My NW MN Wine Trip, May 14-May 16, 2010

The third annual MN wine trip has come and gone. I am nearly done planning the 4th annual wine trip for 2011, but sadly I have to wait a whole year before that is going to happen! However, in the mean time, hopefully writing about the 2010 trip will help me relive it and not long for the next one quite yet!

This year 7 of us piled into 2 cars and hit the open road for NW MN. Well actually the open road didn't come right away since the first stop was in St Louis Park! About 6 miles away from our brunch stop at Victor's 1959 Cafe (where "wine trip 2010" is now penned on the walls), was our first stop: Warehouse Winery. By appointment only, we were able to schedule a tour of these new winery and enjoy all the rich bodied wines they are creating. My favorite was #3, the Sangiovese blend, it was nice and peppery.

Second stop (and second time Google map failed us) finally brought us to Millner Heritage Vineyard and Winery in Kimball. Opening the tasting doors in May of 2009 (but in operation since 2006) - Millner is one of the newest in MN and they have a strong tie to their heritage (hence the name!). Our host was dressed in a traditional German outfit that was pretty adorable. :) All the wines have a German/Austrian name. My favorite here? Freizeit. Great patio wine for those warm summer evenings! There website is helpful to know how long you can continue to age the wine (if people can actually wait around to drink it!).

We then drove to our rest stop for the night: Brophy Lake Resort. So... who else knew it was fishing opener this wine trip weekend?? The stir that 7 girls made traveling to a resort lake was pretty impressive! And then when the guys realized we couldn't get our fire pit started, oh boy. Finally we had a hero come to our rescue. Although I still claim that we couldn't get the fire started cuz once we realized we needed paper we got distracted and started to read the magazines instead. This resort was so fantastic, I highly recommend it and if you go fishing opener, you get to experience a very interesting subculture!

The next day started with the first of our 6 theme stops....

Then we continued on to the real business at hand, drinking wine! We traveled to Carlos Creek Winery and stayed for much too short of a time. The grounds here are so nice and they had all sorts of activities that we couldn't just stick around for. We did go on a tour here and then quickly slammed some wines. Recently Carlos was taken over by new management, and I think they are still working out their recipes. I had a hard time finding a wine I could name my favorite, but finally sampled Trinity and I really liked it!!

It was then off to a surprisingly wonderful stop: Leatherwood Vinegary. I say surprising because I left with 2 bottles of vinegar and I have never used vinegar in my recipes or meals before! I thought I didn't like it. One man's hobby has turned into a exciting new adventure! Set up in a humble workshop connected to him home, there are endless containers of vinegar of all stages of fermentation. I left with a tangy combo of rosemary and apple and a plain apple cider. Yum.

We had the luxury of not having to stay in a hotel or resort the second night, someone in the group had a cabin right along the travel path! We visited the best Mexican joint in the Northwoods: Companeros. We were all wishing we were wearing stretchy pants by the time we left there!! Once back for the evening, we watched loons dive for endless minutes and ran from june bugs.

The next morning was lazy and wonderful. We only had 1 winery left: Forestedge Winery. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant. All their wines are fruit wines and well, the thought of drinking sweet fruit wines was not appealing after a weekend of wine tasting. But before we were were going to see if we could handle it, we had theme stop #2!

Ok! Now we could drink down some syrup...however, we were in a treat for a treat - these wines were dry, not syrupy sweet! The black currant and rhubarb raspberry were both my favorite. Great stop!

We then had the long drive home from Laporte to Minneapolis, thankfully we had 4 kodak moments to stop at!!

Foshay Observation Deck

The skyline of Minneapolis was a different place in 1929 when the tallest building opened and held that title for 40 years. It may not be the tallest building in 2010, but it is rooted in downtown liked an old oak tree. Recently it had a rebirth and now holds a trendy nightclub, a trendy bar on the 27th floor and a trendy hotel, however the 30th floor is not so trendy... but instead transports you back to the "conspicuous consumption" era of the 1920s.

When you enter the Foshay Tower (on Marquette and 8th), held straight to the info desk of the W hotel. After handing over a chunk of cash ($8 for adults), you will get a special key card that takes you to the 30th level.


