Virginia Road Trip Day 1: Dreamy Wineries

Hey there, pretty!

In case you hadn’t heard, I am back in Virginia, visiting my boyfriend for 4th of July! As a matter of fact, I’ll be here for a full week (July 4 through the 11th), since I am also meeting with a local University regarding joining their cybersecurity program.

And while being in Norfolk is in itself a vacation for me, the boyfriend decided to spoil me by also planning a mini Virginia road trip for us over the weekend! Our road trip started with some wine tasting in Northern Virginia and then skipped on over to Washington, DC.

So today I wanted to share this road trip experience with you, in case you’re ever in the area looking to plan some local trips 🙂

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And we’re off on our Virginia road trip!

We left the apartment in the beautiful Freemason district of Norfolk at about 8am and caught minimal traffic on our way up to Quievremont Winery in Northern Virginia. The sky was bright blue and the climate was warm, almost encouraging us on this lovely adventure. Despite skipping out on breakfast and coffee to beat the traffic, we both set off in high spirits.

We stopped in Richmond to pick up his suit from the tailor and took advantage of the pitstop to grab some breakfast and coffee.

Navigation gave us two options for this trek:

Taking the highway and making it in 3:40 minutes
Taking the scenic route and making it in 4:10 minutes

Since we would have been sitting in some traffic on the highway anyway, we opted for the more scenic route for our Virginia road trip – and I am so grateful that we did!

Cattle grazing by the road and farms like this one speckled our drive, making it all the more enjoyable to look out the window.

The roads seemed never-ending but that just made them all the more beautiful. The lush, green vegetation and humidity reminded me of Miami, and the forested winding roads were reminiscent of Lake Arrowhead, though the rugged exposed brick architecture and cobblestone streets can only be compared to Boston and Philadelphia in the Northeast.

Virginia Wineries

Our first stop was Quievremont Winery, and as much as I enjoyed their Chardonnay, I enjoyed the view – and the company – even more. I could have sat on their balcony looking out over their vineyard for hours.

We had about half an hour of driving to do between vineyards, so I was glad that my boyfriend was forward-thinking and scheduled our cellar tasting at Linden with plenty of wiggle room to linger at Quievremont.

But soon enough, we were on the road again – on to Linden!

Linden Vineyards did not have as nice of a view but the architecture and the wine included in the cellar tasting were to die for.

I learned so much about wine on this first day of our Virginia road trip. Of course, I learned about what characteristics to look for in a wine, that much is a given. But I also learned about the environmental conditions that impact what type of wine gets made from a particular harvest and what that means for winemakers in different regions, such as those in Virginia versus Northern California.

Washington, DC

After Linden, we were already fairly tired from the long day, so we started making our way over to Washington, DC for the next leg of our trip. The roads were smooth, though – as one might expect – we did hit a bit of traffic entering town.

We pulled up to our friend Tom’s beautiful new house and I was completely shocked at how close the residential areas get to the Capital building. My first impression of Washington, DC was how absolutely breathtaking it is – but check back in for more on DC on the second half of our Virginia road trip!

TL;DR

I had already visited Norfolk back in May and loved its quaint and cozy small-town feel, but getting to see some more of Virginia was a really special opportunity. With the mix of Boston’s beautiful architecture and the charm typical of the Southern states, I couldn’t help but fall in love throughout our little Virginia road trip.

Have you been to Virginia? What do you recommend I go see on my next trip here? Let me know in the comments below!