September 2
Charlottesville
We slept in a bit the next day, and then, after checking out of our hotel, headed to nearby Monticello around 10 o'clock.
Monticello
Monticello is the estate of the 3rd President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. When I started researching what there was to do in Virginia, I heard so many people recommend checking out Monticello that I decided it was a "must do" on our trip. 
We took a tour around the home, and then wandered around the grounds and beautiful trails for a while, including the cemetery where he was buried, along with many of his family members over the years.
I absolutely LOVED the kitchen in the servant's quarters!
View over the pond of the back yard.
Jefferson's Vineyards and Gardens
Jefferson's Graveyard
Michie's Tavern
We had heard about Michie's Tavern from a few different friends and decided that we just HAD to try it out. It absolutely did NOT disappoint, unless you consider eating SO much delicious food that you might not be able to button your pants afterward disappointing. For your initial round of food, you go through a very well-stocked buffet to choose between homecooked, fried chicken, bbq pork sandwiches, mashed potatoes/gravy, harvard beets, and a myriad of other options. After that, ladies come and bring bowls of whatever else you want more of. We were SO stuffed after this delicious lunch! It was pretty spendy for lunch ($15pp), but it was SO worth it. HIGHLY recommended (that is, unless you have a diet that you plan to stick to this day) lol
After looking around in the gift shop, we hit the road again, but decided that instead of going to Ash Lawn Highland or Montpelier, that we'd head west to drive through the Shenandoah National Park instead.
Shenandoah National Park
It was about a 3 hour drive through the mountains, with about a 90 minute hiatus in which we hiked the South River Falls Trail to find an 81-foot waterfall. The hike proved to be grueling and the waterfall pretty disappointing, but that made up for all the pizza last night, right? :) We saw a couple bear caves while on the hike but no bears...just then!
Mark and Dan checking out the bear cave
The Waterfall
The deer were so calm and peaceful - not scared like the ones in MN!
I headed up a bit earlier than the boys while they explored a bit more, and after a grueling climb back up the hill, finally made it back to civilization. As I was walking to the restroom, I came face-to-face with a deer, and then as I was walking back to the car, I saw the boys had come back to the car, and were just taking a drink break. A few seconds later, we heard some people shouting something about a bear, and that we had to drive over by them to see it! Sure enough, there was a medium-sized black bear that had climbed up in the tree! The folks who were standing there said that it came out of the woods about 2 minutes before I had (FREAKY!). In fact, if I hadn't stopped twice for a minute or two, I may have been face to face with the bear as well!! The people said those bears are about 3 times as fast as humans, and that at the first sign of it moving down the tree, we should sprint for our cars and get in right away! Luckily for us, the bear didn't come down, but it was cool to see!
We drove a little further and ended up seeing another black bear nearby a campsite!
After our little hike and bear sighting, we continued on through Shenandoah, and after seeing yet another bear and a LOT more deer, we finally made it to the end of the park, and headed on our way to our hotel in Crystal City for the night.
Although I posted this at the beginning of the Shenandoah section, it truly was where we left the park, not where we entered it.
The hotel (the Hyatt) was really very very nice, and we were glad to be there after such a long, exhausting day on our feet! The next three days were to be filled with lots and lots of walking around DC, and we needed our rest :)
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