A Break from Winter in Key West

From January 23 to 28, my hubby, some friends and I took a break from the cold Northeast and headed to Key West for some warm weather, good food and good wine at the Key West Wine and Food Fest 2013.

DAY ONE

One nice thing about this trip is that we all made different travel arrangements so that we could come and go as our schedules allowed. Bob and I decided to fly to Miami and drive the famous Highway One to Key West. What a great way to start our winter escape! We touched down in Miami, picked up our Chrysler 200, rolled down the windows (aahh, what a treat in January for a Centra PA native) and headed down US 1 for an adventure.

Bob got me a CD for Christmas called, "Florida Keys Road Trip". It told the story of the Florida Keys as we drove. What a great way to start our trip; with some "us" time before we met our friends. At one o'clock, we stopped in Marathon to eat at Fish Tails, a sweet little diner with the best Wahoo you ever tasted. We also tried conch (pronounced conk, like a conk on the head) chowder for the first time. Yum.

Not long after lunch, we started getting texts from our friends who had flown straight to Key West. They were anxious for us to get there because they were already knee deep in the party! At about 3:30 we pulled into the parking lot of the Southernmost Hotel. We checked in and found Deb, Todd, Scott and Mary Ann at Wine School. We changed into our swimming suits and joined the fun of live music, sunscreen and mohitos by the pool.

Mary Ann and Scott have been to Key West many times. This was our first time and they were excited to share some of their favorite restaurants and bars with us. When the sun set we headed to Cafe Sole to try some raw conch. I had some blackened grouper that was to die for. Scott suggested the hog fish (it's kind of like snapper) that Bob really liked. We also shared some really good white wine. Key lime pie topped off the meal.

The next day we needed to walk off that dinner so we walked all over the island of Key West. It was a beautiful day to walk and see the sights.  Naturally after all that walking we were hungry.  So we walked into Camille's for a tasty breakfast of omelettes and Cuban toast.

It was pool and sun time for the afternoon, then the Key West Food and Wine Festival began with the Flip Flop Beach Party.  We tasted a variety of wines and foods while the sun set over the water. What a gorgeous day.  You just haven't seen the most beautiful sunset until you have seen it set in Key West. When it slipped into the sea, we all applauded.  What a show!

Our evening fun was the Mallory Square stroll.  We visited about seven different restaurants where we sampled food and wine at each.  It gave us a chance to experience places to dine that we would not have visited otherwise. It was a warm and breezy evening, a thoroughly enjoyable time to be near the harbor with good food, good drink and good friends.

Stay Tuned for Part 2....


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Kidnapped to the Finger Lakes!

Our latest adventure began when we started to plan our friend Todd's 50th party. His wife, Deb, thought it would be fun to plan a surprise trip for him. We decided the Finger Lakes would be a fun destination. So we planned stealthily for months.

On Friday, we picked Deb and Todd up at their house to go to Suzanne and John's for dinner. Todd did not know that Deb already had his weekend bag stowed in John and Suzanne's RV "The Clipper". When we got there, Suzanne said, "Let's have a little party in the camper." Once we opened the camper door, the party began. My husband said, "Don't you think it will be boring to just party in the driveway?", and off we went. At first, Todd was a little disappointed that he wasn't getting one of John's home cooked meals, but he got over it pretty fast when he heard where we were going.

In about an hour and a half, we were in Williamsport. We parked in Wegman's parking lot for the evening and headed for Bullfrog Brewery for dinner. Todd enjoyed a beer sampler. We all ordered appetizers and Bob and I shared a dinner of Walleye. I had never eaten it before. It was really good.

We camped in the Clipper for the night. When we got up it was about 47 degrees inside the camper! Time for some hot coffee and tea at Wegmans. We shopped for our lunch items and then it was time to leave for the Finger Lakes.

The first winery was Ravines. They have some pretty good whites and we were just excited to get started. The second winery was Barrington's. At this winery a limo was stuck in a ditch. We felt bad for the driver. It was only his second week on the job. It didn't stop us from taking a picture though.

Next was McGregor's. This one had a nice atmosphere, a nice girl at the tasting bar and some good white wines. They also let you taste different spreads and jams on crackers too.

Our last stop of the day was Pleasant Valley, but we didn't taste here right now. This was the place we were staying for the night because they are "RV friendly". That means they will let you stay in their parking lot rent free! We had a campfire. John had cooked a great Italian meal of eggplant and ziti that we heated up in the microwave. It was delicious! We booked a tour of Pleasant Valley Winery for the next day and enjoyed our campfire.

