Christmas Vacation part 2

The day after Christmas, Mom and I decided to head on down I-95 to Richmond. She was dying to visit the Museum of the Confederacy after reading an interesting book about Jefferson Davis. When we pulled into the city, I realized that I had seen the museum before... when I was a visitor at the VCU Medical Center.

Turns out the The White House of the Confederacy (not literally) is surrounded by a hospital campus. Nevertheless, we walked around the 3 floors of the museum and then took a tour of the house. One of the most memorable pieces in the museum was a painting of Davis by an intriguing artist named Julio. Mom's favorite piece in the house was Davis' desk where Lincoln may have sat. Our tour guide danced around the subject and would not confirm that fact. Mom had the final revenge by reaching over and touching it. Our tour guide was a total nerd history major!

On Tuesday, we had another adventure at Oatlands Historic House & Gardens. I treated Mom and Jeila to tea time as part of their Christmas present. The tea was held in the carriage house. It was a pretty building with a lot of tables - kinda like a church lady convention. But that was just the atmosphere we wanted, lol!

Giftshop lady photobomb!

Now, I know why she took that photo over again... We were served their signature calendula tea which was black tea with marigolds. Our hostess kept visiting our table and filling our teacups. We also munched on a tower of treats:   

Then it was time to tour the mansion! Sorry, no photos allowed. Definitely a place worth visiting. Unfortunately, we couldn't walk around the gardens too much because it was raining. (We did try!)

Feeling Frenchy: Wine & Chocolate Please!

Following our drive last Saturday morning, we arrived in St. Genevieve, MO. We had some time to kill before our 2 o'clock check-in at the B&B so we made our first stop at the visitor's center. They had a nice display of some of the history and attractions in the area. We picked up a map and realized that the Ste. Genevieve Museum would be a good place to start.

Ste. Genevieve Museum

The building itself was a historic landmark, built in 1935 for the town's bicentennial. Admission was $2/person. It reminded Brandon and me of the Corry Museum, due to items relating to local industry and arts & crafts like a "crazy quilt" from a church.

Our next stop was the Sainte Genevieve Winery. When we walked in we were stuck behind a tour bus of divas on the Route du Vin. When we finally got up to the tasting counter we tried a bunch of delicious fruit wines. I was a fan of almost all of them. Our tasting was free, score! We also got a stamp on our Missouri Wines passport. With just 4 visits to different wineries you earn a bar towel (and with 40 visits... food and wine pairing for 10). Illinois definitely needs a rewards program like this.

Ste. Genevieve Winery

From there we walked over to Sweet Things, a candy and gift shop. Brandon and I picked out some decadent truffles and tasted them outside.

Truffles from Sweet Things

And then it was time to check into our room! To be continued....