Charlottesville, VA (#2)

Michael and I went to the Charlottesville area again this summer to celebrate our wedding anniversary while my wonderful parents watched the girls. This year we spent less time hiking in the heat and humidity and more time wine-tasting in the nice air-conditioned tasting rooms. I don't know that my palate is any more refined than it was before the trip, but I can say that I still prefer red wine to white wine, except for the sweet white wines and ice wines. Our favorite vineyard in the area is still Veritas Vineyard and Winery, which we have gone back to every year that we've visited Charlottesville. The wine is consistently of high quality, and the grounds are beautiful.

This year we stayed at Le Bleu Ridge Bed and Breakfast, which is south-west of Charlottesville. The room was great, the owners of the bed and breakfast were very friendly, and the breakfasts were amazing. They consisted of three courses, none of which contained any wheat or corn. The first morning we had fresh fruit, frittata, salad, and coconut rice pudding. The second morning we had scones, salad, breakfast sausages, and berry-filled crepes. Danielle, one of the owners, even gave us some leftover fruit and scones to take with us on the road.

For the rest of our meals we decided to try out some more restaurants in Charlottesville. For lunch we wanted to go to Lemon Grass, a Thai restaurant that has great reviews and carefully labels which items on the menu are gluten-free. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed the day we were there. However, we had great success with our dinner choices. The first night we went to Hamiltons', which is on the downtown mall, the outdoor pedestrian area. It was a great place for a special dinner date, and I'd love to go back to try out more of the entrees and desserts. The second night we went to Duner's, a restaurant that several locals recommended to us. The interior looked like a rustic beach shack with plain wooden booths and tables. With curiosity and amusement we watched as more and more Mercedes pulled into the parking lot and the restaurant was packed by 7 pm. However, once our meal arrived, we knew why. The food was high quality and the portions were large. I thoroughly enjoyed my seared duck breast with asparagus spaetzle and peach-citrus glaze.