Wine Tour / Apple Picking / Family Dinner

Quite the day ahead. The plan for the day was to go to Kelly's birthday gathering at the Apple Farm, before heading down to Seneca County for a day of wine tasting. Nola & I got a later start due to some left-behind items (apple pie/bag of clothes/etc.). But we got to the Apple Farm and everyone was still gathered. We headed up, had fun poking fun and chatting before deciding quite quickly that there weren't many apples left on the trees and that it was extremely cold; too cold to enjoy the day. So everyone wrapped up, bought some donuts/cider and headed to Dunkin' Donuts down the road to gather for breakfast. Nola and I were running a little behind schedule, and because R didn't want to go to the apple orchard in the morning, I had to go pick him up in Victor before getting on our way. (Too much to go into why, how and what led to this.)

But once we had him picked up and on our way, I called Molly to give her, Jen & Tammy plenty of time to meet us at our first winery: Three Brothers. Unfortunately, somehow, they did not make it right away, and R & I waited and treaded time as best we could. I didn't mind, but I was walking a fine line with the day's activities & timetables. But they arrived, with food!, and we started a full day of tasting.

1. Three Brothers Wineries & Distillery
2. Swedish Hill Vineyards
3. Lakeshore Winery
4. Sheldrake Point
5. Hosmer Winery
6. Knapp Winery
7. Zugibe Vineyards
8. Bellwether Hard Cider

We had a good time. Molly ended up being the D.D. for the day, and we all took hilarious turns fighting over shotgun, getting toasted each time, complaining about the wine selections & quality, and just being in the moment. Such a great day! So sunny, cool and fresh. I'm not going to review any of the wineries or wines we tasted... suffice to say, I didn't like any of them. They weren't good.

Wait, I lie. I've always wanted to visit Sheldrake Point. And one of their reserve wines: 2008 Barrel Reserve Cabernet Franc I enjoyed a bit. I gave it four stars for its rich, full and velvety appeal. $25.

But I still enjoyed the experience in general, surprised that I've never done a wine tour like that before in my local stomping grounds. I don't think I've ever eaten that much delicious cheese in a single day, and the girls were a complete hoot. They kept antagonizing R all day long, much to his chagrin. They bought some wine, were all smiles... we listened to loud pop music, drove around beautiful Seneca County in the fall, and just immersed ourselves in a little bit of bliss. And I knew.. if they day went well, R would actually want to do more with us. The "plan" was to have dinner with my family, but he didn't want to spend any time with them. Completely OK and up to him, so I told him I'd return him to Rochester. But by the end of the day, he actually joined us for dinner, and I think enjoyed himself.

My family/cousins are in town from Nebraska, and my family always goes out of their way to make everyone feel welcome, fed and entertained. They arrived on Friday night, to much fanfare, I'm sure, and will be here for about a week. My mother and Nola cooked all day long a litany of foods, including corn casserole, stuffed peppers (3 customized non-carby ones for me, 2 customized non-beef ones for R, and a million normal ones for everyone else), and pies! I even made an apple pie for the occasion, which by the way, turned out splendidly. We arrived (slightly late, which is my family's style, ha!), and enjoyed the next five hours laughing, napping, joking, goofing off and catching up.

My cousins are all doing very well. I'm looking forward to spending some random times with them over the next couple of days. It's good to see them and hear about their lives. The next ad hoc plan was to go out to a bar and have fun with Molly, Jen & Tammy, with R & I, but the girls were exhausted, and decided to just veg at home, drink a bottle of wine and not go out. Since R had fallen asleep on my grandmother's couch, I was completely OK with this plan! It was a long... long day of random activities, and driving home at 11PM was a relief. Had a great day, with minimal conflict, minimal arguing and a bit of smiles from all involved. All in all, a good day. And I'm leaning toward it being the LAST day that R & I will doing a "day event" together. He's difficult and it doesn't make sense to offer anymore.