Wine

Grapes are a beautiful sight to behold, growing on a vine, and wine is a wonderful beverage that comes from these beautiful grapes. Though I don't drink too often, I do like to enjoy a little wine now and then. The process for making wine is also quite intriguing to me. 

It all began here, at the Fredericksburg Winery tasting room. We, Lutheran ladies, were excited to try out and learn about Texas wine.

There was a quite a selection for us to choose from, but then we met the "wine Nazi" and didn't make it through many of these lovely looking wines. You can read more about our "wine Nazi" here on Heather's blog.

After making our way out of the Fredericksburg winery we came upon the lovely Messina Hof Winery just outside of town.

Things were looking up already.

Our sommelier was fabulous and the atmosphere was perfect for our little wine tasting adventure.

While we were in Washington, my Lutheran Stud and I escaped to "visit my little brother at work." The Chateau Ste. Michelle is quite well known in Washington, and perhaps, even around our country. If you've not heard of the Chateau Ste. Michelle you may know of other wine estates within this same company. There are so many and they aren't all in Washington. Check out Stimson Lane and I'll bet you'll know a name or two.The Riesling, made here, is one of my all time favorite wines. We currently have a large quantity of this Riesling which is also pretty wonderful, so you should come over for dinner.

When you arrive at the Chateau Ste. Michelle the view is just breathtaking. You follow a long winding road up to the actual chateau.

The Chateau isn't too shabby either. It's hard to believe that winemaking is going on here isn't it?

Wine really is being made here, however, the grapes aren't actually grown on the grounds. Most of the grapes are grown in Eastern Washington. Then they are trucked over the mountains, in the same type of trucks that carry milk. So, if you see a milk truck driving down the road it might just be grape juice and not wine!

Our tour guide explained all of the different types of grapes that are used to make wine. I had no idea there were so many.

The Chateau has produced many award-winning wines. 

We had to have a taste of some of their wines since we were there, right?

There was plenty of wine for purchase too.

There's my brother! See? We really went to see him at work. He snuck away in between meetings to give us a quick tour of the grounds. We wanted to see his office, but apparently no one is allowed in "dungeon" without security clearance and we were told that security would not clear us. His boss isn't even cleared by security. Hmmm. . .

A few peacocks live on the grounds. They aren't too afraid of people. I know this because I tried to scare this peacock into spreading his feathers, but it didn't work.

During the summer, the Chateau hosts concerts. It's pretty cool. You just hang out on the lawn and enjoy the music and drink wine if you wish. There's a wide range of performers from the Beach Boys to James Taylor to Sarah McLachlan.

Also on the grounds is a Manor House. It's been made a historical landmark and word on the street is that it is haunted.

My brother headed back to work and we walked around a little longer. I went around to get a few shots of cool areas and my Lutheran Stud headed back to the car. Look what I found in a tree as I was walking back to the car.

The trees in Washington are just unbelievably huge! I love them. If you're in the Seattle area a visit to this winery is a must. What are you waiting for? Hop to it.

A Day in Texas

Perhaps my Texas adventures have been a bit long-winded, but I don't care. My nickname isn't Camera Jan for nothing. I suppose if you're bit tired of all of our big-sized Texas fun you can move on to another web page, if not, keep on reading. :) Our last full day in Texas was spent doing things that all of us ladies just love to do: junking, eating, wining, and dancing. . .or rather watching other people dance. 

There was a cute little shop on the downtown strip with fabulous decorating ideas which I hope to incorporate in my home someday. Who wouldn't want to have a carousel horse hanging from the ceiling?

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Hondo's BBQ. They have live music in the evenings. That's Hondo hanging on the side of the stage. He's always around, so you can't miss him.

Sweet potato fries are served in old tin cans. They hold a ton of fries. TONS.

We hit up a few antique stores to look through peoples' junk which soon became treasures for us.

We checked out a few wine tasting places too. More on that drama another day, or you can check out Heather's blog for more details.

We shined up our boots. . .

got a little dressed up. . . 

and headed to the Luckenbach dance hall where the population is 3. Really.

We listened to old-fashioned country music and watched some old-fashioned country dancing. It was awesome and fun. I'm sure I would have been on that dance floor if I had had a few more lime-aritas. Maybe next time.

Wildseed Farms

We spent one morning visitng Wildseed Farms. The garden areas were beautiful. 

I've seen little cacti plants in Colorado and always thought they were kind of cute, but they don't even come close to the cacti in Texas. They were so green and beautiful.

Beautiful flowers were everywhere.

I'd never seen a pomegranate plant before. Then, we arrive in Texas and I've seen several. They look like such fun plants. I kind of want to have one at our house now.

There were rows upon rows for gorgeous color.

Here are some of my favorite Lutheran ladies.

The yellow just makes you want to smile, doesn't it?

We had a lovely stroll through the gardens while chatting about all sorts of random things from theology to homeschooling our children to cooking.

There were even serene waterfalls.

I fell in love with these red poppies. I'm hoping to plant and climbing bush just like this someday. A visit to Wildseed Farms was a wonderful way to add a little color to our gloomy, grey day!

Food and Friends

There was no shortage of food in Texas. When we weren't eating out we were eating in. Lauren and I used to get together and consume large amounts of spinach artichoke dip, so it was only natural that we share this dip with the ladies while we were in Texas. I've got the recipe memorized.

Snacks, dinner, dessert, late night snack- whatever you want to call this will work since we ate all of this plenty of times during our stay.

There was plenty of chatting and eating. 

There was also brief blogging time and cyber catch-up.

We picked up brats from Opa's Smoked Meats.

Then we came back to the house and created quite an incredible meal.

While cooking comes naturally to us, technology along the lines of, say, a TV, remote control, and satellite dish does not. Thankfully this lovely gentleman was around to turn music on through the TV, start a bonfire for us, and unplug the toilet.

We even enjoyed pampering out feet with pedicures one evening. Since Heather went to cosmetology school she gave us tips and brought products for us to use. 

Lunch Break

After spending a morning walking around Fredericksburg we ended up at the Peach Tree Gift Gallery and Tea Room. 

It was an adorable, quaint little place with wonderful home cooked food.

The tables were decorated with cute little ladies with flower hats!

Gretchen ordered this sandwich sampler along with a side of soup.

Lauren had a Ham n' Cheese Croissant and a Caesar salad side.

Heather had an interesting soup and sandwich combo of Pimento Cheese sandwich and chilled Avocado Soup. 

Kellee had a lovely Chicken Salad that had an added sweetness from the addition of pears.

DeAnn had the biggest quiche I had ever seen. Now I'd like to try making one just as big for myself.

I ordered the Super Good for You Sandwich and loved it. I'm going to have to duplicate this at home sometime. I'm sure it won't taste the same, but I can always try. I have a thing for avocados and this sandwich is loaded with them.

It was the perfect little place for our little crew of ladies. We got to sit and enjoy some good food and good company along with cookies and brownies for dessert. Heather was kind enough to share some photos with me, so enjoy!