3 Years of LOVE

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary this August 5th by spending a weekend in some new places and trying some new things.

Bee wanted to shake things up by trying to drive this semi truck ahead of me at 65 mph...in reverse!

We started with Staunton, VA. It's a nice historic town with lots of old shops. We also went to the local outdoor movie they were playing at a park - we laughed to ourselves as we sat on the grass in the middle of strangers and watched...High School Musical.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Staunton and ate flowers for breakfast! We had our own private breakfast nook and when they brought us our breakfast they pointed out that the flowers, which were garnishes, were edible...so we ate them.

We visited this cool local shop that has glass blowing demonstrations daily. It was pretty sweet!

We also made our way to another city we had never been to, Roanoke, were we partook of their annual Peach Festival. We had a peach shake and some peach cobbler...yum!


Then we strolled down to their weekly street market (on Market Street) and had a fun time looking around at all the vendors, grabbing a wrap, buying kitty cat grass - that's a first- and trying salsa.


And after Roanoke, we made our way up to Luray, VA where we explored their famous caverns. They even have an organ installed in the caverns that plays music using the stalactites!
The first picture is of a reflection pool that creates a pretty cool illusion, but the water is only 2 inches deep.
The second picture is a natural formation they call "sunny side up eggs."


There was also an antique car show by the caverns so we stopped in to check it out. Groovy!

We enjoyed the countryside. Bee had always wanted her picture with a roll of hay, so we said, hey, what the hay.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !

After spending our first night in Richmond, VA, I surprised Bee with a getaway trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It had been so long since our last road trip ;)

We drove about an hour away to stay at a Bed and Breakfast in Charlottesville, VA where another surprise would await Bee in the morning.

I arranged for us to stay in our own private cottage separate from the rest of the rooms in the main house. It was nice and it was secluded, except for the mouse....it was then that the description of the "cottage" being the former barn took on a whole new, less romantic reality.

So, then next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to a secret place where I would surprise Bee with her dream-come-true present.
When we arrived at the location (a fancy hotel), I stepped into the restroom real quickly and when I came out, the pilot of the hot air balloon I hired had blown the surprise. Bee was happy anyway, so it all worked out.
There was supposed to be another couple flying with us, but they didn't show up, which meant we got our very own private flight (for half the cost)! Saweeet!!!

We helped blow up the balloon...


And then we took off. The flight was surprisingly smooth without any of that stomach rising stuff.


We flew over UVA campus and Bee took some time to ponder what she had done a year ago...


When it was time to land, we got to help with that too. It was great!


After our flight, we decided to grab a bite to eat. We found this house that had been converted into a local Mexican Restaurant. Cool.
The next day we found an Apple Orchard nearby. We enjoyed the view and Bee beat me terribly at a game of checkers in their laid back style store.

We have returned to this same orchard every year to pick fresh apples and make apple pie. We love it!