While I fully understand that going to Monticello is one of the more cliched and tourist-laden things that you can do in Albemarle County, One: There is good reason for this, and Two: I don’t care what you think, it’s beautiful up there, even on an overcast day like today. Ok, now that that’s out of the way…

We visited Monticello today under the auspices of my mother, who happens to work there, and, as a result, we were able to drive up to the top of the mountain instead of having to park at the bottom and either walk or take a shuttle like the rest of the tour-bussed masses. For those of you who’ve never experienced Monticello first-hand, you might recognize the picture below from the back of a nickle.

We didn’t actually go into the house itself today, as we were on a mission to see the fleeting Springtime beauty there, and not explore the house that would always be accessible. The first thing we checked out were the vegetable gardens, where any number of lettuces, herbs, radishes, greens and the like were just starting to take shape. Here’s a long shot view of some of the gardens.

While most of the crops were just starting to come out of the ground, there were a few exceptions like the oregano below.

At one end of the garden, there was a pathway that took you a bit further down the mountain towards the grave of Thomas Jefferson, and the backdrop of the mountain against the tree-lined path was quite beautiful in person, and only slightly less so in a picture:

After the vegetable gardens, we went up the hill to see the main attraction of the day: the various tulip gardens strewn about the grounds, and in particular, the pathway around the west entryway of the house. According to the Manager of the garden store there, there were between 6,000 and 6,500 tulips in the gardens, and that they’d only be around for about another week, so I was glad my mom was insistent upon us going up there today. Here’s a shot of the pathway near the house with the tulips.

And here’s a close up of one of the more dynamic tulips there:

Alas, the baby started getting fussy, and we had to start heading back, but not before I was able to take a picture of this rather funky tree just near the smoke house, kitchen and brewery.

They’ve got quite a spread up there at Monticello, and I was very glad to have visited there today. Hope you enjoy it as well. Also, I took 60 more pictures of today’s journey that aren’t posted here, which you can see at my flickr site.