Day 2 was just as much fun. We woke up and John made us breakfast sandwiches that would put McDonald's to shame. Our tour guide, Cory came to work and the fun began. Pleasant Valley is one of the oldest Wineries in New York. They began production before the civil war and the history here was amazing. If you go to Pleasant Valley don't skip the tour. It only costs $5.00. They are known for their champagne and sherries so make sure to taste some of those.




Next was my personal favorite winery, Dr. Franks. This place is great because all their wines are good, the people are very friendly and the view while tasting is to die for. We bought a
Riesling/Chardonnay mix.

The last stop was Heron Hill. This place was also awesome. If we had not already blown our wine budget for the weekend, we would have bought some whites here (can you tell we like whites best). They had some really good selections. The tasting bar guy, Eddie, poured tastes that were almost half a glass each. If you are driving yourself, plan to stick around a bit. We broke out our lunch here and ate while taking in the awesome view of Keuka Lake.

We had such a fun time. We are already looking for excuses to go back. Whose birthday comes next?


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Destination: Scary Saturday in Gettysburg

After Friday's excitement we awoke Saturday morning to a really good breakfast out in the garden of the Farnsworth House. I had yogurt with raisins, granola and whipped cream, yum. Hubby Bob and I were helping Seven Mountains Wine Cellars from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Gettysburg Wine and Music Festival.  We were looking forward to our first turns behind the tasting bar.

Breakfast garden at the Farnsworth House

All was going well and sales were brisk.  It was fun to talk to all the people as they came to taste wine. It was almost time for our shift to end when a storm blew in quickly. It was forecast to stay away until evening, but I guess it wanted in on all the fun.

At first it was just a light rain, but very quickly turned into driving rain with strong winds.  The tent we were using threatened to blow away.  Those of us working grabbed onto it at each pole to keep it from collapsing.  Once we did that, we were in it for the duration.  Thank God Scott the winemaker told Gina to unzip the canvas on the side or we would have all blown away!  Mary Ann (Scott's wife) and I were holding down a corner post when the wind really picked up and unhooked the ceiling joint from the post.  We were both too short to hook it together AND hang on so the thing didn't launch into the air.  Lucky for us a strong man who had been tasting earlier came out of nowhere and took over for us.

Wine festival after the storm...

Finally the wind subsided and the rain slowed down. Scott shook his fist and shouted, we beat you! To celebrate we went to dinner at a local ale house. Then we decided to take a look at the battlefied......in the dark. Our friend Todd told us battlefield stories at Spangler's Spring and Culp's Hill. Mary Ann and I were both thankful we had not become Gettysburg ghosts during the storm!

 Spangler's Spring on the battlefield...at night

Check out what happened back at the Farnsworth House when we got back from the battlefield!

Destinations: I Survived the Farnsworth House!

If you read my last post, you know I was more than a little apprehensive about staying in the haunted Farnsworth House in Gettysburg.  Well I'm back and I survived. Here's the weekend rundown.

We headed to Gettysburg on Friday after work. We picked up Mary Ann at Seven Mountains Winery. We got into town about 7:30 p.m. As soon as we hit the square we saw our gang walking down the street.  They directed us to the B and B. We parked the car and headed for dinner. We had 8:30 reservations at the tavern on the square. The food was great (I had a pretzel bread sandwich) and the glass of white wine I had was a perfect way to end my day.

Jeremy's chairs at the bottom of the photo

We decided to do a "ghost hunt" after dinner. It wasn't a ghost walk, you got a bag with ghost hunting tools in it. Things like an energy meter, a voice recorder and a devining rod (that was to ask the spirits yes or no questions and they would make the rods cross for "yes".) After some direction, Jim, the tour leader, took us across the street to where one of the biggest battles of Gettsyburg occured. We were then set loose to hunt for ghosts.  I didn't really find any, although it was fun to play with all the gadgets. Every now and then the energy meters would go into the red. It was too dark to figure out the voice recorders.  My hubby thought it was a giant waste of money and time. I thought it was kind of a hoot, but not in a scary way.

Custer's "Be quick" note at the bottom left.

We were in the "Custer Room".  I got a giant kick out of the framed original note sent by Custer during his last stand to reinforcement troops. All it said was, "Be quick". Guess that didn't work out so well! There were also little chairs in our room for Jeremy, the 3 year old ghost who supposedly haunts the Farnsworth House. I took some pictures around our room to see if anything weird would show up. I was so tired  that I went right to sleep. I woke up at 5:30 a.m...more on that later. Another couple in our group of 18 reported that they had a swinging chandelier and darting lights on their ceiling. They were a little spooked..oooooh.

Is that a ghost blob above the plate??

 

 

The really scary things happened at the wine festival on Saturday. Check back tomorrow for more creepiness....

Destinations: Gettysburg Wine Festival and Spooky Ghosts!

