Benji had an all day marching band competition last Saturday, and Kevin and I were slated to go to Judge Wilkinson's 40th anniversary/80th birthday/clerks' reunion lunch at Merrie Hill winery. Due to heavy rains causing schedules shifts, we ended up being able to attend the clerks' reception at the Law School the night before, and had already caught up with most of the folks we'd hope to see. We stopped by the reunion tent briefly, but decided to do our own thing at the winery and ordered lunch and a flight of wines on the patio outside the tasting room:
After lunch, we decided to hike and made our way to Humback Rocks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That trailhead is usually mobbed, but because of the rains it was far emptier than usual (which, as it turns out, was because the hike in the mud and streaming water was quite treacherous). It took us 40 minutes to make the steep (750 foot elevation gain) mile to the top, but it was worth it for the view. It did take us an equally long time to get down:
On the drive home, we spotted the sun goign down over the blue ridge, so we pulled over at a senic viewpoint to take it in (and try to capture a photo, which did not do it justice):
