We eventually learned that it would take an hour plus to retrieve the documents she wanted, and most of the manuscripts I was interested in were actually stored off-site (and would be difficult to procure on the same day). So after a bit of research, we just wandered around the alcoves a bit.
Later in the afternoon, we met up with Lisa and Wyatt at Theodore Roosevelt Island. We were on the search for something a bit off to beaten path, and decided to do a bit of exploring.
I ran upstairs and knocked on the door. It was a little hard to hear, but I made sure the people in the room were ok and no one was hurt. I also told them that water had leaked through the ceiling to our room. All I heard was “Oh my god.”
By the time we made it back to the house, it had gotten quite dark. But it made for this incredibly lovely view.
On arriving at our hotel in Alexandria, Liz and I walked down King Street to a place called Society Fair. Though we got in late (around 9:40), we had a lovely dinner and a few glasses of wine.
Tippi has been kind of clinging on, half browned and half green. We’ve tried to water her when we can, but she’s suffered a lot these past few months in her little pot. We decided that today would be the day we put her in the ground.
While I’m not a big champagne drinker, I wanted to at least start off with a glass. Maybe it’s all the wine docs we’ve been watching lately, but I did make an effort to pay more attention to what I was drinking/tasting.
I don’t know the last time I referenced it, but our wedding website (lizandfelix.com) is still online. We originally used it as a way to provide information to our guests, and it’s now where we store all the photos from the wedding itself. Consider this an official invitation to swing by and take a gander. Lots of fun links in the sidebar, too.
Last night, as Liz was clipping the nails on the rabbits… I got some close-up photos. Look at that mug!
I later realized that everyone else had gone inside Holy Grail Winery (where they had some of the most amazing wine decanters I had ever seen).
We stayed out by the fire for a long while, and didn’t end up going in until right around midnight. Our nap had given us a little more energy, so Liz and I stayed up until around 1AM, eating potato chips and watching cable TV in our little nook. A very lovely end to a very full day.
In all honesty, the H.S. Clay House was just a phenomenal place to stay. Had we done nothing else at all over the course of the weekend, had we not gone to any wineries at all and just stayed at the house? I would have been perfectly content.
My meal, which was a pile of berry cheesecake flapjacks. Which were pretty much what you imagined they would be: “cheesecake in pancake form.” I was happy to not succomb to my normal habit of coming here, and then ordering something heartier like an omelette. The sweet breakfasts are the main pull for the Bongo Room, and I’m glad to have indulged.
In addition to some of the sewing-related purchases she made (buttons, fabrics), she also brought back a lot of chocolate, some cookies, and of course some macarons. This box was all for me, and I have little shame in telling you that I ate them all in one sitting. I do feel a slight bit of shame, when thinking about how quickly I went about eating them though.
Arrival areas are awesome, and that goes double for an international arrival area. So many people and languages, so much happiness.