. The doctor assured us that our risk of miscarriage at this point is down to about 3%, since the fetus is measuring appropriately with a strong heartbeat. This would be slightly more reassuring if it weren't also the super-low, never-gonna-happen probability I was going to get OHSS ;-) But still, I'll take it! Even though I'm 35 and thus technically of "advanced maternal age" in fertility-land, our doctor has decreed me low risk. On the one hand this is good, since it means everything looks exceedingly normal to him, and that I'm in good health, etc. On the other hand, it means I'm down to monthly appointments and won't get another reassuring peek into what's going on in there for FOUR MORE WEEKS!! Considering I was going every other day for a good stretch there, this is going to be an awfully long month.

On to Europe!

Iceland was positively enchanting. Freezing cold, but enchanting. I'm not sure I'd do another January trip in the near future, but I absolutely would go back, in a heartbeat. We sadly didn't catch the lights while we were there, but partly because after an unsuccessful first attempt, I was far too exhausted the second night to try again. My warm bed was just too tempting for a nauseated, nap-needing pregnant lady.

And Ireland... man. A heretofore dormant part of my somewhat dubious Irish heritage apparently clawed its way out of the depths of my psyche while we toured around the Western countryside, because I found myself thinking preposterous thoughts like, "I could totally see us settling down in a thatch-roofed cottage and owning sheep! This just feels... right!" Note to self: you would hate that. But Irish alter-ego made a pretty good case for becoming sheep-herding country folk, at the time.

I, of course, took roughly 40 billion photos, so rather than vomiting them all into one post I think I'll go slow and steady over the next week, focusing on one thing at a time. For starters: Reykjavik!

We arrived at something ungodly like 5:20am, but by the time we got through customs, got our bags, and were transported nearly an hour from the airport in Keflavík to downtown, it was after 7am. Most hotels in downtown Reykjevik seem to be apartment style (or B&Bs), meaning it's a bunch of dorm-style rooms, often with with mini kitchens, but no front desk. So upon arrival we called the number at the door to have the landlord / owner come let us in. It ended up being quite a to-do (despite emailing multiple times, and then calling and confirming that arriving so early would be OK, whoever I talked to apparently never passed that message on to the owner, who was in quite the kerfuffled state at our arrival time) but the owner came careening up the street in his ancient, tiny, Mexican-made car that seemed altogether unsuitable for 6" of freshly fallen unplowed snow, and ushered us into the vehicle rather than into the building, since he had another hotel/apartment where we'd be able to sleep until noon instead of 10:30, and where he also had to start making breakfast for other guests in approximately 5 minutes. So off we careened down the dark snowy streets, in a complete stranger's car, hoping for the best.

It of course was fine, and he deposited us into a bare-bones but workable room in his second location, where we promptly passed out for 3 glorious hours, awakening to the view above. Light! And goodness.. that's a lot of snow! Those snow boots I panic-ordered 3 days before the trip were an immediate and welcome payoff!

Our intent was to head to the main downtown area for lunch, stopping by what I had read was the best bakery in Reykjavik on the way, but as we started our trek I was catching glimpses of the harbor through the cross streets, with this amazing pink light reflecting off the water, the snowy cliffs, and sky. I was like a moth to a flame: I had to go down to the water.

Since the sun is only up for about 5 hours a day at this time of year, it also never actually gets very far up in the sky. So for the entire duration of daylight, the quality of light is this magical almost-sunset glow.

I couldn't get enough of it. I'm not sure these pictures are even doing it justice. I was basically just wandering around the path at the edge of the water with a dopey heart-eye-emoji expression permanently plastered to my face.

And then, within seconds... it was snowing. Heavily.

Sure, whatever Reykjavik. You do you.

But that building up there? That's the Harpa, a nearly-brand-new concert hall that I had read was really cool on the inside and worth a poke around, so we popped in to take a look (and get a break from the cold!)

::cue me standing immobile, jaw hanging open::

I mean. Would you take a look at this place.

It is GORGEOUS. I don't think there's a single right angle in the place. The ceiling is entirely made up of layered mirrored plates, and the walls are these three dimensional honeycomb-like plates that diffuse the light in the most amazing way.

Ahhhh.

Anyway! After that we did actually make it to the main downtown area, where neither the streets nor the sidewalks were plowed or cleared in any way whatsoever, nor did anyone seem to think that odd.

