Various and sundry events had me traveling to more off-the-beaten-path areas this past week, like Mount Airy, NC. This small town, besides being home to some of my extended family members, is best known for being the alleged model of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show and the local sonker festival. It is also quite picturesque.
With all of those wide open spaces there isn't much to do. However, in recent years there has been an upswing in the number of local wineries and breweries in the Yadkin Valley area and North Carolina in general. In fact, my uncle works at Stony Knoll Vineyards. My cousin and I had some time to burn, so we went to Round Peak Vineyards and Skull Camp Brewery. The grounds were beautiful and dog-friendly. The owner's dogs even made the rounds and paid our table a visit.
As you can see, I tried SEVERAL wines and shared a flight of beer with my aunt and cousin. The wines at this particular establishment are mostly blends, and the semi-dry wines were all excellent! My top picks were Anticipation, Matrimonio Parfait, Nebbiolo, Dedication and Temptation. I even had a very good port. And did I mention the view?
It was a very nice way to spend an afternoon, after a long morning of baking zucchini bread and sitting on the front porch with octogenarians. Who kept trying to feed me sonker and pie and fried chicken. The horror!
I also got in a fair bit of reading. I was able to subscribe to Runner's World and the Atlantic at a ridiculously low price via Zulily. I haven't been getting a lot of books in this summer, but I have been reading a lot of articles, magazines, and blogs. The books currently in process are Dune, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Stiffed, and Riverworld.
It was a very nice way to spend an afternoon, after a long morning of baking zucchini bread and sitting on the front porch with octogenarians. Who kept trying to feed me sonker and pie and fried chicken. The horror!
I also got in a fair bit of reading. I was able to subscribe to Runner's World and the Atlantic at a ridiculously low price via Zulily. I haven't been getting a lot of books in this summer, but I have been reading a lot of articles, magazines, and blogs. The books currently in process are Dune, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Stiffed, and Riverworld.
McLain and I are dog-sitting for Lady Faulk's sweet Indy this weekend. Indy and Yankee are getting along swimmingly, but Indy is very affectionate, hyper, and likes to invade Yankee's 'bubble'. Conclusion? Indy is more like me and Yankee is more like McLain.Which works out.
Aren't they so cute? TOO CUTE!
We had a great holiday long weekend, and my NC family was able to come down for a brief stay. We had some swim time at the Crouse House before meeting up with the Forgie clan for some out of this WORLD fireworks. I have never in my LIFE been so CLOSE to fireworks going off before! I borrowed this photo from a friend who was snapping close by. They seemed close enough to touch! And were close enough to leave a little ash behind.
We had a great holiday long weekend, and my NC family was able to come down for a brief stay. We had some swim time at the Crouse House before meeting up with the Forgie clan for some out of this WORLD fireworks. I have never in my LIFE been so CLOSE to fireworks going off before! I borrowed this photo from a friend who was snapping close by. They seemed close enough to touch! And were close enough to leave a little ash behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment