I went to a new place this morning, in honor of the fact that there was an actual sunrise...well, mostly. I mean there was never a glowing red ball of the rising sun--because there were some low clouds to the east--but the sky got pink and the high clouds over head lit up and it was pretty. And then there was golden directional (glorious! beautiful!) light and there were shadows and it was wonderful.

Anyway, as I said, to celebrate I went to a local historic mansion, Montpelier Mansion. I've never actually done the tour, so I don't know the history of the place except that it's from the late 1700s and was owned by the Snowden family who were big in this area at that time. Now the mansion is a county park, and a National Historical Site, that has some rooms restored to period decor. They offer tours and you can reserve it for weddings and receptions. They also have a tea room (or at least they used to) and an art center.

At sunrise, nothing's open but the grounds (no surprise) but those really are lovely. They have some magnificent *trees*--there's a glorious old oak I want to sit under forever and I swear those glowing leaves are from a chestnut and there's a row of awesome cedars. I want to go back when I have time and spend a couple of hours just sketching the trees.

Tagged: dslr