Monticello

We spent an amazing Sunday afternoon touring the grounds and mansion at Monticello with my college roommate and her family.  This was by far my favorite day of the trip.  I haven't seen Jen in ten years (almost to the day) - she's never met our girls and we've never met hers.  It was so amazing to spend an afternoon with them, watch our kids together, and then have dinner at their home in Richmond.  It was an afternoon I won't soon forget.

Monticello itself was amazing.  Again, no photos allowed in the home, but Jefferson was a master inventor, a collector of all things new and state of the art, and a prolific reader.  I was enthralled with all of the little trinkets in the home, the art work, the nifty little inventions.  I was sad when our tour of the mansion came to an end.

Jen and her girls. 

The gates of the Monticello graveyard, where Jefferson and several of his family members and friends are buried. 

There were definitely some tombstones that made us chuckle. 

Monticello 

Our tour guide was excellent. 

The detail work on the underside of the house was amazing. 

Standing on the stump of a tree planted by Thomas Jefferson. 

Touching a tree planted by Thomas Jefferson.  President plantings, two days in a row!