new year's

After spending a few days in Pensacola and KC for Christmas, we flew back to DC and then drove to Wintergreen, VA for New Year's.  We were joined by Doug; Sam, Alison, and Hudson; and Brian and his lady friend Katy.

It was our first time to Wintergreen and when we booked the trip in mid-October the purpose was for it to be a ski weekend, but a dislocated knee cap and non-existant snow nullified those plans.  However, it was still a very enjoyable trip.  We had a nice, big house near the top of the mountain and arrived late Friday afternoon.  Wintergreen, which is about 45 minutes from Charlottesville in the Blue Ridge Mountains, happens to make up part of the Brew Ridge Trail, an area with a lot of breweries as well as vineyards/wineries.

On Saturday we went to the Blue Mountain brewery and hop farm and had a few beers outside on their nice patio.  Then we were off to Veritas, a pretty nice winery a few miles away, where Brian entertained us with his take on a wine.  At night Lelaine made paella for New Years Eve and we had a few drinks and played a lot of Wii.

New Year's Day was pretty frigid, but still no snow.  We mostly lounged around the house and I had a nice afternoon listening to the Chiefs defeat the Broncos on internet radio while sitting outside and looking at the mountains.

Everyone wanted to stay an extra day, but on Monday we had to leave.  I'm not a big fan of going out on New Year's Eve and renting a big house in the mountains was definitely a good way to spend it.