Our first stop was the Chateau St. Michelle, the largest winery in the area and the only one that offered regular tours. While Woodinville has lots to offer as far as wine tastings, most of the wineries in that area are primarily the processing and the administrative functions - the grapes are grown in different areas in eastern Washington, like the Yakima Valley, which we had driven past days before. Anyway... basically we spent the afternoon drinking a lot of different wines, which I have to say, is a great way to spend a child-free day. I really appreciated the fact that none of the "bartenders" (I'm sure there's an official title for the people who pour you the wine, but I have no idea what it might be) were the least bit snobby about the wine and the tasting process. I even learned not to be snooty about pink wine... which is pretty much the only wine I might turn my nose up at. But we tasted a rose' we both liked!
As you may have noticed, I forgot to lug my camera along for this portion of our vacation. I really missed it at the Chateau St. Michelle - the grounds were beautiful. But otherwise, most of you have seen what we look like drinking wine - so you can create the mental picture on your own. However, I did pull out my phone when we were at the Red Hook Brewery - this is what we look like after an afternoon of tasting wine and then switching to many of the beers Red Hook has to offer...
I would highly recommend the brewery tour - perhaps the best value for a $1 I've ever experienced! We also had a great dinner on the patio at a little place called the Purple Cafe - a great ending to our day.
Saturday morning we slept in and enjoyed the breakfast in the hotel, and then headed back to Mick's house to meet up with everyone. Scott, Alan, Mick, and Mick's girlfriend Lauren headed to Safeco for the afternoon Twins/Mariners game (the other reason our vacation was timed as it was). Zach and I got the spend the rest of the day with our friends, and Teri and her sister Shonny headed to the mall. Perhaps the perfect day for everyone!
I hadn't seen Heidi and Jon since their wedding almost three years ago, and had never met their daughter Lucia, who is already turning one this month!!! So I was delighted they were able to spare a weekend day to just hang out with us. We had a yummy lunch, watched the kids play, had some good girls-only conversation while the kids napped, and then went to an awesome local park (there are scooters, trikes, and other kiddie ride-on thingees that stay at the park - anyone can use them. How cool is that???). I love the picture of Lucia, below at right - she was reacting to her dad talking to her through the pipes!
After the game, Scott met up with us, and we went back to Heidi and Jon's house for some yummy Thai take-out. We then tried for a photo session with the kids... something I think we should have tried earlier in the day. It started out like this:
And turned into this...
On Sunday, the last full day of our vacation, I tagged along to the Twins/Mariners game. We had great seats, but once again I didn't feel like lugging my camera along (we have enough pictures of the Twins). So here's another camera photo!
While we were at the game, Teri took Zach over to her sister and niece's houses, where he got to play with Scott's cousin's daughter (got that?) all afternoon and evening. We went over for a delicious dinner after the game, and it was fantastic - Miranda (age 12) kept Zach entertained the entire time! She invented game after game, using footballs and rings, squirt guns, and even a real gecko - and he was absolutely enthralled. I don't think we've ever had such an enjoyable dinner with Zach in the vicinity. I'm telling you, we really need to adopt an older child!!!
I think that's it for our vacation. We were very happy to get home and sleep in our own beds for a change, although Zach and I didn't sit still for long...
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1 comment:
What a great way to start the summer! You packed soo much fun in a week - which even included "down time." I am impressed!
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