The museum is lined with old papers and letters highlighting the history of the Foshay. Hanging on the walls in 2 places is an electronic screen that will play videos outlining the past and current stories this building has had. One of the most interesting things I retained is that each floor is 4.5 inches shorter than the one beneath it. Therefore plumbing and duct work has to be offset at each level, which leads to quite an engineering feat! After wandering and reading gobs of memorabilia for a good 45 minutes, I finally climbed the final steps to the open air observation deck. And here are a few of like the 42 pictures I took....






Open Monday - Saturday from 12pm - 9pm
Open Sunday from 12pm - 6pm

Observation Deck Winter House are subject to the weather - call ahead (612-215-3700)

Midwest wine tour season has started!

First winery visit of the season: Hook Stone Winery

Tucked right in with all the tourist shops lining main street is a little wine tasting room right in Hayward, WI. Four dollars will get a full tasting and a glass etched with the winery's name and "mascot". In addition to having fun wines like "Campfire" and "Rock Bass", the shelves are also lined with great food items like olive oils, mustards and sauces. I fell for the olive oils which were lined up right by the front door. These oils were different in that the olives are pressed right along side the accompanying flavors. For instance, the roasted garlic is pressed right with the olives as opposed to the olives being pressed, then infusing the oil later with the flavor. Pressing together allows for a much more predominate flavor and richness.

All wines are made on premises with grapes from California and Washington. I really enjoyed the whites. The reds were all pretty oaky. The port was my "best in show" - it is non-fortified (meaning no brandy added) and I thought it was just lovely.

Address:
10588N Main Street
Hayward, WI 54843

Phone:
715-634-WINE (9463)

Atlanta trip: February 26 -March 1, 2010

Travel Log

Finally! It seemed like forever since I had gone on a trip!! This winter has been a long one (I think we - Minnesotans - say that every year, but really, this one seems like the worst in a long time) and I really needed to get away and not see snow. So after searching and searching on Expedia, I found a great deal to Atlanta. Rachel was going to be the travel companion on this trip til, well one diabetic cat later and it wasn't looking good. So turns out Neville was also looking to get away so I still had a travel buddy!

Friday
I had to get up before the crack of dawn, I didn't believe the sun was ever going to rise. It finally did when the plane took off! Oh well, at least during these early morning hours I had the meat raffle to entertain me!
I won 1 dollar! Well it wasn't enough to pay for the trip, but it was lunch time and I was ready to start spending some money! About a block away from our hotel was Steel. Odd place, I couldn't tell until we got a menu that this was an Asian restaurant! It was vacation so that meant wine with lunch! The server asked if we were celebrating something. hee hee.

A full stomach and I was ready to start exploring the city. First tour of the trip: the Federal Reserve Bank. The very first thing on the tour was a map showing where all the Federal Reserve banks were...um, Minneapolis was on that list. I didn't even realize, then I was worried that I could be going on this same tour back home - how lame would that be? Turns out Atlanta is the only one that has such a display. It was pretty neat, the museum part had all sorts of old money and items that use to be used as money. You got to inspect counterfeit bills and lift a gold bar. And you leave with a bag of real shredded money. Fun times.

What to do the first evening in a new town? How about tour a brewery!? Jen and I had read about a crazy place called Sweetwater Brewery. We didn't realize how crazy it was until we there there. It was like being a college house party again. If you ever want a refill on a beer you need to stay in a constant line or you are never getting back to the front again. After sampling all their beers, it was time to get out of there! It wasn't worth the $32 round trip cab ride, but I did love their blueberry beer. On a nice night it would have been fun to be outside and wander the grounds, but all being crammed into the building was a little too much for me.

Time for dinner! We headed back to our hotel and thought we would try another restaurant that was just across the street, Prickly Pear Taqueria. Not the best Mexican, but it was close and warm. This restaurant was one of several I saw on the trip - a joint Mexican and Pizza restaurant. Kinda of like an upscale joint Pizza Hut and Taco Bell combo! Oh and another unique restaurant type in the Atlanta area - a place that serves salads, just salads.

Saturday
After a nice, lazy, vacation morning, we decided to head out and explore some more. Next on the bracket - the CNN tour. Sadly, the earthquake in Chile had just hit in the middle of the night so this Saturday CNN tour was a bit more happening then other typical Saturdays. Our tour guide was pretty pumped that Rich Sanchez was there.

