The Traveling Vineyard -

So.....our friend - aka Kara "Feagans" Fisher became a Traveling Vineyard consultant.  And, along with that we wanted to support her.  And along with that comes a Friday evening party, ha!  In November, January 8th seemed soooooooo far away.  Ha - it was the weekend after the New Year =)

But, it worked out just fine.  Kara sent me an e:mail with the food suggestions for pairing.  No obligation but suggestions.  It was fun deciding what to fix for each.  I chose two for each =)  One food item and one dessert item.  Scallops, Shrimp, Crab Dip -

After I planned the menu -  and we prepared - including cleaning the house =)  Cierra helped with the strawberries -

I made banana bread, brownies, and tons of other stuff -

And the evening came - Kara arrived -  and we were getting ready -

Love her =)

It was such a fun night.  It started with a Skittle in the glass -

I won't spoil the fun for anyone that hasn't experienced this but it was fun =)

Then we fixed our plate and tasted/paired.  AWESOME.  kara did a great job including the group, educating us on the wine and how to actually taste.  We have participating in many (too many) tastings but none quite like this.  My cheeks hurt by the end of the night.  But we got some free wine and discounts.....AWESOME.

And then within 3 days - our wine arrived.  Such fun sorting!

Now this is a job that I could do!!  Who wouldn't love to meet great people, sip some wine and share knowledge about something that is so very popular in our region.  Here's just a peek at the options we have...

So if you haven't yet experienced a Traveling Vineyard party, GO!  if you are thinking about having one, DO IT.  And better yet, reach out to KARA  She will fix you right up!

  

WARNING.....

This is yet another post about a winery (actually TWO wineries), ha!  Yes, we are that population that 'goes to wineries' and get bad rap BUT....we do have friends and acquaintances that like our reviews on wineries we visit so I chose to opt out of the negative nellies and post for the positive patties LOL

So one Sunday afternoon a month or so ago we decided to search for a new winery - living so close to Virginia, that's a pretty easy task.  And sure enough I found this one -

It was up in the woods, just a little =) and the road was a little steep...

But we made it!

And once inside could clearly see it was a combination of art and wine -

The owners are husband and wife.  They designed the entire building and grounds.  She is an artist.  Beautiful!

And the wines - didn't disappoint either.  Seems as if they have that 'art' down pat, too.

We definitely agreed Arterra was a 'good find' and one we will visit again.  It is located in Delaplane just off 17 (yes, the road you have to go 45 mph or else).  There are several in that area so make a day of it!

Just a few miles away is one that we have visited once and loved everything about it.  The view -

The wine -

The two sisters that kept things cleaned up (and the owners were super friendly too)

A lovely building to hang out when it's too hot or too cold -

The music -

Even Jill -  She's a beauty.

I think one of the requirements for a winery is that it has to have a perfect spot to see the sunset.  Ah ha!

We even finished up having dinner at one of our favorite locals -

That about covers our day last month.  Fun times.  Good people.  Good food.  Yep - two great wineries.

Friends vs. Acquaintances ?

Ronnie and I have met a lot of people over the past several years as we have visited wineries in the Virginia and Maryland circuits.  Some we have become friends with and some simply acquaintances. in both scenarios, fun is always to be had.  

On Saturday evening we were to attend the Doukenie Fall Concert.  Unfortunately the rain caused an issue which resulted in the 'concert' being cancelled.  Maria still wanted us to all come over so they stayed open until 9.  

We enjoyed the music of these two -

while tasting the newest release....Zeus.

Debra is very talented -

And it was great talking with them.  We laughed.  We attempted to get them 8 more 'likes' on Facebook.  We talked about where we live, what we do and what's on our agendas next.  These two are actually going to live solely in Nashville in the next few weeks.  

We talked about what it's like there and agreed that we need to visit.  REAL soon =)  So we can now say we have 'acquaintances' in Nashville.  The Hummingbyrds!  And we knew them way back when =)

And we're OFF!

We left yesterday morning shortly after 7, heading for Ocean City.  We LOVE, love this place, with both of us raised knowing that just 'was' the summer vacation spot.

We were trying to beat traffic.  But oh my....it was heavy -

Luckily once we got to the toll plaza our lane was open =)

And there's just something about crossing over to the Eastern Shore.

Traffic remained really heavy so we decided to stop at our fav pizza place in Salisbury -

Perfect!  Thin crust, yummy sauce and cheese with pepperoni and sweet peppers.

One of the 'four on the shore' wineries is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday so we wanted to stop by and see Kathryn - she is so fun to chat with.

Then off to our final destination -

We made it to the check-in location just a little early, hehe so had some time to kill.  Well, we might as well hit the other winery -  let's get these two annual stops out of the way.

And this pretty bottle with the 4 arrow heads has a story....a few years ago Ronnie and the owner Adrian sat at one of the tables in the winery enjoying a bottle and talked for a few hours about the name for a blend.  Adrian told the story of these arrow heads and a man that lived/worked on the farm (which used to be grapes for Welch's).  Ronnie thought about it for a little bit and then threw out "Four Winds".  Well lookie here.....it worked!  And now we have our own special bottle.

Then it was time to check-in.

Ah!  Finally -

This place is beautiful -

With quaint little touches and a perfect view!

All checked-in, settled, but the cupboards are bare.  Time for the dreaded chore....Walmart.  U.G.H.

Two hours later we make it back to the condo and a get our 'buggy' to fill up.

This is the view from the front side of our condo.  Beautiful sunset right over Seacrets.

We chilled out on the balcony for a while, trying to figure out where we wanted to eat.  And on the way out, we caught the moon.  Beautiful.

Dinner here -

No complaints about the scallops, or stuffed shrimp along with the extras -

At 5:44 this morning the sky was 'orange' -

Sunrise @ 6:03

So I would say our first day was pretty darn good.  Sunrise at home, sunset on the bay, moon on the ocean and sunrise this morning.  We are very blessed.