Heading out this weekend to help our friends from Seven Mountains Wine Cellars work the Gettysburg Wine Festival. When I said OK to helping I didn't know it, but Maryann from SMWC booked all of our rooms at the Farnsworth House. This bed and breakfast is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Gettysburg.  I have to say that I'm a little bit nervous about staying there.  I have purposely ingnored any online ghost stories about the place so I'm not scared out of my wits before I even get there.  I'll be tweeting my trip if you would like to follow along @Adair62

Destination: Color Me Rad 5K in Pittsburgh

My sister and I made a lightning run to Pittsburgh to participate in the "Color Me Rad 5K" over the weekend.  We left at about 2 p.m. on Friday and drove to the Country Inns and Suites in Washington, PA. The run was originally scheduled for the North Side of Pittsburgh, but so many people signed up to do it that they had to change it to the Washington Fairgrounds.

Nancy ready to head to "Color Me Rad".

The folks at Country Inns and Suites were very friendly and the room was nice. When we asked for directions to "packet pick-up", we found out the spot was in downtown Pittsburgh, about 50 minutes away (Oiy!) We headed out, but called the organizers on our way.  When we explained our situation they said, "Don't run the whole way up here! Just pick up the packets tomorrow." Awesome.

We were famished so we headed for dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Then it was time to relax in our comfy room and have some girl time before lights out and 6:30 wake-up for the Saturday race.

It was only a seven minute drive from our hotel to the fairgournds. After we parked we got our packets and looked around.  We saw the "Color Bomb Squad" volunteers getting their directions on how to bomb us with brightly colored cornstarch powder. CMR DJ's were already getting the crowd pumped up with music. At the starting line CMR workers were shooting colored powder and free t-shirts from a gun into the crowd. We were in the 5th starting wave.  There looked to be about 100 people or more in each wave.

Starting the waves of participants...all day long!

This was a "fun race".  There were no clocks timing anyone and most people didn't run the entire time. Nancy and I walked. I'm glad because running would have made it end too soon.   The Color Bomb Squad did their job well and painted our white t-shirts, shorts, hats and socks with a rainbow of color. A few of the colors were mixed with water to give us some cool down stations on a hot day. "Flo-photo" photographers were stationed throughout the course to get pictures of the fun. When we finished, we received our own packets of color to bomb people finishing after us.

Sensational Sisters

It was a fun way to end our summer and now we have the souvenirs of tie dyed shirts, shorts, hats and socks to remember our big, colorful, outdoor party in Pittsburgh!

Destination: WGW Weekend Day 3 at PSU

Day three (Saturday) started it at 9 a.m. with an hour long walk to the football stadium.  Then we headed for the cute little coffee shop for some more tea, muffins and scones. Yum. After getting cleaned up, we piled into the cars and headed for Mill Hall.  We went to visit Wanda's parents, brother and niece.  We spent many happy hours on the Yearick family farm in our college days and it was great to see everyone again.

At the family farm with Wanda's dad.

After a delicious homemade dessert, it was off to the Original Italian Pizza so the out-of-towners could have a fix of OIP pizza and subs. Then we headed for LHU and took a long walk around campus and reminisced.  We had to stop for a moment of silence at the spot where the TKE fraternity house recently burned down. After a stop at our old dorm and a walk to look at the beautiful new student housing  suites we were ready to  head back to State College.

Sadness at the spot where TKE used to stand.

Saturday night would be a late dinner at Allen Street Grill.  This is a really nice restaurant that is on the second floor above the Corner Room. Since we were all still really full from our late lunch at OIP, most of us opted for salads.  Mine was an oriental Ahi Tuna salad and it was delicious. It was pretty late when we finished dinner, so we headed back to the hotel to hang out together and talk. The next day would be a big travel day for the out-of-town folks and we needed some rest.

Waiting for a table at Allen St. Grill.

The next morning we got showered and dressed and went for breakfast at The Corner Room.  They have a nice Sunday morning buffet.  My hubby was brave a second time and joined all of us.  We recounted all our escapades for his entertainment.

Bob with us at the Corner Room.

Now it was time to say goodbye and make our plans to get together next year.  The destination may be Pittsburgh..or Savannah.  It all depends on future circumstances.  One thing is certain.  We will be getting together because the roomie weekend makes the summer complete!

Destination: WGW Weekend at PSU Day 2

Day 2 (Friday) of our fun roomie weekend started at about 9 a.m.  We girls need our exercise so we can eat our way through the three nights we are together. A one hour walk around the PSU campus fit the bill.  Not everyone loves to walk, so a few stayed back and took advantage of Days Inn's nice gym and pool. The walk featured a trip past the famous Penn State Creamery.  It was too early for us to get ice cream, although we did think about getting some for breakfast.  We opted for some Chai Tea at a nearby coffed shop instead. Karen said it was the best she ever tasted.  I'm a straight tea kinda gal myself. That was delicious too.


