Wine hop

I am not above seeing something done in the movies, being influenced into thinking it's cool, and wanting to participate in such an activity myself. When Sideways was released in 2004 and it became the hit hip movie of the year, everybody--me included--wanted to drink pinot noir on the road with their friends and live out various misadventures. Well, the little muse of mine you see above and I had a little taste of such a cinematic experience over the weekend. We spent it with our friends T & C, who live in Richmond, VA. On Saturday the four of us and another couple drove out to the northwestern part of Virginia, near the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, and visited four very distinct wineries. My favorite was the small one that was our last stop. By then the sun was low and somebody strummed a guitar on the porch. The owner, a proud new father from South Africa who seemed very content with his life, was generous with the tastings. All of the guests seemed to be in high spirits as they shared bottles in the picturesque locale. What a life. We probably didn't encounter enough "misadventures" to make a popular movie out of our day (you can't expect anything to go wrong when five out of the six people in the group are engineers with impeccable planning), but we enjoyed a nice picnic, good conversation, and a heck of a lot of wine.

Back in Richmond that night, we went to the late showing of The Last Kiss, which I liked less than I expected months ago, but more than I expected a week ago after hearing all the negative press. It's quite a different movie from Garden State, to which immediate comparisons are drawn, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. It conveyed feelings a lot of people my age can relate to, and it was surprisingly dark. I will say, seeing all the troubled relationships in the movie made me glad to be in such a happy one with my wife.

On Sunday we had brunch at the Tobacco Company Restaurant, said good-bye to our friends, and made the four-hour drive back home. Somehow we ended up getting on the wrong freeway near Washington and got a nice pass-by of the National Mall, especially the Washington Monument. I'm still getting used to the idea of having all of that so close to us. We're saving the D.C. tourism for another weekend. There's so much to see in this part of the country.