iSherri

Malahide Village: No Sign of the Edge

Posted on June 29, 2013 by isherri

My first day in Ireland got off to a late start. The six-hour delay in my flight, lack of sleep and burgeoning cold left me a little reluctant to embark on my full schedule. But I was determined to see a few sights on my first day in country. I found the free shuttle at the airport and stopped into the Hilton to drop off my bags. They were totally ready for me. And even counted out the correct bus fare for me before they sent me on my way.

I walked to the local bus stop and caught Bus 42 towards Malahide Village. I got off on the castle stop and decided to take the tour. On my way I saw a wedding party posing for pictures and a couple of really cool tombstones.

I rounded the bend and the castle came into view, the sun had broken out.

The castle was adorable and the perfect size. It’s a damn shame I already put in an offer on that condo back home. Clearly this is where I belong!

Malahide Castle was owned by the Talbot family for over 800 years before Rose Talbot sold it to the state in 1972. The current Lord Talbot inherited the title but not the castle and lives in England now, so clearly he’s no use to me.

Afterwards I walked through the castle grounds and into Malahide Village. I peeked in tea shops and pubs but never saw any sign of the Edge.

By that time my congestion was increasing and it was getting harder and harder to breathe and I couldn’t walk more than a few feet without sneezing violently.

I found a local bus stop and headed back to the Hilton. Fingers crossed a little rest will cure me before I head to the City Center tomorrow. Wish you were here!

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Tagged damn shame, Edge, Ireland, lord talbot, Malahide, summer vacation | 2 Comments

The Everlasting Journey to Dublin

Posted on June 29, 2013 by isherri

It seemed like the trip was off to a great start. My meetings at work finished right on time. I remembered to set my auto responses and even cleared a few items off my desk. Erin generously delivered me to the airport. I swept through the TSA pre screen line and made it to the delta lounge in time to get seriously hammered before my flight. That’s when things began to fall apart.

I boarded the plane at national airport, glanced out the window at the glorious sunny day, and passed out. When I woke up, we were in exactly the same place, but there appeared to be torrential downpours. That’s when I discovered we had been grounded due to weather.

By the time the weather cleared, we were an hour and a half late. That caused some serious concern given that my layover in Atlanta was exactly an hour and a half long. When we landed, I grabbed my carryons and sprinted to the plane train. I caught it, rode from Terminal T to Terminal E, sprinted to the gate, and arrived just when they called zone 1.

I popped my NyQuil and boarded the plane, full of confidence that when I woke up we’d be in Dublin and I’d be ready to begin my hunt.

Unfortunately about an hour into the flight, the captain announced that there was a little problem with the hydraulics and it wasn’t something they could fix in Dublin. We were turning around to return to Atlanta. A couple of minutes after that he announced that we were slightly overweight and we shouldn’t worry if we saw the runway lined with emergency vehicles when we landed.

We finally touched down and he slammed on the brakes. The fire trucks rushed over and we just sat on the runway. The pilot told us we had “hot brakes” and that had caused the “blown tire” and we couldn’t move again until everything cooled off. By the time they cooled off, we were able to go part way to the gate and then had to stop and rest the brakes again.

Eventually we made it and they let us off the plane with a warning not to go far. They told us Delta was looking for another plane and as soon as they found one they’d get us back in the air. In the meantime, we were given a measly food voucher and uncomfortable seats.

After a quick phone charge, I stood in line for my voucher. Whoo hoo! $50! Sadly, it expired at 11:00 and they were still teasing us with an 11:00 departure time. Also, apparently, every place that sold liquor was already closed. I got in line for McDonalds so I could at least get a couple of bottles of water. Thanks for nothing, Delta!

I passed the time chatting with a lovely woman who was traveling with her husband who was going to Dublin on a business trip. I want to do whatever he does! We decided the inconvenience was no biggie considering we still had our lives. I should have packed some vodka…

Eventually they let us board again. They made a big deal about how quick we had to do it because if the crew wasn’t in the air by 12:30 we would lose them. We all shuffled aboard and then sat there and waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently they had done a preemptive boarding just in case the mechanics finished fixing the broken brakes. I guess they stopped watching the clocks because they didn’t close the door and taxi out to the runway until sometime after 1. We landed in Dublin six hours after our scheduled time, safe and sound, thankfully. And after all, better late than never!

