Traditionally, Brugger and I visit the Blue Ridge Parkway in October, as a
gear-up to Halloween. Last month, the Parkway was closed after damage caused
by Hurricane Helene, but at least in the area nearest us, the closing was
brief. Still, our schedules were pretty hectic this past month, so we missed
going prior to All Hallows. However, more or less on the spur of the moment,
to decided to drive up yesterday to
Villa Appalaccia
and
Chateau Morrisette, our two favorite BRP destinations. Sadly, the restaurant at
Mabry Mill
closed a while back — having breakfast there has been an autumn tradition
since my childhood — and there are no definite plans as yet for it to reopen.
I certainly hope it will.
The weather turned out perfect for the outing, and though the fall foliage is
a bit past its peak, some beautiful color lingered in various areas. At Villa
Appalaccia, we did our customary wine tasting, grabbed a bottle of their San
Giovese, and had an excellent picnic lunch in the walled terrace a short
distance away from the main building (which we always think of as "ours"
because, well, it's usually empty except for us, which makes it ours). Then we
made the very short truck over to Chateau Morrisette, did the customary
tasting, and drank a single glass each of Red Mountain Laurel, which is one of
their sweet wines — something we almost never do — but since we'd
already had our lunch and some dry red, we figured the Mountain Laurel would
make a good dessert. It did.
There were several Adventure Lab stages in some very familiar haunts along the
BRP, so on our way back home, we stopped off to grab the stages and take
photos at some of the overlooks. We hit them at a lovely time, as the setting
sun painted lovely colors out in the valley.
I do hope we'll have a chance to get back up there before winter weather sets
in. And for the love of God, for all our sakes, please vote Blue tomorrow.
