Monday, October 27, 2008

Dragon's Teeth

You've been asking if I'd posted all the Maui pics...so I'll take the hint. There are tons more...plus all the Italy pictures. I'll try to get them all up eventually.

On our second day on Maui, Nana and I started exploring with our trusty guide book. One early destination were the "Dragon's Teeth."
It was harder to find than we thought. Over in Kapalua with a path along the Ritz golf course. You'd think that would be easy to find.
So we braved being beaned by errant golf balls on a beautiful but windy day.
This was early in our adventures, so Nana was a little nervous, thinking she wouldn't be able to get down to the teeth. I assured her that I could carry her down and carry her back. She seemed unconvinced, but walked all the way down with me - and back!
These pictures are off the end of the little peninsula. Gorgeous caves, big waves, and breathtaking views. Still very windy, but worth the scrabbling over volcanic rock.




Here are some of the Dragon's Teeth themselves.
I was so proud of Nana and impressed by her trust (mind you...this was BEFORE the injury). Here is how the formation of the Dragon's Teeth is explained on one tourism site:

Dragon’s Teeth is a good example of what can happen when forces of nature collide. As the lava from the West Mau‘i Volcano poured into the ocean, fierce wind and waves forced it back and it cooled into a formation that resembles great black teeth. Makalua-puna Point was created from one of the last lava flows on Maui. However, the lava is a little different from the rest of the lava on Maui - it is much lighter, denser, and fine-grained. The wind sweeping over the point caused the lava to harden in an upward fashion.
Another site has more pictures.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Visit to the Winery at La Grange

It was a perfect day for a visit to a local winery. Fantastic weather, our favorite folks available to join us....and we'd recently met winemaker Chris Pearmund and confirmed that he could use our wine boxes and crates (Reduce! REUSE! Recycle!).

So a few wine consultants headed out to Haymarket on a conservation mission - and to drink some Virginia wine! We were packed in so tight with our collection of cardboard that by the end we had stacks on our laps and were sharing seats.


Gerald at the Winery at La Grange seemed grateful, but surprised by the size of the delivery.

We gathered round to taste 11 wines and selected our picnic foods, which was of prime importance. It was time for lunch.
Melanie poured the wines, told us about them, and kept smiling and pouring despite our silliness and the focus on the lunch choices. As is often the case with Virginia wines, the whites were best. We particularly enjoyed the Pinot Gris and the Chardonnay.

None of the regular reds hit the spot for any of us, but they did have a delicious Port-style wine (named Snort, to get around the appelation requirements) that was super yummy. We grabbed a couple of bottles of the Snort, a Pinot Gris, and went out back to the picnic tables to nosh and laugh.

We were grateful we'd brought a designated driver. Though...he probably preferred the drive out when we were all squished in with - and the sound was muffled by - the boxes.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jenny & Geoff Loved their Custom Label Wines!

Don't they look gorgeous and deliriously happy? Just wait until they taste that Cava. It's fantastic bubbly.

The brilliant and generous Brigette hit a homerun once again. At the shower she gave the happy couple a three-month membership to our fab wine club. It's reported that they love that, too!

For their wedding gift, Brigette ordered a case of wine personalized with the engagement photo. They said that the custom-label wine was one of their favorite wedding gifts.