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Tagged dublin, emergency landing, Ireland, summer vacation | Leave a comment

Birthdays!

Posted on June 9, 2013 by isherri

Clearly, everything is going my way. Shortly before my birthday this year, they sent me to San Jose, CA to attend a state level convention and share information about some of the programs we are working on at the national office. Since my oldest (and now hairiest) child Jake shares a birthday with me and lives in the bay area, I was super excited. Icing on the cake, so to speak, was the fact that my beautiful niece Amanda, whose birthday is the same week, also lives in the area and offered to pick me up and drive me around!

After a quick stop at Lush to buy some necessary supplies, we picked up Jake and headed over the Amanda’s apartment. Amanda had stocked up on gourmet cupcakes so we would have a birthday treat to go with our sangria. Birthday Parties

Soon my nephew Jason’s incredibly smart and sassy girlfriend Lindsey and we headed over to Burma Superstar for a Burmese dinner.

The food was amazing and for a nightcap we went to visit Jason at his job at Beer Revolution. I’m told that Oakland is the most exciting city in America. I believe that is true because on our way to see Jason, there were riot cops on every corner. Once we arrived, we tried some beers. I think you must be a real beer lover to appreciate those beers. They were very dark, heavy, and bitter. Not at all like the Corona I usually prefer!

Amanda drove me to San Jose so I could attend my convention. I checked into the Hilton and sacked out.

The convention was great, lots of good speakers and work and blah, blah, blah. The best part was when I received my Hello Kitty fruit basket from my friends back home! It arrived right before my presentation began, so I offered up fruit to anyone who would agree to give us high marks on the evaluation. Hope they consider evaluation results when they go looking for speakers next year!

When the convention ended, Amanda returned to pick me up. Since it was already so late in the day, we had to scrap our planned brunch and come up with some alternate plans. A quick stop at In N Out helped us to clarify our thinking.

We decided to visit St George Spirits, a distillery that offers tours and tastings and has a fantastic view of the San Francisco skyline.

During the tour our spirit guide told us lots of interesting things about how they distill liquor, none of which I retained. The part I do remember was tasting the absinthe. Boy howdy, did I enjoy the absinthe. I didn’t care too much for the gins and I was ambivalent about most of the vodkas, except for a few of the sweeter ones (go figure!)

Afterwards we stopped by Extreme Pizza to watch Jake work and pick up what was actually the most delicious pizza I have ever had. Seriously, I had no idea he could make pizzas like that or I might have enjoyed his teenage years a whole lot more!

We went back to Amanda and Kyle’s house and Jason and Lindsey joined us for dinner and spirited round of Cards Against Humanity. Several bottles of wine later I was sleeping through Game of Thrones so Kyle and Amanda decided to drop me off at the hotel near the airport so I could catch my crack of dawn flight home the next day. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer birthday!

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Tagged Birthday, Burmese food, Cards Against Humanity, convention, Hello Kitty Fruit Basket | Leave a comment

God Bless America

Posted on April 16, 2013 by isherri

I found out my BFF Jenni was going to be in New York and wanted to take the train down to spend the weekend with me. Since the weather had been so lovely I thought I would save her a trip and drive up to get here. It also seemed like a great time to finally visit the Statue of Liberty. I made plans to leave right after work on Thursday afternoon and drive as far as Newark and then spend the morning at the Statue while I waited for Jenni to get off work.

My plan began to unravel when I finally remembered I was supposed to present a keynote address for the International Parent Leadership Consortium on Thursday night. Since the IPLC event was in Prince Georges County, I thought no big deal, I speak at 7 so I can just leave a little later.