After the tour we stayed in the busy CNN center and ate at Dantanna's. This is a total sports bar place, with fun over-sized booths that have individual flat screen TVs, although we were seated at a boring table. Food was pretty good!

We thought we would check out Piedmont Park on the way back to the hotel. All the travel guides say to go here, but maybe because it was out of season, but it wasn't that cool. Just endless stretches of dead grass. For dinner we met up with Jen's aunt. It was so nice to let a local drive and decide where to go! She picked a great place, La Tavola. Great Italian food.

We were home early enough from dinner to run over to the liquor store across the street and then go back and rent a cheesy movie off cable. My favorite thing to do on vacation is rent a movie off cable!

Sunday
We still had a lot to see and this was our last full day! Got an early start to the morning and took the MARTA to Oakland Cemetery. Founded in 1850 this cemetery is filled with so many interesting things. Old epitaphs to read and old headstones to inspect... we spent a lot of time here.

I do a lot of research before trips and I didn't hear about the Cyclorama until we were in Atlanta. Such a shame, they need to boast their marketing skills cuz this place needs more visitors! It was fantastic! A giant oil painting completed in 1886 that is now strung up in a circle with a diorama blended into it, you get to view it by setting in a rotating stage that takes you through the 360 degree view of the battle of Atlanta.

I was starved at this point and we had past a cute little neighborhood joint called Dakota Blue. Tables filled with young, hip, artsy couples and local art hangs on the walls. I left with a new craving, jalapeño cheese grits from Dakota Blue. Yum!

Grant Park was a really neat neighborhood. We even checked out a couple of open houses in the area to see what the houses were like there. Grant Park totally beats Piedmont Park!

Well, time for the most touristy thing a person could do, The World of Coca-Cola. This is one long commercial, a commercial I didn't want to change the channel on! :) We got to view old memorabilia and old commercials. There was a 4D movie we watched twice. And then the finale, sampling 50 different Coke products from around the world! I stopped drinking Coke about 4 months back so I was nervous how this would go... thankfully I didn't stick my head under the soda fountain and just let the soda pour directly into my mouth!

As soon as we stepped on the MARTA to head back to the room to refreshen before dinner, someone started to yell, "the girl in the blue coat! the girl in the blue coat!" I can't even stress how much I didn't want to be wearing a blue coat at this time. I look up and this other guy started to introduce himself to me saying that he was a retired clown and now does magic tricks for entertainment (and tips). Oh god. I don't what is worse, a random guy yelling at me or a retired clown. Turns out it was all pretty hilarious. The clown hid a scarf in his sleeve and made it reappear under the sleeve of my jacket. Too funny.

The whole time we had been avoiding Marlow's Tavern, another restaurant across the street from the hotel, it looked chainy and meat laden. However, we didn't want to pay for a cab ride so we decided to give it a try. I am glad we did! Dinner was great, and they were happy to have us for hours (which I love to settle in a booth,with a good friend and a bottle of wine and not think about leaving the safety of booth life and entering the scary world again). The server was adorable and we got free asparagus fries, life was good.

Monday
Last day. :( Thankfully our plane didn't leave til mid-afternoon so we figured we had time to do one more thing... tour the Fox Theater. The outside is so nondescript, so I couldn't believe the inside when I saw it. Unbelievable. I got to sit in a chair valued at $50,000! Our 1 1/2 hour tour turned into 2+ hours by the end, but that is ok. I totally enjoyed poking around every nook and cranny. I just can't believe some guy gets to live there. He is like the protector of the Theater and they let him convert some old offices into a 2 story apartment. Lucky.

One last lunch before it was time to head to the airport. Right across from Fox Theater was a good looking place, Baraonda Caffe Italiano. They had pizza! For some reason I had been craving pizza the whole trip so I finally got my fix. Now I go could to the airport and head home...

Float Tank

I have to write a bit about this morning's adventure: The Float Tank

First, spa week is just one more thing that makes Fall awesome! Every October several spas around town participate in offering select treatments for $50 - sometimes this offers huge discounts! For instance, I have had my eye on the Float Tank plus massage at the Wellness Center in Minneapolis. Normally this would cost $80, so once spa week rolled around I knew it was time to make this appointment!

