My dear friend, colleague and fellow blogger Mistie came to Charlottesville.

I’ve been wanting to get her here since Day One and Mistie, with her love of history, was pretty interested in coming to Charlottesville, too.

We had a day and a half to work together on a project for our client (and our favorite airport). I picked her up at CHO on Thursday afternoon and she flew out again before dawn Saturday morning.

So late on Friday, I turned to Mistie and said, “How would you like to visit James Madison’s Montpelier?” She wouldn’t admit it, but I think there was a bit of a High School Musical-style squeal in her answer. Off we went (the historic spot is a mere 20 minutes from my home) and made it just in time for the next tour. The photo is of Mistie standing on Montpelier’s terrace, with the Blue Ridge in the background.

Of course, as we took our tour, our wheels were turning with all the ways we’d like to drive visitors to Montpelier, an attraction that gets just a third of the visitors that Monticello sees annually. We’d love to do the work, and we make a heck of a team.

I get so completely fired up when one of my team members visits (five of the 25 from St. Louis have visited me in C’ville so far). We are a force of nature and get some amazing work done in a short amount of time.

Mistie — it was so great to have you here. There’s no shortage of historic spots so we’ll squeeze a new one in every time you fly in.