Thursday morning arrived and it was significantly colder than it had been all week. Also, there was a threat of rain. When I got to the office and mentioned my plans I discovered that the Statue of Liberty was not open because of Hurricane Sandy damage. The keynote at the IPLC actually involved dinner and then they wanted me to stay for a photo shoot with the graduates of their program so I didn’t actually get on the road until almost 9:30. By that time it was raining and much colder and I was forced to leave the top on my car.

My hotel was the Newark Airport Doubletree. I arrived around 1:30 am after a very long drive and stumbled up to my room and passed out. The next morning I toyed with the idea of taking the train to the city and visiting the Empire State Building. Upon looking outside, however, I realized the visibility was zero and there were torrential downpours.

I decided to head over to Liberty State Park and catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty from a distance.

By the time I arrived, the rain had eased up but I discovered that the boardwalk facing the Statue was closed.

But the Statue of Liberty was still magnificent.

I headed over to the Liberty Park Diner. The parking lot had a car so I thought it would be good.

Most of the diners were local construction workers but there was an open table by the window so I grabbed it.

I ordered the New York Panini and a coffee. The Panini was a little bland but the coffee and the french fries were amazing. After lunch I still had some time to kill. I found a vacant lot and settled in to wait.

And wait…

Jenni finally arrived and we began the long, wet drive home!

Somewhere on the Jersey Turnpike we stopped for gas. You may not know this, but in Jersey you are not allowed to pump your own gas. Sadly, this caused a bit of a delay since there only appeared to be two guys working. We sat in line and just as we were about to pull up to the pump a great white pickup truck whipped out of nowhere and pulled into our spot. We were not impressed.

We finally gassed up and then stopped again at the Walt Whitman Service Area. I don’t know what Walt would have thought of it, but they sure did have some tasty snacks.

I decided to take my life in my hands by letting Speedy McTailgater drive for a while.

We passed through Delaware in no time. I mean literally, Jenni did not spend a lot of time there…

And by the time we got through Maryland and into Virginia, the weather was so nice we were able to pull over and pop the top off!

God bless America!

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Tagged America, bff, convertible, diner, drive, Jersey, road trip, Statue of Liberty | Leave a comment

Viva Las Vegas!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by isherri

Recently my job took me to the super shiny city of Las Vegas. My very good friend and talented co-worker April met me at Dulles Airport at the crack of dawn as our journey began. We arrived in Las Vegas a little before noon and as soon as we picked up our rental car we headed to In and Out Burger for the famous and delicious Double Double.

Afterwards, we checked into our rooms at the palatial Hampton Inn and headed off to Kinkos to pick up some materials for work. Thankfully, Kinkos was on the north side so we got to drive up the strip and see a few sights.

When we finished our work, we caught a shuttle from our hotel over to the Tropicana. From there it was a short walk to the MGM where we hopped on the Monorail and rode to Paris.

Riding the Monorail is thirsty work. Luckily there are plenty of vendors selling adult beverages up and down the street. We chose the closest. Unfortunately, they only sold drinks in souvenir mugs. Really, really heavy souvenir mugs. Once they were filled with Pina Coladas, the weight increased substantially, which while walking up and down the strip, results in a great upper body workout.

The next day, we met up with my staff, Armen and Elida, and spent the bulk of the day working with local community leaders. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with a couple of other friends and then dropped a few quarters in a few slots.

We spent another day working with local leaders and finished up early enough to embark on a quest. You see, my friend April is nervous about flying. Since I had to stay in Vegas longer, she was going to be leaving early and flying back solo. She decided that a couple of Red Box movies would distract her from hurtling through the air in a large tin tube. She did a bit of research and found a Red Box at a Walgreens on S Las Vegas Blvd.

I don’t blame Siri for the turn things took. I was the one that selected the route without even looking to see which side of the strip that was on. So when we got to the Walgreens, April was outraged that they didn’t appear to have her reservation OR her movies! It wasn’t until she walked around to the front of the building and saw the address that she realized I had driven her to the wrong place.

We turned around and began to backtrack back down the strip. We passed a few more Walgreens and finally saw one on the first floor of the Venetian that I thought felt like it would be the right one. Sadly, I had apparently lost count of the blocks and it wasn’t until we began to turn that I realized my mistake. We tried to turn around, but the one way streets, massive speed bumps, and irate casino employees trying to get out of the employee lot led us to believe we had made a huge mistake. An hour later when we finally got turned around and back to the strip, we decided it would be quicker to park and walk it.

