He Always Had Some Mighty Fine Wine

After Saturday's trip back in time, Ken and I took to celebrating her birthday on Sunday. This involved a number of very important activities. The first one consisted of me trying to convince McKenna that she would make a good hat:

Sadly, McKenna did not agree, so hatless I went off to church with Ken, where they provided celebratory materials for Ken and the other churchgoer whose birthday was that day. They also all sang Happy Birthday to both of the birthday girls, which was very sweet of them.

After church, we headed out on our merry way to go winery-hopping up the side of Lake Cayuga. The first winery, Americana Vineyards, was a particularly appropriate stop given the holiday.

They also had a cafe, so we were able to get brunch before we started tasting. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend the smoked salmon omelette and the pimosa (a mimosa made with pineapple juice instead of orange juice).

Our meal was supervised by Theo, the winery cat. He spent the entire meal underneath the chair next to Ken, and seemed quite perturbed that we were disturbing his nap.

There were also a pair of chocolate labs roaming the grounds, keeping the winery safe from trouble.

The wine itself was very good. Some better than others, but that's standard for most wineries.

All of the bottles had very cute patriotic labels, and would make very good gifts. I would highly recommend the Revolutionary Red.

Next, we traveled a short while to Bellwether Hard Cider, which produces a variety of hard ciders.

This place was awesome. All of their ciders were great, and we left with several bottles. I am waiting for a good reason to open them, particularly the Cherry Street variety. The cidery was also run by two dogs, including the unfortunately-named Sugie, who seemed to be quite put out by all of these people disturbing his naptime.

Soon we left Bellwether and traveled to Lucas Vineyards, the oldest winery on the Cayuga Wine Trail.

This winery was super crowded, but we were still able to get a place at the tasting counter fairly quickly. They featured a number of wines, including quite a few with nautical-themed names. Apparently the founder was a tugboat captain. Despite some pretty good sales, we left this place empty-handed, as we had already bought far too much at the two previous places. On the way out, though, we did stop to visit some baby wine grapes.

The last winery we visited was called Sheldrake Point. This one was the closest to the lake, and boasted the best view.

This one also featured a great variety of wines, most of which we tasted. More importantly, this one had a bistro overlooking the lake, so we decided to take a dessert break. The menu at this cafe was great, and the drink menu was even better. Ken drove, so she had a lavender lemonade, and I had this lovely concotion that was called a Champagne Supernova.

On the way back home, I was able to get some good pictures of the boats on the lake.

After a mini-siesta at home, where we caught the end of 1776 on TCM, we headed back out to dinner at Corks and More. This place? Coolest place ever. They had machines like this throughout the restaurant, where you could purchase either a taste, a half glass, or a full glass of over 40 different wines. Between the two of us, we probably tasted about 3/4 of the wines they had.

Corks and More also had a great menu of appetizer-sized portions of various bits of awesomeness, including about 12 different crostini recipes,

a cheese tray with prosciutto,

and shrimp stuffed with crab and cornbread.

There were also quite a few fashion violations here, including a gentleman wearing jorts, sandals, and pulled up sweatsocks; and a gentleman sitting outside on the patio drinking a Miller Lite. Now, there's nothing wrong with Miller Lite, but good lord, you're at a wine bar. Drink wine! His dining companion was rather like me - she kept taking pictures of everything and everyone, and managed to do so all while holding and not spilling her wine.

After dinner, we went down to a park by the lake to wander around. Ken wanted to take a picture of herself in her super cool new Anthropologie dress, and I just like to take pictures of things. I also like to play fashion model, too, although sitting on that post was not a good choice. This is me almost falling off of said post.

I was able to get some good shots of the lighthouse in the distance, though, which was a lovely way to end the evening.

And then we went home, and decided that since McKenna didn't want to be my hat, she would get a new hat of her own. The contempt in her eyes when this happens never ceases to amuse me.