Monticello

As I promised myself with my declaration of the new "Summer of Fun," I went to Monticello on Saturday.

There was supposed to be a whole group of us on the trip, but everybody bailed to go to some wine festival here in town. It was just Molly and me. No bother. I had a blast.

It was much cooler than I had expected. The house was beautiful. The grounds were amazing. Plus it was just really neat to stand next to Thomas Jefferson's gravesite.

That doesn't sound too morbid does it? I love cemeteries. Before moving to Richmond, I had only seen one presidential grave (Truman in KC). Since moving I've seen Monroe and Tyler here in Richmond, Kennedy and Taft in DC, and now Jefferson in Charlottesville. I don't think I ever visited Hoover's gravesite in Iowa, even though I lived nearby.

Saturday's weather was perfect to be outside. The was warm and half-cloudy and breezy, never hot. The views from the mountain were amazing. You could see for miles. I wish the pictures would reflect what it was really like.

As amazing as the house was, I think my favorite part was the flower gardens at the back of the house.

They had tons of cool flowers I'd never seen before. They were fully bloomed and beautiful. The guided tours of the gardens was going on during our house tour, so we had to self-tour it.

I'm really glad I went. My whole family has been to Monticello, except me. Pretty sad since I've lived here longer than anybody else. Next trip I'm planning on is a museum tour in DC. Of course I'll have to wait until after May sweeps.