This turned out to be a really good idea. We saw Michael Jackson …

Wonder Woman…

Elvis…

And Hello Kitty.

We finally got to Walgreens. But when we looked up we realized it was the wrong one. Again. We pushed on and then, like the sun bursting from the clouds after a torrential downpour, there it was. Walgreens.

We wandered around until we finally spotted the Red Box and April retrieved her movies.

To celebrate, we headed to the Evening Call for a frozen drink to sustain us on our walk back to the car. April ordered a tasty fruity drink. I got an amazing coffee flavored slurpee with a double shot of vanilla vodka.

We headed back down the strip to the Rainforest Café for dinner.

We sat next to a waterfall and enjoyed another amazing cocktail. This one was fruity and delicious.

After dinner we few a few more dollars into the slot machines before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.

On the final day, April left after an early breakfast. Elida, Armen and I finished up our work and then Elida headed out. Since Armen and I had a bit of time before our flights, we went to the Paris for lunch. We scored a table on the patio at the Sugar Factory overlooking the fountains at the Bellagio.

After lunch we rode to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at the top just in time to enjoy the Bellagio fountains from much higher up.

It was time to take Armen to the airport, but we stopped at the World Famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign. When we arrived, we found two Elvises and a whole bunch of tourists.

We posed for a picture and then hopped back in and headed back to the airport.

After Armen left, I dropped off my rental car and headed back to the airport to spend some quality time in the club lounge. Thankfully the free cocktails and snacks totally relaxed me for the red eye ahead…

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Leave a comment

Cherry Blossom Adventures

Posted on April 10, 2013 by isherri

When Sharlene suggested a walk around the Tidal Basin after work, Erin and I decided we should absolutely go! After all, it’s peak cherry blossom season and wouldn’t there be fewer people there than the weekends? Sharlene left work early and went to drop off her car. Erin and I were going to pick her up on the way, drop into Whole Foods for a meal to go, and then we would walk around the Tidal Basin with a quick detour to have dinner on the back of the Lincoln Memorial at sunset.

The plan began to unravel when Erin and I hit traffic on 14^th street. The damn left turners kept tying things up.

Sharlene had given up and walked to Whole Foods so we could just meet her there. She texted she was in the produce section. We inched out way up to Pennsylvania Avenue. Sharlene moved on to frozen foods. We crawled to K street. Traffic began to ease up until we hit Thomas Circle.

I was easing my way back on to 14^th when the ambulance pulled up next to me and attempted to drum up some business by causing my heart attack when they honked. It deafened me, although they seemed to get a good chuckle out of it. Traffic finally broke and we finally reached Whole Foods.

Each of us got dinner and a drink and headed back to the car. We pulled out and I started to head down 17^th towards the Mall. We inched our way to H St and then crawled up 15^th.

As the sun slowly sank, we realized we weren’t going to make it to the Lincoln for sunset.

In fact, we enjoyed it as we slowly eased past the Washington Monument. By the time we rounded the Jefferson, the sun had set and talk turned to nighttime monumenting.

Our luck began to turn when we found parking, closest to the cherry blossoms and on our first pass through parking lot A. We hustled over to the Tidal Basin and shuffled along with the tourists.

We detoured through the FDR memorial because it’s my favorite.

Then we stopped into the MLK memorial. When we got through that, Sharlene left us to walk back to her house and spare us the ordeal of going back through the city (I love you, Sharlene!).

Erin and I walked by the Jefferson memorial and completed the 2 mile loop before heading back to the car.

Thankfully, traffic had eased up and the 8 miles home took us less time than the 2 mile drive from Whole Foods. I love DC!

