I apologize for still not finishing my Carnival Pride Review from almost 6 months ago! I promise its still happening, and I’m writting up the Nassau port day right now actually. I definitely want to finish as there were some fun and interesting things that happened the last part of the trip, including the lip sync battle, Cat in the Hat Breakfast, and a Nor’easter we had to dodge.
But for now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled blog reading for a side trip.
Last weekend G and I decided that we wanted to take a short getaway. After working pretty much every weekend since April I was burned out and needed something fun to do. We debated going to the OBX, but since we will be doing a beach trip in a few short days, we ultimately decided to head up to the Charlottesville, VA area instead. After browsing AirBnB and finding things to be expensive, I decided to look into hotels instead. That’s when I found this total gem! Shenandoah Crossing is actually a timeshare property with BlueGreen vacations, but you are able to just rent rooms as well. The resort is in the mountains and offers RV parking, deluxe yurts, cabins, and regular hotel rooms in the lodge. The yurts look pretty cool online and definitely constitute “glamping”. I found a deal on Kayak.com for $84 a night for a queen guest room and quick booked it. Since then I haven’t been able to find any other dates that low, let alone for a weekend.
After booking I had a little buyers remorse. I started looking at the reviews and saw some mentioning the rooms being dirty/musty and very commonly that the lodge rooms were extremely small. I started to worry that we wouldnt have room for B’s pack and play, but figured worst case scenario we could all share the queen bed for two nights and survive
When we arrived to check in, I was impressed with how pretty the lodge is. Its so nice both inside and out! G and B stayed in the car while I checked in and then went to speak to the concierge. They send you to the concierge to get your wristbands and parking pass, but I’m pretty sure they do that so that she can try to talk you into a timeshare presentation haha. I declined and she didn’t push it, which I appreciated. The room was small, but clean and as you can see we had no issue fitting in B’s pack and play. Upon check in they gave me info of all the daily activities going on, a map, and also a special event flyer for extra events that weekend.
We were hungry once we got settled in, so headed over to the general store to get some pizza. They have everything you could want/need at this store too. The flyer for that night said a magician was performing at 7, and at 6:45 while we were waiting for pizza, B and I wandered into the room it was happening in. The magician was there and had a big set up already, but no guests. I felt bad for him and decided we would try to come back and catch it. Well, after we finished our delicious pizza we went back in there and it was packed! B was bored after only a trick or two, but I thought the guy was doing a great job and the kids there were all really into it. So I guess I didnt need to feel bad!
The resort has one indoor and two outdoor pools, a game room, mini golf, playgrounds, and an equestrian center. B really liked the horses and had a blast swimming both nights we were there.
Since our main plan was to go winery hoping, we did that on Saturday morning. B wakes up early, which means we all wake up early and we managed to get to our first winery, Keswick vineyards right as they were opening. Our pourer, Anna, was great and we really enjoyed the tasting room here (pictured above). They were having live music and a food truck later that day and were setting up for that after we left.
Our next stop was Castle Hill Cider, which on the map looks alot further away but was right down the road from Keswick. Again, no one was really there yet since it was early and the girls taking care of us were great. They even gave B some apple juice so he could participate in the tasting. They had some nice ginger and other cider infusions and as it happened we signed up for their cider club. That entitled us to get our tastings for free that day and 20% off the bottle we bought. We’ll be back for the next pickup party in October!
We had a bite to eat after that at Horton Vineyard, which specializes in fruit wines and had a barbecue food vendor there. They also had a little area set up for kids, which was great for B.
We did stop at one more winery that day that put a damper on our good time. I will refrain from mentioning the name in the hopes that the owner/pourer was just having a bad day, but we were really disappointed in how non-child friendly it was. I know what you’re thinking, “its a winery, its for adults” but there is a whole generation of people that enjoy going to have a glass of wine and take their children along when they do so. Thats why so many wineries have outdoor events, festivals and even movie nights. They know it brings in money from those people. So while many wineries will not be child-friendly in the sense that they have a play area or give them an apple juice tasting, the majority will still allow and, dare I say, welcome children there. This place unfortunately was not child friendly in the atmosphere (a drill on the ground for repairs), or the attitude (the owner basically yelling at us when B got off his chair and ran infront of the man), so we left pretty quickly.
Back at the hotel we managed to have an ok evening. G unfortunately wasn’t feeling well after we ate dinner at the tavern, so I took B down to the pool for a bit of swimming and then to the campfire to hear the stories and toast s’mores. Huge shout out to the mom who was way more prepared than me and shared her wipes after B made a mess of his s’more. We had fun with it though and called it an early night after all our excitement and fun of the day
The next morning B surprisingly didn’t want to go to the pool! So after a painless checkout, we stopped to the playground for a bit, said bye to the horses and began our trip home.
But of course we had to stop at a winery or two on the way back as well! I had wanted to try Gabriele Rausse winery after reading a recommendation as they do a food pairing with their wines. You can opt out of that, but I love food so of course we got there right as they were opening.
I honestly couldnt tell you much about the wines (though I did buy a red), but the food was great! We were given fresh sourdough with olive oil, caprese salad, risotto, and blueberry semifreddo which B really enojoyed too. I had never had semifreddo before, but its almost like frozen cool whip. One thing that really amused me about this place is that they dont have their own tasting glasses and instead use other local wineries that they have collected or people brought in. Saves money I’m sure!
We made two more stops that day. Cunningham creek was a gorgeous place with a really clean, crisp tasting room. The pourer there was really friendly and we sat outside for a bit and let B play before we carried on. Our last stop was Byrd Cellars which was small, but great! They had some good apple wine and an upstairs loft with kids toys. B played up there with anOther little girl while we did our tasting. We joined him when we finished, sharing a large cheese and cracker plate that was only about $5
All in all it was a really good weekend. We loved the hotel and (most) of the wineries we checked out. We’re hoping to go back this fall for our cider pick up and to revisit some of our faves.
Check back soon for the rest of the Carnival Pride review, plus another universal and Disney trip is coming up in September!
Tales From the Crib 