Monticello

One of the main reasons we stopped here, of course, was to visit a very famous man's home. Founding Father and our third president, Thomas Jefferson. The more you learn about these people who built so much of the structure our country is based on, the more incredible it is. The brains, the vision, the lifelong commitment to country.

While Jefferson had to be elsewhere in order to fulfill his governmental pioneering days, he much preferred spending his days at his cherished home, Monticello. We could well see why! What a gorgeous piece of heaven he had there.

Beautiful home, views, and garden.

In the garden was his special place of contemplation.

Home sweet home.

A nice place for Bill to participate in a work meeting, eh?! So now you see, we DO use cell phones - at least once in awhile...!

The resting place for Jefferson, his family, and his closest friends (and their family too!).

Jefferson, who may be hailed for so many astounding accomplishments, requested that just his two favorite ones be recalled on his tombstone - authoring the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the University of VA (something he did in his "retirement" - he also did much of the college's architectural design as well!).