Ryan's Birthday

Ryan turned the big 28 on October 17th and for his birthday, we went down to the Shenandoah Valley for the weekend. We had a bit of bad luck because the leaves were still a week away from their peak color. If only Ryan had been born a week later...he he. But, it was still really pretty and we had a lot of fun. We went to Thomas Jefferson's estate, Monticello, and toured around. The estate is really beautiful and the house is very cool. Our tour guide of the house was a little on the creepy side and his voice and mannerisms reminded me of Johnny Depp on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I kept telling Ryan how creeped out I was!

When Ryan was looking up things to do in Charlottesville, he figured out that you could ice skate at the city rink for free on your birthday! This was very exciting! We raced on the ice and Ryan won...my pride was hurt :)

We stayed at a little resort in a small town outside of Charlottesville that was really beautiful and picturesque. It really is too bad that I am not a good photographer to capture it.

The rest of the weekend, we spent exploring Charlottesville (especially the University of Virginia, which has a beautiful campus!), watching the Utes win, and our favorite, apple picking at a large orchard. Apple picking is a perfect fall activity and we came home with a lot of apples! I sure hope the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", is true because we are eating several.

On our way home, we took the fabulous Skyline Drive that goes through Shenandoah National Park to enjoy the leaves. Even though they weren't at their peak, they are still stunning. We love fall on the East Coast!!

Happy Birthday to Ryan!

Here are some pictures to capture the weekend's events...