Hello and happy Monday!
I hope all of the mamas out there had fabulous days being celebrated and spending time with their loved ones this weekend.
Yesterday was a great day. First of all the weather was picture-perfect – blue clear skies and 80-degrees – and very welcome in the DMV-area as we had been experiencing several consecutive rainy and cold days last week,
My morning started out with this sweat treat on our dining room table!
Which was soon followed by the best “tubby time” with my Little Princess since we didn’t get to her regularly-scheduled bath time last night.
These two things would have been enough to warm my heart, but we had another fun destination on the agenda for the big day – a day trip to Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA! This winery has two locations, one in Clifton, and the other in Santa Barbara. The winery describes itself as the “Gateway to Virginia Wine Country” and it’s absolutely true. It’s not all that far from Alexandria/D.C. – maybe 40 minutes tops. In fact, it is the closest Virginia winery to D.C. We had learned about Paradise Springs from a friend of Ava’s from her Busy Bee music class!
Tommy, my mom, Ava, and I pulled up to the winery around 12:45pm or so. Side note: I swear I saw on the website that dogs weren’t allowed here, but we saw SO MANY DOGS here. I’ll have to remember that!
Clearly, we weren’t the only ones to think of enjoying the beautiful day outside, sipping wine!
Paradise Springs sits on 36 acres of land and its name comes directly from the history books of Clifton, Virginia. Its origin was that of mineral springs on the west side of town. Clifton was considered a resort destination by many in Washington. It is said that past Presidents and Generals visited the town for its healing waters.
While we’ve been to bigger wineries, we really liked Paradise Springs because it wasn’t so overwhelming and it was easy to navigate being first-time visitors here. And not going to lie, the proximity to our house is really nice!
We found an open spot on the lawn and immediately started setting up shop with blankets, Ava’s lawn chair and other toys, and a picnic of grapes, cheeses, crackers, and a selection of meats to munch on. Oh, and of course wine!
I bought a bottle of their Viognier for us to enjoy.
Self-described: Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, this Viognier has a citrus nose accentuated with apricot on the front palate. It has good body with a balanced acid structure and finishes with essence of melon.
We enjoyed our time eating, drinking, meeting new friends (the adults and Ava!) and just soaking up the rays. It did get a bit too hot for mom and Tommy at times, so they found reprieve indoors throughout the afternoon. Ava and I stuck it out in the sun!
If you walked through these doors you’d enter the main tasting room and seating area. (There was also an outside tasting bar to the left).
I didn’t have a chance to indulge in the Mimosa & Pastry Bar myself, but I thought it was a sweet Mother’s Day addition the winery offered.
As we were leaving the winery in the late-afternoon, we all remarked how we would absolutely come back to Paradise Springs – namely to do a tasting (we didn’t do one on this trip) and walk around the property more. This time we just wanted to play everything by ear and enjoy each other’s company – whether it be relaxing for a bit, blowing bubbles, playing ball with other kids, or joining in on a nearby lawn games!
Mission Accomplished!
QUESTION:
What did ya’ll do on Mother’s Day?
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