Colorado Christmas

Well we made it to Colorado for Christmas after a very trying time at SEATAC. It was a nightmare of people trying to get out of town and Alaska Airlines did not make priorty for the way planes were leaving SEATAC - well we made only because the plane was delayed. After arriving in Colorado there was nothing but sunshine and blue skies. Wow John Denver really was right there is nothing like it.

Pictures will follow in a later post.

Well it is getting close to our departure for Colorado. As the twins say three more sleeps and we will be there. Thought I would share some of the weather we are having in Washington. It has been bitterly cold for a week and the pictures above show what has happened in the last 24 hours.

Okay, I am not even close to being up to my daughter's capability. I have fallen behind my son in capabiitiy. I do have some pictures of the Washington Clan and PROOOOmise to post them in the near future.

Up-coming Ride reports

I plan on updating (okay entering) a couple of posts over the upcoming 4th of July Holiday. Look forward to the Hell's Canyon Rally and Lawman 1000 posts. Coming soon to a theater near you.

Too Long

Well I have waited too long to post on this blog. We have been a little busy at our house, a long weekend in San Jose, Ca. to visit our new granddaughter Chelsea (she is named after Chelsea F.C.) runner-up in the EPL. Our next items that have kept me away from my blog is the visit of the Holt Clan from Alaska. We had to play unbelievable hours of WII (which was introduced to Nana and Papa by Quin when we were in San Jose. We went to Red Sox vs. Mariners game which the Mariners won; how did that happen? My youngest Son, Cory pointed out that the cost of one beer was the same as the ticket price. The rest of the next two weeks were filled with lots of food really good wine and Papa riding his MC to work in unbelievable weather. In the next post I will try and add some photos.

Walla Walla Wine

Well we were off for the annual Spring wine release in Walla Walla Friday the 2nd of May. Our first stop was Northstar where they had a free open house and some live music. After we left Northstar we were off to one of our favorites Bergevin Lane for free tapas and some lovely wines and some cool jazz.

Saturday was another great day as we started at Leonetti and tasted the new release of Merlot and Cab Sauv. Our next stop was to visit Dusted Valley Vinters this winery was started by a couple of guys from Wisconsin, next it was Tertulia, the winemaker is from Duvall. After we left Tertulia, it just opened last year we were off to Pepperbridge - excellent wine but no goodies to eat. We then moved on to Va Piano Vineyards, it was lunch time and they always have the paninis for lunch. While we were there we had a conversation with one of the local limo drivers and he suggested that we try out Trust Cellars, so off we went. We had a very welcome surprise when we got to Trust we also found a very good wine at Chateau Rollat Winery. From there we went to Hence and then on to Waters and Gramercy. We finished the day at Whitman Cellars. It was a great day after we stopped and got some good cheese and some Salami Mole and proscuitta. The meats came from Salumi of Seattle and were unbelievable.

Sunday began with breakfast at Shari's since the line was too long at Clarette's our normal Sunday morning breakfast. After breakfast we headed for the airport to check out the wineries at that location. Our first stop was at Trio and at a winery in the same complex Adamant, we then went to Buty a really neat winery run by a young couple ( our first experience with this winery was a few years ago - all wineries are playing jazz or rock but not Buty --- they are playing the man in black; Johnny Cash!). We also sampled wines at Ensemble (very unique process - no vintage, but a blend of three vintages), 428 very interesting conversation with someone that had been in the wine industry in Califorinia, the last winery was Eleganti they offered a Merlot annd a strawberry wine. We then tried to make it to Stella Fino, we drove into Oregon only to find out that the tasting was in Milton-Freewater, we were looking forward to the Italian varietals but maybe next year. Out last stop was at Longshadow - a very pretentious winery, the wine needs to be cellared for at least 5 years to be drinkable. It will probably become one of the predominant wines in Washington and will command a huge amount of $$$$$

368 Chapter Meet and Greet

Well we had our first big outing of the year today. Ended up that we had 36 bikes and 42 people. We started at the OCB in Totem Lake and after a "hearty" breakfast we set off to make the ferry ride across the sound from Edmonds to Kingston on the Peninsula. After the ferry ride we stopped in Port Gamble and picked up some more bikes from other chapters. After all the greetings, backslapping and hugging we headed for the Geoduck Restaurant - Wow what a "cluster" they were totally overwhelmed and I think that they managed to screw up every order. The groups took off in all directions and tried to make it home in one piece. Traffic in Seattle can really suck at times and we lucked out with only two slow downs all the way home.