April 29, 2015.  We love Misty Mountain Campground.  All the water you can drink or wash dishes in! Boundless, instant wifi!  A secluded camp site beside a pretty stream!  Five minutes from Charlottesville!  Plus, I learned later, this place is owned by a friend of a friend.  How lucky that we found it and like it.

Yesterday afternoon, we drove the 15 or so minutes to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s just wonderful home on a mountainside slightly east of C’ville.  For those of you (if any) who have not been there, you should definitely do so before you get too old.   I toured the house while Brad and Doris patiently posed near the museum and walked around the grounds.  (Even in her dotage Doris is a babe magnet, as it turns out, so Brad was perfectly content.) I had forgotten that the entrance hall is filled with goodies Lewis and Clark brought back from their western explorations — so interesting to me now that I know more of the details about that voyage of which Jefferson, of course, was the instigator.  Other details that every one knows, but may have slipped your minds while you were thinking of other things, are that (i) Jefferson spoke, read and studied in seven languages, (ii) he designed and supervised the building of Monticello, largely inspired by the Italian architect Palladian (thus all the Palladian windows), (iii) he later went to France, came home and tore down much of the original house so he could incorporate French-inspired ideas, such as skylights, dumbwaiters, beautiful glass french doors, and space-saving alcove beds, including his famous variation in which his bed divides his chamber from his study.  There are a couple of other interesting facts about Mr. Jefferson.  Someone should write a book about him.

We stopped by the famous Mitchie Tavern and learned, to our disappointment, that it is no longer an active watering hole.  At the gift shop, we bought a six-pack of Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale, one of the “Ales of the Revolution,” and confirmed that all ales are not created equal.  This one was inspired by Jefferson’s original recipe, which called for ingredients from his estate, including honey and rye.  Good!

I have (in the dark of night under the sheets) read a series of mystery books in which the protagonist/amateur detective is the post-mistress in Crozet VA.  We made a point of running through there so I could check it out.  There it was.

After dinner, we played a board game I got at the Monticello museum store — The Royall and Most Pleasant Game of Goose.  The object is to move rocks around the board for 63 spaces, surviving various dire setbacks along the way.  Brad is a natural at this, and won 7 out of 8 games.  We switched to Canasta to make me feel better.

We are heading out now for Covesville VA to meet our friend Kathie at her farm.  It is another beautiful cool, sunny day.