We kinda jumped the gun..

... on that whole take-a-trip-by-ourselves concept, and took a few days before Thanksgiving to visit Virginia. We visited Alexandria, Middleburg (sort of), Skyline Drive, and wine country. There are lots of photos, so the post continues after the jump.

Monday morning we drove down from Kensington. Our luck was taking this trip while the leaves in central Maryland and Virginia were still turning. For our friends and family out of state, here's the photo of 295 south, probably the prettiest highway I know of. And, of course, our trusty driver, photographed by our not-so-trusty camerawoman.

We first toured Old Alexandria, which we liked - antiques, a couple more modern shops for tourists and residents, and the Torpedo Factory, an early 1900s naval manufacturing facility that's been renovated into the hub of a vibrant art community. Of course, there's also a lot of history here: both George Washington and Robert E. Lee considered Alexandria home, and many statesmen have done so as well.

There are a number of funny juxtapositions in Alexandria, such as the intersection of King Street, a colonial influence, with West Union Street, a democratic influence. A lot of downtown consists of brick rowhomes, some of which have been painted, and some buildings with siding. There's a considerable amount of effort in the preservation of these buildings, even if they don't operate as historic sites, and seeing how modern businesses fit into old buildings is always interesting.

In these old buildings we found the same modern conveniences and stores that we have back home. Like Chipotle.

Being historically minded, of course, we instead went to Gadsby's Tavern, started in the late 1700s. We felt a little underdressed in sweatshirts and jeans, and the Revolutionary-period food wasn't outstanding, but the service was good and the building interesting. If you go, check out the hotel - we didn't realize there was one attached.

Just don't take your secret service with you.

Speaking of Mr. Washington, you can see the replica of his house, on the same land he originally owned. The house is owned privately, though, so you mainly get to see the outside, with a nice little plaque that says it is a replica of George Washington's house, and a (shamefully tattered) American flag.

Up the street is Christ Church, which we were able to go in and see. However, Sabbath Monday meant the museum and gift shop were closed. The church is beautiful; I could wax on about the architecture of it, but I'll just say it was interesting to compare the building with my own home church and Old North Church in Boston, where Paul Revere's lamps were lit, and at Bruton Parish in Williamsburg.

The church yard is interesting in its own right. All of the tombstones are pretty old, and the more elaborate ones had some kinda interesting... if questionable... back stories. And as legend has it, Union soldiers during the Civil War encamped in the church yard and heaved up some of the tombstones to make room for their campfires and horses.

We were in Alexandria, of course, right before Thanksgiving, and the marketing had already started. But it was kind of fun, having seen construction equipment on our way up the street, to come back down the street and see Alexandria's Christmas tree lifted into place. They placed it in front of their city hall, which would be to the left of this photo across a plaza and is also a historic building. The house you see in the background is the Ramsay house, built by William Ramsay, a Scottish merchant and founding citizen; it's now the town's visitor's center.

At this point we drove down to The Plains, where we had booked a bed-and-breakfast. It was a long drive, but mostly scenic past the Beltway and out Route 66. We checked into the Grey Horse Inn, and on the suggestion of the inn owner, drove up to Middleburg, a small town of antique shops and boutique stores. It reminded us of Alexandria, but in a more country-type way; a lot more references to fox hunting and horse racing in the merchandise, for example. Getting there at 4:30 on a weekday, we didn't catch many of the stores before they closed. We went to dinner at Frogs and Friends in a neighboring town, and then went to bed. We got up the next morning and had an excellent breakfast at the inn - we definitely recommend breakfast at the inn - and went on our way to Skyline Drive.

Skyline Drive is 105 miles through Shenandoah National Park. Although the area was already a vacation spot for summer-weary Washingtonians, the CCC came in during the 1930s and built the drive as a scenic route, winding around and through the peaks. We followed the advice of our innkeeper and didn't follow the entire length; while this meant missing the town at the end of the drive, we left the drive before it got monotonous and also got to the wineries earlier. Here's another tip: because it's in a national park, you have to pay to get inside, even though you're just driving through. We hadn't heard that from our innkeeper. Also, take a camera and drive (relatively) slowly, because the amazing views are right at the edge of some precarious slopes. We're not sure what happened at this last stop (!).

Skyline Drive also crosses the Applahacian Trail... a lot. Kircher's hiked a piece of it within Maryland, but I've never seen it, so almost stumbling across it was neat.

After we left Skyline Drive, we toured up through several wineries and a lot of Virginia countryside. Some wineries were closed because it was a weekday, but we managed to get to five or six. At all but one, we enjoyed tasting and bought wine for presents back home. No pictures of the wineries themselves, but rather some of the scenery.

When we got back to the inn, the innkeeper recommended Hunter's Head Inn for our last night in town, which we loved. Definitely something different to do in a place you wouldn't expect it. After all, how many country pubs have British telephone booths outside?

Thanks for going through the long post; we'll keep you updated on our wanderings before and after the wedding.