After a lunch stop (a giant bowl of lobster tails for Chris; fish and chips for me) we headed out on what ended up being a highly non-viable trip to what was supposed to be the hip new area of town, but was more like wandering around one of those sprawling big box Costco complexes on foot (eg, not ideal. Everything is really far away from everything else and all other visitors were in cars. Also there was even less snow trampling there than around the rest of the city due to the lack of pedestrians, so we were tromping through a good foot of snow at that point). While the initial goal was not realized, we did end up at another sea wall with more amazing views.

So, totally worth it.

OK! That's a good start.. I'm almost done editing the 18263517243 photos from our Golden Circle tour, so hopefully those to come soon.

Heartbeats and travel plans

Baby news first:

I had my first official o/b ultrasound last week (everything else has technically been an OHSS u/s up until this point) and they were able to re-confirm the presence of a tiny heartbeat. I was 6w4d at the time, but was measuring 6w2d. The heart rate was 118 (normal range is 115-125 for that gestational age). I was overjoyed to see the nugget was still in there, but pretty paralyzed with anxiety as well: in my last pregnancy, when I went in for my first just-past-8-week ultrasound, the baby was measuring nearly a full week behind. I didn't know it at the time, but measuring small/behind is an indicator of problems. (Not always! There are plenty of success stories for women who measured behind / small / early and everything was fine! But it's one of those things that CAN be an indicator of Woes To Come.) By the time I went in for a follow up u/s 2 weeks later, there was no heartbeat. That was obviously pretty traumatizing, so hearing that my 6 week old fetus was already measuring small was tough for me. The doctor was not at all concerned though, and said that it was completely within the normal range for that phase. I did a shitload of googling when I got home, and the consensus did appear to be that a few days off in measurements so early really was not too concerning, considering they are measuring millimeters on a screen at this point and 1 mm off in measurement can translate to a few days of gestational time. Basically, the margin of error is pretty high on such tiny measurements. This was somewhat gratifying to hear but did not in any way tamp down my anxiety.

I didn't sleep much before my appointment yesterday, and they were uncharacteristically short staffed at the office so we ended up waiting in the u/s room for a full 25 minutes before the doctor and tech came in to pop the dildo cam in. (Unconfirmed, but I suspect I may have had an actual stroke during that time.) To my shaky-handed relief, the heartbeat was still there. S/he's now actually measuring 2 days AHEAD, and the heart rate was a reassuring 155 bpm.

I am beyond relieved. I am starting to finally feel like this might be real, it might actually work out this time. I'm starting to allow myself to believe there might be a viable fetus in there.

I've officially "graduated" from the IVF facility and have my first "normal" ob/gyn visit scheduled for when I return from our trip. I doubt I will ever have a restful night's sleep before ultrasounds any more, but this is as much as I possibly could have hoped for from this last visit. The OHSS symptoms have all but cleared up, my ovaries are continuing to (slowly) shrink down to normal size, and while there is still a little fluid hanging on, it's not enough to cause issues or concern. And the fetus is strong and on track. (As I tell him/her/it regularly, he had BETTER be strong and hold on at this point, because you do NOT get to cause this much trouble and then give up! DO YOU HEAR ME FETUS?)

But also! The trip!

We leave tomorrow, which I am fully unprepared for, although I did finally book us some hotel rooms and train tickets in Ireland, which was a big gaping to-do on my list. I've been somewhat frantically Amazon Prime-ing several important items (like gloves! and warm socks!) and just realized last night that all the nice warm winter sweaters that I thought were stored under my bed were, in fact, apparently all tossed last year (justifiably, as they had become pretty ratty). But this does mean that I need to acquire a few warm sweaters, like, today. Although I do also need to look up the forecasts for where we'll be to see what the weather even will be, come to think of it. So prepared! As you can see!

The one thing I have done is packed up all the myriad medications I will require during the trip, including the prescription info for each, because I'm not sure how well it's going to go when I try to waltz through security with 8 syringes in my carry on. But since pregnancy = risk of blood clots, and flying = risk of blood clots, and OHSS = significant risk of blood clots, the combination of all three = I definitely need those blood thinners for this trip. Hope the TSA agrees.

I'm pretty bummed that I won't be able to eat some of the INCREDIBLY FASCINATING foods that can be found in Iceland, like fermented shark, or the huge tempting selection of not-entirely-cooked seafood like gravlax. On the other hand, my nausea levels are pretty high right now so even without the no-uncooked-food restriction that may have been off the table for me. Alas.

Weirdest current pregnancy symptom: my scalp hurts SO MUCH. Apparently it's because it's super dry, but it's amazingly tender as a result. It's excruciating to brush my hair after a shower. I've never experienced anything like it. It's apparently not super common, but is a definite known 1st trimester symptom for some lucky ladies. I'll take it if I can continue to refrain from any actual upchucking though.

