Wine Weekend

This past weekend, we ditched our child for the 2nd of the 3 Halloweens of his life and took off to wine country. More specifically, to the Finger Lake Region in NY state, even more specifically to Hammondsport. Our good friends Ray and Nancy put together a "wine weekend"--basically inviting a bunch of people to go in together on a phat cabin rental and a bus to drive us around to all the wineries. Nancy, especially, gets a gold star in my book. Aside from doing all the planning: reservation, picking the wineries, etc., she also had a lot of cool touches like making lunches for all of us lushes to eat on the bus and a nifty little file folder of information that appealed to my inner organization freak...

So, a few highlights from the weekend...

* Corning Landing, our rental, was AWESOME. It was on Keuka Lake, and its one of those places that is intended for large groups such as ourselves. It was lacking in nothing...beds were aplenty for all 14 of us, there were multiple bathrooms, a huge (modern) kitchen and dining area, decks, games, puzzles, a fire pit, and of course a gorgeous view of the lake...

* As usual, the weather was shit. Didn't really matter though, because the scenery was awesome and we managed to squeeze in both a stroll on Saturday evening and a hike on Sunday. Saturday was pretty windy and on-and-off rain, but since we basically spent most of our time guzzling wine in the bus and the wineries, it didn't really matter...

* The company was good. It was a mish/mash of friends of Ray and Nancy's from all walks of life. Everyone was cool and it was fun to meet some new peeps.

* The highlight of the weekend was, of course, the wineries!! Friday afternoon the Adams' and Gabe and I hit a few before the masses arrived, but Saturday was the hardcore winery visiting. The trolley bus took us to 7 wineries (and 1 distillery) over the course of about 6 hours. This seemed to be a popular mode of transportation as other large vehicles and big groups were present at just about every place we visited. At each winery we did a tasting, which usually consisted of 5-7 wines for a minimal (think $3.00) fee, and then the mad purchasing would occur before we'd hop back on the bus and head down the road for some more.

* Did I mention it was Halloween? Cause it was...and we were not the only ones dressed up!! Both the employees and most visitors to the winery had some form of attire on, which just added to the fun. Below is a photo of our group...side note: I DID have a costume, but its uncertain as to what it was, and it didn't last very long...

* Saturday evening was pretty tame, but did involve a sunset stroll for a few of us, a LOT of excellent food, the Phillies game and some Scrabble. Oh and a Cookie Monster piniata filled that took about 17 hits before it finally cracked open and spilled forth candy (and fun-size bottles of booze. What, doesn't every pinata have that??)

* Sunday rolled around with an extra hour of sleep (thanks to daylights saving time) and most of us were well rested...one of the benefits of drinking heavily during the day is the desire NOT to stay up til all hours of the morning partying! Most of the group left, and the Adams' and us headed to the nearby Watkins Glen State Park for a hike before heading home. It was a rare sunny AND decently temped day, and we all enjoyed the amazing hike through the gorge before loading up in the jeep and heading back to PA...

Watkins Glen