Brandywine River Hotel

Wow. We just spent the four days before Thanksgiving at the aforementioned Brandywine River Hotel in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, for a belated anniversary trip. It was a gorgeous hotel in a beautiful area. We had a King Jacuzzi Suite and even had a real fireplace! We had to use Duraflame logs, but hey, it wasn't gas.

We went the Brandywine River Museum, which showcases the art of N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. We had a special treat at the museum - a tour by Andrew's only grandchild, Victoria Wyeth! She does occasional tours there, and we lucked out that she was doing one the afternoon we were at the museum. It was really neat. She will sit down with her grandfather and he will say to her, "Ok. What painting do you want to talk about?" Then he will tell her all about what it means, what he was thinking, how he did it, everything.

We also went to Winterthur, which is an estate formerly owned by Henry Francis du Pont, who amassed one of the largest collections of Americana, more specifically furniture. When he had gotten his hands on pretty much every type of furniture made in America at the time, he began buying furniture made in other countries to be sold in America. In 1951, the house became a museum and the family moved into the "cottage" where they now run a store. They had the entire building decorated for the holidays (a bit early for me - bah humbug) and it was beautiful. Oh, they had a visiting exibit of costumes from period movies. Very cool.

Last, but definitely not least, we went to Chaddsford Winery, where I got to taste pretty much their whole range of their wines! I think my favorite was the '05 Pinot Noir, which I took to Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's. Actually, I think my real favorite was the '02 Merican, but that was $40/bottle, so I didn't get any of that...

Guess that's all for now. I'll try to see if I can figure out how to post some pics of everything. Oh, and Happy Birthday to Rob!