Apple Harvest Festival and Staunton

I’ve been driving back and forth between Fredericksburg and Charlottesville to do my restaurant reviews and see friends since I moved. I wish I had photos of every unusual sight I’ve come across–I will never stop appreciating the eccentricities of the city and the mountain landscape –as this autumn has been particularly scenic.

Take, for example, the fact that I saw rainbows on the Wednesday and Thursday following the Tuesday election of Barack Obama. The first was a full 180-degree rainbow over I-95, coming home from a daytrip to Washington. The second was a double rainbow driving north on Rte 20 from Charlottesville, near Orange. I only have phone pictures of this rainbow. I thought, “Blue skies ahead…”

I had something slightly better than the iPhone with which to take pictures on Saturday, November 1. My mom and I went to hear Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” talk at Newcomb Hall on the U.Va. Grounds. Amazing! We then skipped the game and headed south to Vintage Virginia Apples and the CoveGarden Ruritan Club’s 8th Apple Harvest Festival. I covered the event for The Hook–and took a lot of photos.

We then drove west to Staunton, for my second review meal at farm-to-table restaurant Zynodoa. I loved the restaurant… and told everyone about it.

It started out sunny…