Wine Tasting!

Leisurely morning. Someone left enough quarters in the shower for a solid 9 minutes of free, warm, luscious, prepaid, cleansing, elixir of rejuvenation. Free showers may just be one of the best road trip experiences ever. Showers in general are nice, but as soon as you have to pay, the shower comes under closer scrutiny. Was it quite as warm as you were hoping? Pressure okay? did it mist a little too much, when you were looking for a more steady stream? floor looked bleached regularly, or just cleaned habitually? These things can temper your shower, and turn it from a joyous morning experience into a mediocre purchase decision. Now ... the free shower can be cold, shoot more water out across the wall than at you, have only one hook to hang up your clothes, and be about the size of a small closet - but it was free - so it becomes a refreshing and character building experience!

made our first real campground breakfast. wait. only campground breakfast. because we're usually up by 6/6:30 and packing the tents to start the day's trek, and who really wants to cook when you're not actually ready to be awake in the first place? Hence, a couple of hours into the drive, when everyone is passable awake, is when we usually eat breakfast ... which for most people would be a normal hour anyway ...

Breakfast - pound of bacon, dozen eggs, quarter loaf of bread, cheddar cheese, home fries, tomatoes, and fresh fruit. Hey - we have a day of Wine Tasting ahead! Commentary on the fresh fruit, while it's up for discussion: California farmstand fruit = salubrious. Think of this: the best fruit that you get from a supermarket (excepting local) has been picked easily 1-2 weeks before it even gets to the supermarket. It is processed, counted, shipped, unloaded, put in storage, put out on display, and hopefully doesn't sit there too many days before you get to it. All oranges are picked green, to prevent bruising when shipped, and sprayed with chemicals that make the outside look orange. true story. The only fruit that actually matures in taste and sugar content after being picked is the banana ... all others slowly rot until they have the texture we associate with ripeness. A ripe Nectarine ... actually not soft at all ... it should have the texture more of an apple than a peach. Fully ripe grapefruit is like eating an orange ... sweet, tender, and juicy. And since everything was only $.99 a pound (!!!!!!) we got two bags of fruit that would blow your mind. or mouth. blow your mouth. strange visual image.

after feasting - we headed in to the land of grapes.

Beginning at 12:30, wine tasting was undertaken.

Donatti.
Zin Alley.
Rotta.
Grey Wolf.
Eagle Castle.
Hunt Cellars.
Dark Star.
Midnight Cellars
Brian Benson.
Castoro Cellars.

Ending at 5:30. you do the math.

average number of wines tasted per site 6-10.
average pour 2 oz.
Food consumed during tasting hours - several stale crackers, shot glass full of small chocolates, mini pretzels.
Liquid consumed - ummm ... wine. don't want to mess up your palate with water or other flavors. duh.
Number of bottles purchased total - 9.
number distinctly remembered - 7.
number of bottles purchased for Erin, for being our DD - 4.
wine glasses collected ... 13.

Dinner - Lombardi's Italian. Wonderful. I even saved some till the next day, just to make sure that I hadn't been unusually biased by lack of food and wine. yep. It was sure good. Get whatever special they have, or whatever says Lombardi on it. It will be scrumptious.

Then, after a mildly frantic drive to find somewhere to scavenge electricity (car power converter pooped out), John and I ended up charging our computers in a random bar, in order to have enough juice to upload his essay and for me to send in his Rec letter!

night at the beach again. glorious.