An annual early autumn ritual, when the leaves begin to turn their fabulous fall colors and the hiking trails are full of Washingtonians & Virginians. Rather than tackle Old Rag Mountain, as we have each of the past two years, we opted to trek the Stony Man mountain and White Oak Canyon trails, with a lunch break in-between, covering some 7 miles or so of acorn-strewn ground for beautiful valley vistas and forest views.

After all that hiking, we managed to squeeze a foot inside the door of Gadino Cellars Vineyard in Washington, VA, 2 minutes past closing time, and entreated, successfully, upon the wonderful Italian-American proprietor to permit we six weary hikers to partake of a tasting of his very agreeable wines, as you can see from the final batch of photos below.