So what exactly is the Float Tank? Well, it is like a sensory deprivation tank. But I punked out and had the music pumped into the tank the whole time and I left a towel in the tank door so a bit of light came in. The tank itself is about 6 or 7 feet long and maybe 4 feet wide and has 9 inches of salted, heated (to body temp) water. Normally you would float for 90 minutes, but because of the spa week discount the float time is 60 minutes, which is more than enough time! The first 30 minutes I probably just played in the salt water! HA! It is crazy though - you can't help but float! It took me a few minutes to really believe that and let my neck relax.

There is a salt smell that eventually you get use to, not sure how "true" sensory deprivation tanks deal with that. After a while I really relaxed and "floated away". At some point I floated over to the side wall and my elbow hit the wall and I completely freaked out. I didn't realize I was moving and I thought a fish or something got in the tank! heehee. The treatment finished with a good, tension relieving massage. Ah....

Minnesota State Capitol

What is my next favorite thing to do when I can't visit a winery? Go on a tour! I prefer the tours to be historical in nature, but also to have something unique about it. So the Quadriga (yeah, I still can't say it so don't ask) Evening Viewing and Tour at the Minnesota State Capitol was right up my alley. I tried to attend this tour last year and it didn't work out so I was even more determined to go this year! I have never been to the State Capitol. I don't know how that happened. I have been here all my life and since I have committed to making this my home I felt I had to go. It was pretty sweet. Construction, on the 3rd capitol building MN has had, took 9 years and finished in 1905. This is one of those buildings that you are just not going to find anymore, modern construction is really a big failure when it comes to beauty and presence. The building's estimated value now is $400 million dollars and yup, that sounds about right.

The tour itself was 90 minutes and included the much acclaimed climb to the rooftop for a close up view of the Quadriga. What is the Quadriga? Yeah, it is the fancy word for the 4 gold horses on top of the capitol. Turns out Quadriga is just 4 horses pulling a car or chariot. And according to Wikipedia, there are 13 significant ones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadriga. Now my new goal in life is to visit all those listed on Wikipedia's page. The one on the MN capitol is titled "Progress of the State". So the horses were cool and all, but sadly the approach you view them at pretty much leaves you with a bunch of pictures of the horse's ass.

The most unfortunate part of the tour? The 3 costumed characters that you "run" into while on the tour. I didn't know about this. "Oh, fancy running into you, Mr. Sibley - the first MN state governor who served from May 24, 1858, until January 2, 1860". Sigh. The people wore time-period inspired clothing and did their little act, thankfully it was over quick and it gave me more time to figure out my camera. Seriously, I spent half the tour trying to figure out where the setting for "inside/low light" was. I know I have that setting. I never found it. Help me. Oh well, I still enjoyed seeing the building - it is pretty impressive!


Oh and look - someone spent 100 hours to create the capitol using Lego's!

~Posted by Ann

Lake Pepin Weekend: August 2009

Travel Log

Ghost Squadron Vacations Together Again! (that would have been the headline, if we produced a paper) The last time we all traveled together, as such a large group, was for a wedding in Disney World WAY back in 2003. I would say it was about time. Of course there was talk of an "epic" trip, you know the kind that puts us on the road for 36 hours again or the kind that puts us in an airplane again, but there just wasn't the time to pull that off. Instead, we got to do my favorite thing - explore the sights that are within a couple of hours from my house. I really think Minnesota (and Wisconsin) have a lot to offer to the local explorer!

We are all becoming so spread out that we thought it best to meet at a central location that would be on the way to our final destination. A restaurant makes for an ideal "central location", so Levee Cafe in Hastings was our ground zero. It is your normal Midwest restaurant, specializing in burgers and sandwiches. The food was OK, although I would say it was the train that traveled around the tracks above our heads that really excited us. Since we were Hastings, it probably would have been sacrilege to not stop at the Alexis Bailly Winery. It was such a great day out, the kind of day that calls for an early afternoon stop at a winery where you can order a couple of bottles of wine and play lawn bowling among the grape vines. Alexis Bailly filled that role perfectly! Such a great stop.