Posted in Bucket List, DC Adventures, Life Story | Tagged Cherry Blossoms, convertible, DC, dinner, picnic, traffic, whole foods | Leave a comment

The Woolly Mammoth: Making Theatre Affordable for the Masses

Posted on April 7, 2013 by isherri

The Woolly Mammoth theatre is known for having innovative new plays and serves a sort of R&D role by staging new and innovative productions. They make it easily affordable with their “Pay-What-You-Can” performances. The last one I saw was Two Men in Pajamas. I saw it and didn’t have much to say about it and decided not to blog it. Suffice it to say, I was not a fan. This time, however, I was happily surprised.

One of my favorite things about Pay-What-You-Can performances is the time we spend waiting for the box office to open. In order to acquire a ticket, one must line up early and then wait about 30-45 minutes for the box office to open (depending on how much time we wasted trying to park!)

The parking gods were smiling on me, my friends. After I picked up Sharlene, we drove to the theatre to begin our hunt and a spot opened up right outside the Woolly’s door!

We went in and got in line. The thing I like about the wait is having an opportunity to discuss what we imagine the show will like and watching the rest of the crowd. OK, really it’s watching the crowd.

This time, the theatre was all decked out in neon pink, fur-covered couches, low hanging multi-colored lights, and eclectic art. We arrived just in time to stand at the foot of the stairs (a prime location for observing the crowd). The management was trying to have everyone fill out surveys but had very few pencils. We took a survey and a couple of pencils and offered to give them to others if they wanted them. The overly involved lady standing on the step directly above us grew increasingly concerned when we didn’t appear to be passing the pencils around fast enough and then marshaled some sort of process for us to ensure the pencil distribution occurred. We were not that invested in the entire process, so it was slightly annoying, but still kind of fun to watch.

She was also extremely vocal about her dissatisfaction with the “standing in the line for the incredibly reasonably priced ticket to a brand new production” process. She kept mumbling that the theatre could have paid the girl collecting surveys to distribute the tickets and we would all have our tickets by then. Sharlene made an attempt to explain that the line would just form before whenever they did decide to open the box office and at least this way we didn’t have to leave work early or stand out on the cold sidewalk. The woman was clearly not interested in any other opinions.

Before too long, the box office opened and we collected our tickets and then went in search of a happy hour to pass the time before the show. After the last performance we saw there, I wanted a happy hour with cocktails. Lots and lots of cocktails.

We tried to get into Hill Country for BBQ since Sharlene had given up Happy Hour for lent and if we had an actual meal she would be in compliance. Sadly the line was out the door so we moved on. Our first stop was Sei. The waiter was hot, but he was also the bartender, so we had a long wait. We ordered a few pieces of sushi and some amazing drinks. Ethan had a better drink than I did, but thankfully, he disagreed so we switched. I ended up with the Liquid Wasabi. Like a glass full of hot heaven! Try it, thank me later.

We were still hungry and decided to head to Austin Grill. They have the swirly margaritas, which if I had remembered I would have suggested right away. We ordered more substantial appetizers like queso and guacamole, got a table in the bar area and settled in.

Eventually we returned to the theatre and just in time to catch the show.

I must confess, there was a lot of buzz around the office because the promotional materials for the show mentioned gunplay, raving animatronic presidents, brutal police actions and giant glittery dildos. Most of our coworkers were interested in the giant glittery dildos. So the simple table and chair that comprised the set was a bit unsettling.

We wondered if the cast would be dressed as giant glittery dildos, not that far of a stretch considering some of the shows I’ve seen in the past!

The show was fantastic. Playwright Mike Daisey sat at the table and enthralled us with a glorious tale of his travels from Burning Man to Disney World to Occupy Wall Street. His brilliant stories had us laughing out loud and really thinking about how we gather in America.

He finished his performance by leading us out into the street to have a gathering of our own. Conveniently, my car was parked RIGHT THERE. Already we are looking forward to the next show Stupid Fucking Bird. Hope I see you there!

Posted in Bucket List, DC Adventures | Tagged Art, happy hour, Theatre, woolly mammoth | Leave a comment

Batter Up!

Posted on March 30, 2013 by isherri

Having worked my ass off the last few weeks, I wanted to take advantage of the glorious spring weather and cross “Attend a Nats Game” off my bucket list.