One way to distract yourself during the tww....

...book a trip to Iceland and Ireland!

Chris had suggested we book a "real" vacation over the holidays, since despite actually having traveled a fair amount this year, they've all been really short trips over weekends with just the occasional extra Friday or Monday to pad it. (Even when we went to Barcelona, we were only there for 3 days before I had to report to work!)

Don't get me wrong, they have been fabulous:

  

Christina's bachelorette in NYC, March

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, April

Christina's civil ceremony in Paris, April

Christina & Matthieu's NYC wedding (with Evander Holyfield!), April

Cidery / winery tour weekend in Charlottesville, June

Weekend in Florida, July 

Chicago for my SIL's baby shower, July

Chris's grandmother's 80th bday in Toronto, August

Visiting my sister and her fiancé in Berkeley, September

Madison to meet my nephew!!!, October

But all were very rushed, and outside of those first few days in Barcelona, none has been just Chris and me.

One of my bucket list items has always been to see the Northern Lights, and I've heard Iceland is a great place to do it - plus a generally fantastic place to visit in general. Although to be fair, most people who have told me that have gone in the summer. But because Chris is a wonderful husband, he agreed to a trip to Iceland... in January... as long as we added a second stop to someplace slightly less Arctic Circle-y. You don't have to tell me twice to add on more destinations, so after a stop in Reykjavik, we are headed to Dublin! Also in January! To test my husband's love for me, apparently!

All of this ended up coming together because a girl who works for me just got back from Europe herself, and mentioned that the only way she was able to put together the itinerary she did was because of a new(ish) low cost airline carrier out of Iceland called WOW Air. So I promptly pulled up their site, and GOOD GOLLY their airline is well-named, because HELLO CHEAP FARES TO ICELAND.

(There are several caveats: they only fly out of BWI or Boston; absolutely nothing is included in those prices, like bringing luggage or reserving seats, much less food or in-flight entertainment; and they only fly between certain city pairs on certain days of the week, which means you have to be somewhat flexible in your planning.)

I landed on Dublin partly because of that last point: I can't leave until January (end of December = busiest time for me at work) but they only fly out of BWI to Reykjavik (KEF) on the 1st, the 3rd, or the 4th that week. So lining that up with a flight *out* of KEF to another city (while also making sure that city had a flight back to BWI on a reasonable day!) was an interesting little game of Jenga, but I eventually landed on a plan that gives us 2 full days in Iceland and 4 full days in Dublin. I would have liked 3 days in Iceland, but the tradeoff was spending close to $2k more in airfare by going with Iceland Air, soooo 2 days in Iceland it is!

SO. NOW. Who can tell me what to do while I'm there?? :) :)

I've booked a tour with SuperJeep to see the Northern Lights - if the trip is cancelled due to weather or the lights are a no-show, they'll let us try again the next night.. and given we only have two nights there, that seemed prudent. I'm thinking of booking this Golden Circle tour for our second day - smallish tour group rather than a big bus, and gets us back into the city in plenty of time if our Northern Lights tour needs to be rescheduled for Night 2. That leaves us with our first day there to wander Reykjavik proper while trying not to collapse from jet lag. (Our flight gets in at 5! 20! am! and our hotel has already let us know that our room is indeed booked the day before, so we will not be able to check in early and collapse for a few hours.) BUT! Who has been to Reykjavik and can tell me what we should check out?

And then DUBLIN!!! ::heart eyes emoji:: I've been to Dublin once, maaaany years ago (like.. holy balls, 12 year ago?!) but that was a very short trip, just over a weekend if memory serves, back in my US Airways days. We saw the Guinness factory (naturally), many many bars, and the nearby town of Kilkenny. This time, I intend to do MUCH MUCH more, including getting out into the countryside.

But how to choose?? The Cliffs of Moher (aka the Cliffs of Insanity from Princess Bride)!? How can I not? The Giant's Causeway? Belfast? Connemara? HELP! I'm thinking it might make sense to rent a car in Ireland rather than relying on tours, given that we have more time there. Although I don't know how well we'd do at driving on the wrong side of the road.

So! People! Tell me what to do / see / eat / visit!

Chicagoooo!!

Back on my Very First Ever date with Chris, he asked what my weekend plans were. "Oh, I'm headed to Chicago," I answered. "What for?" he asked, completely reasonably, but I flew into a small internal panic. Because I was going for BlogHer, which I was very excited about, and it wasn't a secret or anything, but this was a first date and it had been going very well up until that point, but not everyone *gets* blogging - especially not back in 2009! - so announcing that not only was I a blogger, but the kind of blogger who attends conferences about blogging seemed like it might be a little much on a first date. Yet on the other hand, I am a terrible, terrible liar.

