Weekend of Harmony and Beer

This past weekend James took Lulu and I to a bed and breakfast in Nelson County, VA. Two weeks ago he declared that he wanted to go away for the weekend. His last night on mids was Thursday and he didn’t have to be back in work until yesterday at 1400 (yay swing shift!) so this was the perfect weekend. He did the research and booked the room. Friday afternoon we packed a bag, the Escape, and the dog to take off on our adventure. Our drive to middle VA was so nice. Not a lot of traffic, warm weather, and good conversation. Our GPS unit had the location wrong for Harmony Hill Bed & Breakfast so James guided us in with his iPhone. We were welcomed to the B&B and settled in no time.

Harmony Hill Bed & Breakfast

Our first outing was for dinner at the Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company. Oh. My. God. We have found a mecca of food and beer; especially beer. After partaking in the sampler we settled on the Schwartz Beir for James and Ale of Fergus for me. We really didn’t want to leave but we were getting tired. So we bought a growler of Schwartz Beir, a couple of glasses, and headed back to the B&B for a night cap.

Devil's Backbone Sampler

Saturday morning, over a fabulous homemade breakfast, we decided that we would do something that involved Lulu first and then something “adult” in the afternoon. We decided on walking a portion of the Blue Ridge Rail Trail along the Piney River in Nelson and Amherst Counties. It turns out that we parked at milepost 1.8 of the trail and walked towards the trail head. Oh well. We had a great time. Almost four miles might have been a bit too much for Lulu, but she was a trooper.

Piney River

After our hike we decided on an impromptu picnic back at the B&B. We stopped in Nellysford, VA, and picked up fresh bread and a bottle of VA wine from Basic Necessities Café and then cheese, dip, and sandwiches from Ambrosia Bakery & Deli. It was fun to eat, drink, and dine local. Lulu enjoyed lounging in the sun. Before drinking too much more wine, we put our picnic in the room and Lulu in her crate and headed for our “adult” activity of the afternoon.

Our makeshift table for our picnic

The DelFosse Winery has been a favorite of ours since 2007, so going to the vineyard itself was quite a treat. We bellied up to the bar for our tasting. And of course didn’t leave empty handed. We even signed up for their wine club (which we learned can ship to AZ!!!). We also learned that they have a cabin on the property that can be rented, which we most likely will be doing at the end of summer.

DelFosse Winery and Vineyard

After a nap back at the B&B we headed out to dinner at Devil’s Backbone. Again. We couldn’t help ourselves. After a brief wait for a table (they were packed Saturday night) we once again enjoyed fabulous beer and food, though I had Gold Leaf Lager (awesome!). We brought back our growler and had it filled with Ale of Fergus. Saturday evening was spent drinking champers in the B&B’s gazebo and then to bed.

Sunday morning meant waking up and leaving. Not an easy accomplishment. Breakfast was incredible with an amazing baked apple french toast. We made it out of the B&B and to Charlottesville, VA, to visit our friends the Evans’ (Clay, Bethany, and Cayley). We had a fabulous time seeing their new digs (which they moved into last year) and grilling out for lunch. We had to leave there eventually, and instead of sitting in the nightmare that was I-95 North we took Route 29 North back to Northern VA.

All in all, as James and I sat in the backyard Sunday evening, drinking Ale of Fergus, and watching Lulu play…we knew that we had just had one hell of a weekend. Check out all the photos from the weekend under "Images Of Our Live" at the bottom of the page.