Wine from the vine

While most of our vacation was spent all together as a family, I did have 2 quick jaunts away from everyone. One day, Ana Maria and I were able to go out on our own (thanks to sweet Mike who took responsibility for all the kiddos) and go for a little hike. We took the same route that we went on with the families but were able to explore a little further. We got to see our deer friends again. We saw them briefly on our hike with the kids, but with the noise that came along with our group, they quickly skedaddled. This time, we got fairly close to them and got to spend a little time observing the herd of 8.

Only a short trip up another hill past where the families made it to, the trail ended at a road. Continuing on just a very short bit, we saw a sign for wine tastings. Obviously, there was no choice but to travel down the road where the sign pointed and see what we could see. It being right at 5 o'clock when we arrived at the winery, we missed our window for wine tastings. But, we got some info on when they would be open and checked out the stables also on sight. We vowed to come back the next day. As we traveled back trying to beat the oncoming darkness, we ran into some folks on horseback. We spoke with Ana Maria's neighbors for a bit who were heading back up to the winery from where we had just come...that's where they stabled their horses. Nice folks. And we got a nice sunset view of the landscape on the return home too.

The next day, we decided we would head back up while the gang was napping. Unfortunately, Cade was not cooperating with the nap effort. After trying to get him down for some time, I decided he was coming with us. We were running out of time to make the tasting again and we were determined not to miss it. And man, it was tough practically running up that long stretch of uphill trail with a squirming almost 2 year old on my back. Despite the cool weather, we were both sweatin' by the time we got there....luckily just in time for some wine sampling!

Cheers!

Cade had a great time drinking water from his wine glass and having a few palate cleansing crackers.

Cute Building Where They Held The Tastings

After our tasting, we went to visit the horses. Cade, not surprisingly, absolutely loved it! He even got to feed one and pet a few. 

We also ran into our new friends that we had met the previous day on the trail. And as a special treat, we got to meet their miniature pony. That lucky little guy resides in their house!

After meeting the mini, we headed back down to the house and had dinner as a group.

Good workout, good wine, horse petting. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours of a vacation afternoon!