blue ridge wine tour

we spent this past weekend living large in the mountains of virginia. we joined forces with the dicamillos and the wengers for a few days of beer, monopoly, long windy drives, gorgeous views, cigars, and hanging out. we learned that joel's dream career is "international man of mystery" and that most of us did not play sports in high school - brian made up for all of us by playing three. one big bag of coffee, two cases of sam, and three pounds of salmon later, we didn't do our immune systems any favors, and i think half of showed our age and came down with something immediately upon returning home. but here are some shots.

the view from our cabin

seriously bad ass

heading out for the first day of the tour

yummy cider

mead


after the first day of tasting


and then there was monopoly


"i'll give you all my property for a dollar"
(never have there been more serious fighting words)


amrhein winery on day two - all around favorite with
a band, great food, awesome wine


cute dog at amrhein

the carters


shooting creek brewery - no beer, but delicious ginger beer



bocce at villa appalacchia winery

there are more shots for your viewing pleasure on my shutterfly page

local news, etc.

i hate it.

so why do i continue to watch it? they talk about shit like "triad clash of the choirs," and feature jackasses who sing "amazing grace" instead of giving an actual interview. they SHOW the police video that got the guy arrested for animal abuse. they give props to wal-mart for "getting back to their roots" by slashing prices even further. they give an inordinate amount of air-time to the weather woman, who is lame with lame hair. (and the infamous "double doppler" is seriously not all it's cracked up to be.) i don't care that lottery ticket sales are up, and, yes, i know, the housing market sucks.

here are some important and pressing questions for you, local news:

why did my dog poop FOUR times today on our walk?

why can't they make pants the right length for my legs? (i'm 5'4'', this is not rocket science.)

how can a person go into target to buy tissues, and leave with $25 worth of stuff? (the car-ride-home speech-prep goes something like this: "can you believe this frame was only $3.74? and these socks were $2!!")

why is it so difficult to coordinate 10 people's schedules for a first-quarter novemberfest training session?

should i have had two glasses of wine before 5pm?

do i have to go to church choir tonight?


back at 11 with answers.