Driving Days 8 and 9 - Troy, IL to Ashland, KY to Charlottesville, VA

Quick note - our Graceland, Beale Street and Missouri photos are now linked.  Please go back and re-read those blogs. 

Drive Day 8

Our plan after leaving my brother's place was to drive to Nashville, TN and then to Asheville, NC before heading to my cousin's house in Fredericksburg, VA on Wednesday.  We looked at a map and decided to keep on an easterly route rather than driving south, east then north.  So...  we headed to Kentucky but hoping we'd get to Charleston, WV.  In Indiana, I kept seeing signs for Marengo Cave so I decided to stop. It was a little farther off the highway than we thought but when got there decided it was worth checking out. It turns out we would have to wait 40 minutes for the next tour and that would take another 35-40 minutes. We decided to pass since we really wanted to get as far east as possible. It was at this point that Olga discovered we were now in the Eastern time zone and we had just lost an hour - so we hit the road.  It was a long day of driving and we only made it to Ashland, KY - fairly close to the KY-WV border.  Rooms were pretty well booked but found a room at the second hotel we tried.  Due to a room issue (that was resolved), we ended up being comped for the room - woo hoo!

Drive Day 9

We left Ashland, KY about 10:30 am planning to get as far into Virginia as we could.  Turns out that wasn't a problem and our drive time was only about 6 hours for the day - with stops.  The drive across West Virginia was uneventful, but the scenery was pretty.  We stopped at a center off the highway called Tamarack - it's a shopping center featuring products made by WV artists.  Very interesting and worth the stop.

While crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains inVirginia, we stopped at a scenic overlook to take in the breathtaking valley views.

From there we headed toward Williamsburg, VA when we decided that we should stop to see Monticello since it was on our route.  We got there at 4:00 pm - plenty of time for a tour - but they closed early today for a private function.  The guard gave us 1/2 price coupons and we'll go tomorrow morning.  From there, we headed to Ash Lawn-Highland which was the home of James Monroe, our 5th US President.  Our docent was very knowledge and made the tour very interesting.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside the house which is too bad as there were many wonderful furnishings and paintings.

Then we went to the Jefferson Winery down the road - wines are pretty good and we each bought some.  The man who was pouring recommended that we go to the Historic Downtown area for dinner.  We did and had an enjoyable dinner outside at an Italian cafe.  We were also treated a little entertainment by the Albermarle Morris Men who were doing a Morris dance which dates back to the 1300s in England. 

Tomorrow, we go to Monticello and Williamsburg (depending on the weather).  Then we head to my cousin Janet's house in Fredericksburg.  Stay tuned and check out today's photos.....