The true scheduled winery stop was at Maiden Rock Winery and Cidery. I was so excited to go to a producer of hard cider, but sadly all cider for the year had been sold out long before we ever got there. So I imagine Maiden Rock Cider will now be something that haunts me until the day I finally get to sample it. They have free wine tasting, which we did partake in and learned that Maiden Rock only produces one kind of wine (and it is apple). All other wines that they sell are from wineries in the area.

Well, wouldcha look at that, time flew and we could now "check-in" to our cottage. Oh wow, was this place special. Just the drive up the bluff was stunning. Once you turn onto the gravel road that butts up against crop fields you are know you are entering a special land. The actual driveway meanders for quiet some time - long enough to block out all signs of civilization and noise. You finally reach a clearing that perfectly fits 3 parked cars and even still you can't see the cottage. All you see are 2 lions, flanking a stone pathway. A few feet onto the path and then bang! you curve around and there stands the most charming home. The A-frame with wood shingles is just like that fairy house I have sitting in my garden, except this one is real and I get to sleep in it! You enter, through the heavy wood door with rod iron accents, to soaring ceilings and breath taking views of the lake. However, I now just have to point out the lamp. They is no taking in the view without spotting the lamp that sits in front of the paned windows. The furry, 4 footed lamp. I had to turn that lamp off one night and as my hand grazed the leg of that poor departed deer, I gagged, just a bit.

After I ran around like a fool, snapping pictures and exploring our borrowed weekend home, it was time to have a cocktail on the deck and discuss dinner. No one wanted to grocery shop right then, so best eat out. I had been reading and hearing a bunch about Harbor View Cafe in Pepin, WI and really pushed for that. Again, it was OK. Pricey to start and then you start adding drinks well, then it is real pricey. And they don't take plastic. And there isn't even an ATM on site. Sigh. I have to say though, the chocolate buttercream pie we had to end the evening was just the best thing I have had in a real long time. Time to head back to the cottage, lit a fire in that giant stone fireplace and relax (or play a board game or two).

The chill was in the air when we woke up the next morning! We all sort of milled about in the morning and finally got going around noon. There was no real destination, except maybe the cheese factory in Nelson, but we were passing by Stockholm and thought that would offer a place to grab food. Before we ate though, a couple of people in our group knew a couple that lived there, in Stockholm, and had created a showpiece garden. A picture perfect French garden, used for weddings and featured in magazines. So we invaded. They let us roam their grounds and tour their 1850 civil war era home (no running water/kitchen/bathroom makes this not their "true" home, that is actually next door). It was fun! Then we got to eat. At this point in the day we started to split up.. girls going one way the boys the next. Half went to Bogus Creek Cafe (my best meal of the weekend) and the other half to Gelly's Eatery.

Us girls continued on to Nelson Cheese Factory. Real shame they don't offer and samples of the cheese (or even the wine). After I bought out the store, we got to stop at my favorite kind of store: an Unclaimed Freight store! I couldn't believe there was one, there, on the side of the road! These places are fantastic - you never know what you find! Anything from the evening entertainment (a horror movie) to lesson material for your 3rd grade class! Next stop was the Little House on the Prairie museum and house in Pepin. Boys don't know what they missed! I think the best part though was just retelling our favorite episodes and quizzing ourselves on what we remembered. It was getting to be that time, that if we wanted to eat anytime soon we best buy some food and start preparing it. Timing all that food for 9 people is tough. We have got corn, meat, potatoes, salad, bread, etc - everything that cooks at different speeds. But oh well, we got our bellies full eventually! And it was yummy!!

The evening wrapped up with some viewing the horror movie (purchased at the Unclaimed Freight store!) and other retreating to the grotto under the house. This grotto was my favorite thing ever. One wall was floor to ceiling screens, with a flagstone floor and thick stone walls. It was fun to stand right next to the screen and see if you could handle the bats swooping inches from the screen without flinching. It was my own kind of horror movie!

Sunday arrived too quick. 2 people from our group left before I even got out of bed, our weekend trip was quickly coming to an end. The 7 of us that remained had a great breakfast, but then all too quickly another group of 3 left us. We were down to 4, the holdouts that bummed around on the deck, squeezing out a few more minutes of the kind of peace you only experience in a place like that, but then we packed up and headed home.

~Posted by Ann