Erin and I skipped out of work a bit early, took the top off the car, and headed over to Nationals Park.

The sky was blue with big white puffy clouds and the sun was shining. That, combined with the heated seats in my beautiful bug, lulled us into thinking it was a warm spring day. We quickly realized how wrong we were when we found our seats. The view was amazing, but a little blurry cause the wind was whipping through the stands so much our eyes were watery. Also, our seats were on the shady side, so the lack of sun had apparently frozen our metal chairs.

Nonetheless, the crowd was fired up and the Shake Shack was delicious. We had a couple of dogs, some cheese fries and shakes and then wandered through the stadium to check out the crowd.

My favorite part was meeting Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt just inside the gates. We snapped a couple of photos and then shopped for some new hats.

Each of the giant presidents race in the middle of the fourth and after meeting them we decided to cheer for Teddy. According to http://blog.letteddywin.com Teddy has only ever won four races. Yet, he seemed the happiest of the giant heads…

We got back to our seats just in time for the first pitch.

The Yankees homered and then scored another three in the top of the fourth.

By that time our teeth were chattering and we decided to move down to a sunnier area to watch the race. Sadly, we turned in the wrong direction and though we could see that Teddy blew it, we missed Taft taking notes and the Gecko taking out Washington.

We decided to call it a day and beat the traffic. The Yankees won 4-2 but we made it home before without sitting in rush hour traffic. It was a great way to wrap up a long week!

Posted in Bucket List, DC Adventures | Tagged baseball, Bucket List, DC, Nationals, presidents | 1 Comment

Blue Ridge Winery Weekend

Posted on March 17, 2013 by isherri

Having a midweek conference in Lynchburg was the perfect launch to a weekend of wineries on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I headed out of Lynchburg and stopped at the Peaks of Otter Winery on my way.

I had tried their wines before on the happiest day of my life (which was at the Wine Down the Music Trail Festival a few years ago) and though I don’t remember much of that day, I do remember that I liked their wines the best.

The winery is on a family farm just outside of Bedford. The farmers came in from the fields to sell me the wine and insisted on letting me try a few. If you get a chance to go, I recommend the Blueberry Muffin wine (their breakfast wine), the Chili Dawg wine (a spicy wine that is supposed to be sipped immediately after tasting a bit of Cheese Whiz, and the Blackberry Cobbler wine (my personal favorite). As gifts for my sister, I picked up the Chili Dawg, the Vino Colada and the Salty Frog.

I packed up my bottles and got back on the road.

Once I hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, I saw a sign that said there was a 4-mile loop to the top of Roanoke Mountain. Since I had a little time to kill, I tried it. The view drive up was one lane (and one way, thank God!) and really, really fun. The view from the top was fantastic. Then the ride down came and it scared the living shit out of me.

Back on the parkway, I headed to my mother’s place. When Cyndi and her son Mark arrived, we had a quick dinner and decided to head into town. Floyd is the closest town and Googling it turned up a concert from Sharayah Spears at the Dogtown Roadhouse. Since she was billed as “legit” and “one of our favorite performers” we went there first.

Sharayah Spears was great, she was what I imagined the love child of Adele and Regina Spektor would sound like. Very nice!

We popped into the Floyd Country Store where they were having a bluegrass jam, but Mark and I agreed we weren’t interested in paying a $5 cover for bluegrass music! Still there was great shopping…

Since Mark just got his driver’s permit and needed a bit more practice, we drove back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to find an overlook where we could view the stars. While we were there we also got a view of the Devil’s Backbone.

Saturday was beautiful and sunny. Cyndi and I climbed the mountain behind my mother’s house and then took a walk to the lake .

Justin and Emma were coming up to visit so we decided to visit the first winery on our way to meet them.

We took off out top and headed over to the AmRhein Winery.

The wines were fantastic, and I picked up a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a bottle of Vin de Peche.

Our next stop was Valhalla Vineyards. Justin and Emma timed their trip perfectly and met us there.

Perched atop a 2,000 mountain, the winery must have really, really good white wine because it was all gone! We settled for tasting their reds.

