Brunch, Bye-Bye and Bottles

Hi Blog!  Today is Tuesday, September 3, 2013.  We can't believe how quickly the time is just flying by.  Today our niece, Chelsea, flew back to New York City.  We agreed to meet the gang for an early brunch before going to the airport with Leslie and Chelsea.  Today was also Emerson's first day of 2nd year pre-school.  Since Chelsea's flight was not until 1:30, she was able to go with Megan and Brody to see Emerson off to school.  Afterwards, we all met up at Leslie's house and caravanned over to McKay Cottage.  This place could give Cafe Madison (i.e. Madison's End) in Albany a run for the money. You can make me croissant French toast anytime!

After stuffing ourselves with all kinds of goodies, Chelsea said her goodbyes to Megan and Brody as the rest of us went off to the airport with Chelsea.  Here are Kathy and Leslie just before sending Chelsea through the security gate.

Since we were already outside of town, Leslie thought it would be fun to stop at a couple wineries on the way back.  Our first stop was Faith Hope and Charity Vineyard.  The owner is in the construction business and designed their tasting room to look like a large barn.

The grounds surrounding the vineyard are spectacular.

The vines stretch out toward the mountains in the background.

On the way to Faith Hope and Charity, we passed an alpaca farm.  We couldn't help but stop on the way back.  The nursery field with all the moms and babies is right next to the gift shop.  Talk about great marketing strategy.

Our second stop was Maragas Winery.  Sorry we don't have any pictures to share with you.  We promised our daughter no drunk picture taking.  (Just kidding.)  We were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures.  As we got out of the car, we were greeted by the biggest whitest fluffiest sheep dog ever.  Her name was Snow and after a few scratches and belly rubs, she led us over to the entrance of the tasting room.  Needless to say we came home with a full box of unique local wines.

Upon our return to the campground, we discovered a group of classic car owners have moved in.  Here is our favorite jalopy of the bunch.

In order to give Leslie a chance to catch up on some chores, we opted for dinner at home. We have a fridge full of veggies from the Farmer's Market.  We cooked up some Szichuan Eggplant and a corn, black bean and sun dried tomato salsa.  Tomorrow we hope to get out to a few of the local museums and state and national geologic parks.