"...ah.. for, um, a blogging conference," I muttered/replied, internally wincing.

Chris, to his credit, took it in stride. And aside from a few follow up questions - presumably to suss out exactly HOW crazy a person who goes to blogging conferences might be - let the date continue on as if I was mostly normal. (I later learned he really did think it was VERY VERY WEIRD, and had Concerns, but luckily I must have charmed myself past those on subsequent dates. I like to tell myself that anyway.)

ANYhoodles. I was reminded of that incident this weekend, because I found myself back in Chicago for my brother- and sister-in-law's baby shower, and I used my time there to try and meet up with every possible person I know in town... virtually all of whom I met through the internet, and many of whom I met up with back at that 2009 BlogHer.

My first stop upon landing was scooting downtown - because even though @pseudostoops had like 3 other lunches to attend, and was leaving straight from work to catch a flight, she STILL made time to meet me for lunch because she is extremely lovely.

The next day was pretty epic, in terms of meeting up with internet friends. I started with Dasi (or is everyone doing real life names now that hardly anyone still has a blog?) who - and I just went back through all the comments on my blog to verify this - I have "known" through blogging since TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE, and I *think* met in person for the first time in 2008. (Oh! Yes, indeed 2008 it was, and turns out I could have just referenced this post recapping that 2008 meeting for another all-caps exclamation of how long we have blog-known each other.)

This is obviously a turrible picture, but pretend I am not this bad at phone selfies, if you would be so kind.

We had a totally fabulous breakfast, where I only once threw my arms violently into our waiter while he was attempting to set drinks for me down on the table. Am very good at restaurants.

D, I am going to need an update on the dating situation, stat.

Next up was lunch at the best-named-restaurant ever, the Slurping Turtle, with a special guest appearance by Melissa, who remains as pocket-sized and adorable as the first time I met her.

I am like 4 feet taller than her. The first picture was even MORE awkward as a result, which I realize is hard to believe.

Then, interesting fun fact that I just learned last weekend: happy hours have been banned in Chicago since 1989. I KNOW! What kind of tyranny is that?! But right before we arrived - like, just in June - this ban was lifted, I can only assume with accompanying angelic fanfare, etc. 

Or, you know, accompanied by SUPER INSANE HAPPY HOURS to celebrate, like the one I hustled my butt to at the Godfrey Hotel, where for one hour Veuve Cliquot Rosé was $0.89 a glass. 

The silliest bar total ever.

And THEN look who trekked all the way over to meet me because they are also lovely? (I am sensing a theme, Chicagoans. Why you so lovely all the time?)

Kristin and Sara! Best happy hour!

It was SUCH a fabulous weekend. I also got to fit in a visit with some college friends I haven't seen in nearly a decade - and their two children! which they now have! - as well as eat and drink at some of the most fantastic venues with my in laws. (Little Goat Diner, Sunda, The Aviary... all so very, very good.)

Chicago never stops being awesome. And filled with awesome folks. The two may be connected.

Summer days, boozin' away

It's been such a busy summer already! We've been out of town nearly every weekend so far - and the weekends for the foreseeable future all look about the same - but it's always doing pretty fabulous things so I'm not complaining.

Shall we have a picture round up? Let's have a picture round up! I've put my photos in collages to make it seem like I have fewer, but it will not fool anyone!

So, back in June, our friends in Maryland organized a MD Beer (and Mead!) Crawl as a brilliant way to lure us into their state.

We started at a pretty small brewery called Jailbreak, which does interesting, all-natural small batch beers. They were DELICIOUS. I highly recommend.

Next up was a pretty unique stop at Charm City Meadworks. It was in the least obvious place ever - down amid the rail yards of south Baltimore, in an industrial garage next to lots of rusted out semis. You know, your normal tasting room location.

But it actually worked pretty well inside, in a bare bones kind of way, and they did a good job of keeping that space relatively cool considering it was about 200 degrees out that day. I think I've come to the conclusion that I just don't love mead, though. For me it hits a similar palette as sour beers, which I similarly can't seem to get into. If you're a local mead fan, though, this is a place you should for sure check out.

We rounded out our day with a favorite stand by for many of us, Heavy Seas. We got a pretty neat tour there, since one of our group is friends with an Actual Employee, so we were treated to the personalized super secret tour.