I am not a fan of reds generally and Cyndi and Emma didn’t seem to care for it much either. But we felt bad not buying something so we got a bottle of the Gotterdammerung and headed out to the patio to enjoy a glass and take in the view.

Gotterdammerung is the wine that “when you hear the enemy missiles will impact in thirty minutes, you want in your hand”.

The next stop was the Brooks Mill winery.

They specialize in fruit wines (my favorite!) The vintner was very friendly and had recently returned from a trip to San Diego. We tried each of the wines and they were all delicious! I bought a bottle of Pear. Cyndi bought the Sangria Kit. I came boxed with a bottle of the sweet blackberry wine and all of the other ingredients to make a truly delightful batch of sangria.

Sine the temperature was dropping and the sun was setting we decided to head back up the mountain and enjoy a few of the bottles we just bought.

Cheers

Posted in Getting Around, Life Story | Tagged blue ridge parkway, convertible, drinking, sisters, wine, wineries | Leave a comment

The Williamsburg Wine Trail Weekend

Posted on March 10, 2013 by isherri

After a LONG drive through rush hour traffic, I spent the night in Richmond with my sister.

The Hilton Garden Inn, in the heart of downtown Richmond, is located in the old Miller & Rhodes building, but you can’t tell it was ever a department store. Also we were up on the top floor with an interesting urban view!

Saturday morning, we met Justin and Emma for brunch at the Strawberry Street Café. The food was amazing and the breakfast buffet was set up inside an antique, claw foot bathtub. Afterwards, the weather was nice so I took the top off and headed down to Williamsburg.

Once we arrived, we decided to combine my nephew’s driver’s ed training with a tour of the Williamsburg Wine Trail. Two birds, one stone! Our first stop was the Saude Creek Winery.

Our wonderful driver (nephew Mark) enjoyed a couple of sandwiches from the Scotch Pig while Cyndi and I tried each of the wines.

Our Sommelier Ben did an outstanding job of introducing each wine and gave us barbecue to try with the red wine and chocolate to try with the exceptional Chambourcin. The wines were exceptional so I bought a bottle of Squire’s Blend and we loaded up so Mark could drive us to the next winery.

The next stop was the New Kent Winery. Mark and Dad dropped us off to head to the neighboring golf shop. There was a line to get to the bar for a tasting, so they rounded up those of us in line and took us down to the basement Barrel Room for a private tasting. While I didn’t like their wine as much as Saude Creek, they had a couple of good white wines and a really, really sweet dessert wine. Afterwards, we bought some cheese and crackers and another glass and headed down out to sit in the sun on the patio.

The next stop was supposed to be the Williamsburg winery. Sadly, it closed at 4 and we didn’t get there until almost 5. We turned around and headed to the outlet mall to pop into Aunt Victoria’s cupcake shop. First, however, we enjoyed some fine dining in the food court and purchased a few jewels at the Brighton shop. Finally, we made our way to Sweet Baby Cakes.

Unfortunately, Aunt Victoria had been called away, but we still enjoyed a Maple Bacon Cupcake, a Carrot Cake Cupcake, and a brownie.

Finally we headed to the Five Star. Mark challenged me to a dame of pool, so I spanked him. Dad thought he could teach me a lesson, so I creamed him as well. When everyone else got tired of losing we called it a night and headed to bed.

The next day, I lured Mark into cleaning my car with some cold, hard cash. But the weather was nice so we all headed out and pitched in.

Once the car was spotless (and Mark did a hell of a job), it was time to hit the highway. I waved goodbye, cranked up the tunes, and made the sunshiny drive back to Alexandria.

Posted in Life Story | Tagged car wash, sister, vw, weekend, williamsburg, wine, winery | Leave a comment

iSherri

Malahide Village: No Sign of the Edge

The Everlasting Journey to Dublin

Birthdays!

God Bless America

Viva Las Vegas!

Cherry Blossom Adventures

The Woolly Mammoth: Making Theatre Affordable for the Masses

Batter Up!

Blue Ridge Winery Weekend

The Williamsburg Wine Trail Weekend

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