Ready for our limo ride!

After a really good lunch at Panera Bread, it was time to board the stretch limo from Curry Limosine  for a stylish ride to my favorite hangout, Seven Mountains Wine Cellars. Cheryl thought we were getting an airport type limo (a van).  Boy was she surprised. First we did a tasting, then bought a few bottles of our favorites and sat outside for a leisurely afternoon relax. There we met Mary Beth and Steve who were staying at our hotel.  We made plans to meet them later that evening for some dancing.

All of us at Seven Mountains Wine Cellars.

With the winemaker

Next was a tour of the winemaking area.  I've seen it many times, but my roomies seemed very interested and Brandon gave a great tour. Scott the winemaker was so busy he only had time to pose for a brief picture before we headed back to the limo for our ride home. We did some "limo dancing" and singing until Jeff pulled up to our hotel. We kept the party going in our rooms and my hubby Bob even stopped by for a few minutes after work. He is a brave man!

Doing some "limo dancing".

Next it was off to Spatz Cafe for some unique and yummy food. I got some kind of Creole casserole with shrimp, sausage and corn. Now off to a yuppy type bar called Inferno for an after dinner drink.  When our waitress came to serve us, it was a girl I used to teach with.  It was so nice to see her I gave her a big hug. Inferno was a nice place to sit and sip, but now it was time for our annual dance party so we headed for the Shandygaff.  This place has been a PSU landmark since 1848.  Hard to believe but true.  I think maybe some of the furniture from 1848 is still in there! We definitely burned off some of our supper calories by dancing until about midnight. The nice thing about the Shandygaff is the 20 somethings tolerate us "seasoned veterans" with much more grace than most other nightspots. Finally we went back to decompress at Mad Mex for a few minutes before bed.

Karen and I at Shandygaff

Check in tomorrow for a trip down memory lane....

Destination: WGW Weekend at PSU Day 1

My roommate reunion was so much fun!  Day one started around 11:30 a.m at the Days Inn where we met and stayed for 3 nights. All of us were there except for Denise, who had the Odyssy of the never ending plane flights.  She had to make two connections to get to PSU and one was late of course.  We decided on lunch at The Tavern.  It has just recently started to serve lunch.  I love the Tavern because you always get a great meal for a reasonable price. It was wonderful to catch up with my girls.  I hadn't seen most of them since last summer.

Kerri (Wanda's friend) Karen and Wanda at The Tavern.

After lunch we were able to check in to the hotel and get ready to meet Denise at the airport.  Cheryl and I stayed at the hotel and held things down while the rest went in search of Denise.  Soon she was with us and the real fun could begin. Gifts were exchanged and plans were made for dinner.

Cheryl gets a "disposable boyfriend"!

Denise gives us all boca clips to keep our towels on the beach chair.

We decided to head to Cafe 210 West. We opted for sandwiches, salads, cold beer or a nice glass of wine. We headed to some local watering holes for an after dinner drink but Denise didn't bring her ID from the hotel and we were shut down! This hadn't happened to us in many years, but I guess in a college town they card everyone. Lucky for us, Mad Mex, the restaurant at our hotel was lively so we just socialized there until it was time for bed. We needed our sleep. On the schedule for day 2 was a ride in a stretch limo and some wine tasting!

Stay tuned tomorrow for day 2....

Destination: Roommate Reunion

The roomies at Mad Mex

Very soon my college roommates and I will converge on State College for our yearly "Wives Gone Wild" reunion. Many years ago (I'm not going to tell you exactly how many, but Madonna was a newcomer) seven of us shared a house at Lock Haven University. I don't remember much about what I studied that year, but I do remember that we all had a blast. Over the years we got together when we could. Usually we never had all of us together at one time.

In 1999, one of our roomies, Wanda, suffered a benign brain tumor and faced surgery to remove it. She decided to have a "tumor party" before she went under the knife. (Classic Wanda) Since then we have all made it a priority to get together once a year. This year we decided to bring some happiness back to Happy Valley. We will be spending three nights together and I can't wait!



Wanda, Laurie, Denise

We have plans (as usual) to enjoy good food, good drink and good company. One thing I am really looking forward to is a limo ride to Seven Mountains Winer Cellars to do a tasting and a tour. This is somewhere I love to go and I wanted to share it with my girls.

Some other plans include eating at some nice restaurants, dancing at the Shandygaff (where the young ones are very nice to us seasoned veterans) and wing night at Tussey Mountain. I'll be tweeting my trip so if you would like to follow along look me up @Adair62

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