I did not take great photos that day, as we can all see. I blame the oppressive heat which apparently wilted even my camera phone.

Two weeks later, we decided it was time for something thoroughly and completely different... so we drove down to Charlottesville, VA to tour cideries and vineyards with my wonderful college friend Shannon and her husband.

(Totally different, obviously. We went south instead of north, for one! And cider is SO TOTALLY not like beer, duh.)

(Actually, the reason we were at cideries in the first place is because Shannon's husband Bret is gluten intolerant, and was very very sad to have to give up beer as a result. Cider has been a welcome replacement to fill that hole in his heart liver.)

So! We started at Castle Hill Cider at 11am on the dot, when they opened, because we are dedicated to our craft. This place was AWESOME. The selection of ciders was SUPER diverse - it had both my favorite cider of the entire weekend and my least favorite that I've probably ever tried, but the quality was undeniable and the ones I loved, I LOVED.

They had a gorgeous outdoor space as well, but it was pouring rain at the time. We bought a bottle of cider anyway and sat on their porch to drink it and plan out the rest of our weekend itinerary.

Next up was a vineyard, Keswick. I hear this place also has a lovely outdoor space, but if it was pouring at Cider Hill, it was MONSOONING at Keswick. So we just scooted inside and were happy to remain at the tasting bar inside the entire time.

I am notoriously hard on Virginia wineries. They have been getting increasingly better over the ::coughcoughmumble*many*cough:: years I've lived here, but there are still some major quality and consistency issues, in my opinion. I thought Keswick was... OK. I did actually buy a bottle of their V2 white - a viognier and verdejo blend - but I just couldn't get into their reds.

By the time we got to Pippin Vineyards, the rain was stopping and our stomachs were rumbling (and some of us were getting a weeeee bit tipsy). I don't really remember the wine here because I was far more focused on putting delicious, delicious food in my gaping facehole as quickly as possible.

I succeeded in that, and holy cow was the food fantastic there. The views were also AMAZING, despite the fact that it was still completely overcast. I imagine a sunny day here is nothing short of breathtaking.

Last up (....for Saturday...) was another cidery, Albemarle CiderWorks. It's possible some of us were still a little tipsy for this one as well, but I do recall the cider here being quite nice, if generally a little on the sweeter side for me.

Interestingly, almost everything we tried the entire weekend was "dry" or "off-dry" - meaning "not at all sweet" or "just barely sweet" in cider terms - but I like my cider SUPER SUPER DRY and even the off-dry ones I generally could only enjoy in small quantities.

After Albemarle, we definitely did not go back to our hotel and drink two more bottles of cider while playing board games, then go out for dinner and further drinking.

(...Of course we did.)

The next day was GORGEOUS. Brilliant blue skies; puffy clouds; beautiful weather with almost no humidity (at least up in the hills!).  Our first stop - after the most perfect diner breakfast ever- was Bold Rock Hard Cider.

OH MY LANDS. I could have stayed here for the entire day. The set up is WONDERFUL - they have a huge, lofty tasting room, but an even larger and more expansive outdoor space that overlooks a picturesque river valley. Their cider was all on the sweet side (for me), but I didn't care at all. I would spend A LOT of time here if I lived in Charlottesville.

After peeling ourselves away from the Bold Rock patio, we switched back to wine for a stop at Flying Fox Vineyard.

So, if I don't tend to think Virginia does reds well, I tend to think they do rosés terribly. Not here! I was entirely charmed by their rosé and left with two bottles of it.

Our next stop was a bit of a dark horse - a brand new distillery that popped up in 2014 along the VA wine trail called Silverback.

YOU GUYS. It was phenomenal. I am not usually a gin person because... meh. Gin. Also I strongly dislike tonic, which seems to be the primary vehicle for consuming gin. This gin though! I tasted it straight, and I LOVED IT. They suggested pairing it with a pink lemonade, which... oh my. Yes. Go buy this and do it and let me know if it's as good as I'm imagining.

And then, to round off stop #8 in 2 days, Michael Shaps Wineworks. Their tasting room is a bit of a work in progress, but honestly you don't need a lot to keep us happy when you are also pouring many kinds of wine.

This was a favorite of friends of Shannon & Bret, and I can see why. It was not my cup of tea, but it most certainly did not taste like a Virginia wine (...which is a complement :) ).

I guess what I'm trying to say here, is find some friends and make a weekend of tasting booze. It's hard to go wrong with that plan.

OK, this post was going to cover 2 additional weekends in the wrap up, but I think we can all agree this is plennntttyyy for now. Everyone go drink some booze to celebrate making it through this post.