Autumn in Shenandoah

This is my third autumn on the East Coast, and I still believe that October makes this place a very beautiful place to live (in much the same way that August in Seattle erases all memories of the other 11 chilly and soggy months along the Puget Sound).  Every October in DC demands a trip out of the city to appreciate the fall display put on by the rolling Virginia Mountains. Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge hills are lovely all year round, but they shine in the bright oranges, golds, reds, and yellows of the current season.

This past weekend was peak leaf time, meaning that the colors were out but the leaves hadn't fallen yet.   I had the privilege of riding down there in a convertible Saab with excellent company, a most civilized way to see the Virginia countryside. But first we made a much anticipated visit to Virginia's only Whiskey Distillery - Copper Fox in Sperryville. We happened upon the distillery during a prior Shenandoah trip but sadly found it closed. This time we planned ahead and made it there during tour hours. It was amazing!  I'm barely a whiskey neophyte, but I know enough to appreciate an artful process, and the making of this whiskey truly was art. The barley is sourced locally, they are the only distillery in the U.S. that malts their own grain, and they have a sauna-like room for smoking the barley. And the actually distillation is quite the chemistry experiment. Then comes the aging and eventually you have a bottle of a very fine scottish-style whiskey (for short picture version of process, see below). Copper Fox is unable to sample their wares on site, but fortunately they are widely available in the DC region.

Grains malting, meaning spending 5 days on the floor sprouting a little. 

After malting, some time in a smokey hotbox,  and a few days in an open vat, the now grain mash goes into this boiler. 

And this point I got a little confused (it's a complicated process), but from the boiler, the liquid that comes off the top goes through this still and then the product (which is very alcoholic) goes through this barrel and is ready to be put into barrels (for whiskey) or into bottles (for strong spirit). 

The whiskey goes into former bourbon barrels, where it hangs out for about a year and looses about 1/3 of it's volume. 

After Copper Fox, we headed up the mountain and onto Skyline Drive. Unfortunately my phone was on it's last little bit of battery, so I didn't get as many photos of the foliage and beautiful sunset as I would have liked, but trust me, it was great. 

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into October

Wow, coming onto the halfway point in October and I'm a little sad at how fast my favorite season of the year is going by! I love, love, love the fall, with it's crispy sunny days and cool nights. No more humidity and no more sweating. I love warm sweaters and boots. So I guess it's good that I'm going to Norway and not Jamaica. I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of my closet full of coats of different thicknesses and sweaters of every color. I was so excited about fall that when the weather was still in the 80s back in September I went to the local thrift shop and bought 5 sweaters (included 3 cashmere) for $50. Score!

Another thing that has come and gone is my birthday. I'm not longer 30. Sigh. But it was an amazing birthday weekend that spoiled me beyond belief. I was surprised on a beautiful autumn morning with a birthday horseback trail ride! It turns out that Rock Creek Park was originally created by Congress as a place for the rich to ride their horses, and this tradition continues at the Rock Creek Horse Center with lessons and trail rides. Had I known this earlier I might have signed up for English riding lessons :-).

After the ride and a relaxing wine and cheese picnic, we traveled down to Old Town Alexandria to have dinner and see the sights. Old Town is a colonial town that is now populated by shops and restaurants with plenty of tourists wandering about on Saturday night. The quiet evening was briefly interrupted by being witnesses to a purse-snatching. I felt really bad for the 10-year old girl who had her panda purse stolen by a pack of wayward teens (seriously, who does that??).

Afterwards, instead of trekking back into DC on the metro, we decided to travel back in style via the water taxi that runs between Alexandria and Georgetown. Seeing the monuments at night from the water was gorgeous, and we were practically alone on the boat. Overall an amazing day and evening spent checking things off my DC to-do list (horseback riding, Alexandria, and river boat were all on there). It was exactly what I needed for a low-key birthday to welcome the 30s.

Lincoln and Washington Monuments from the Potomac

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Hillwood Estates

A moving picture of the French Gardens (created using cinemagr.am)

Yesterday was Museum Day across the country, meaning free admission at thousands of museums.  In DC we are very fortunate to have dozens of free museums through the Smithsonian Institution, the National Galleries, and other amazing spots.  But there are a few really great places that are private and thus cost a steep $15-$20 for entry. Knowing that it is pretty unlikely that I will willingly shell out several beers worth of money to see a museum with so many free options at hand, I took yesterday as an opportunity to see one of these costlier (by comparison to nothing) museums.

The Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Garden is the former private residence of Marjorie Merriweather Post and is now a beautifully archived collection of art and Russian artifacts spread throughout a her mansion and surrounded by amazing gardens.  Mrs. Post was the heiress to the Post cereal fortune and during her life collected art and decorative pieces, eventually deciding that her collection was best suited for public consumption. She meant her home to be a living museum, and indeed it was breathtaking.  Every nook and cranny was filled with intricately carved furniture, tiny porcelain collectables, and priceless jewels.  After a short stay in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, she  amassed a huge collection of Russian treasures (saving them from destruction during the tumultuous revolutionary period there). 

While I used the excuse of free admission to pay Hillwood a visit, it is entirely worth the $15 admission fee.  Visitors are invited to picnic on the vast grounds and you could spend hours wandering through the house and the gardens.  Mrs. Post had extravagant taste, but you can tell that the place was really a home, with personality. I loved it, and am now a little sad that I waited until now to check it out.

c. 1830 vase in cased glass from Russian Imperial Glassworks

Breakfast room with bronze place setting.

Red roses from the cutting garden. 

Pet Cemetery at Hillwood.

A "paper" dress from the Pret-a-papier exhibition of French artist Isabelle de Borchgrave. 

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Alt for Norge

Three weeks into language training and my brain is starting to feel the burn. And even though I had the good fortune of a head start given my previous study of Norwegian, the pace we go is quite brisk. That being said, I'm still loving it and have no complaints about being a full-time student.

One great side effect of being immersed in all things Norwegian is that I've connected more with at least one small part of my ancestral heritage.  Like most Americans, my great grandparents came from all over the world to seek a new life here in the USA and I enjoy affiliating with the "old world" part of my heritage. Growing up, Norway was the dominate culture I was exposed to, though I'm also made up of Swedish, Dutch, German, and Polish. Maybe it was growing up in the Lutheran church, but my Norwegian roots always seemed the most exciting.

So when I discovered that there was a Norwegian Reality TV show based on the premise of Americans of Norwegian heritage returning to Norway to prove their "Norwegianness", I knew that I had to see this show. My teacher told us that this show, Alt for Norge (meaning "Everything for Norway"), is very popular and is now on it's third season, but sadly it cannot be found on TV in the U.S.  However, industrious youtube users have taken the time to put Season 1 up in 15 minute segments, all of which can be found here. Some highlights of the show include competing like high school graduates in "russ" and rowing a viking boat in an absolutely gorgeous fjord. I can totally relate to the contestants, who may be 1/16 Norwegian, but are drawn to their Viking roots and want nothing more than to win the show so they can meet their Norwegian family (yes, that's the prize).

Below is the "Russ" Episode of Alt for Norge, since I can't even begin to explain the silly tradition. If the embed doesn't show, the link is here - http://youtu.be/F8h55ANleFY.

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