Naramata Bench

July 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!

Off to taste the wines of Naramata Bench!

First stop Therapy Vineyards. Nothing like drinking wine at 10:00 am!

View from Therapy Vineyards

Next stop was Elephant Island Orchard Wines. We got to do our tasting sitting on a beautiful patio overlooking fruit trees. I'm not typically a fan of fruit wine but I really enjoyed Elephant Island and would recommend it as a must visit. We bought a bottle of cherry wine and a bottle of cassis desert wine.


Next stop Laughing Stock Vineyards. The story is the two owners used to work in the stock market. So on their bottles is the date the grapes were harvested as well as stock prices for that day, running around the bottle. The wines have names like Portfolio and Blind Trust. A great stop! This is where we probably bought the most wine, and I met a very cute resident kitten.



Then we went for lunch at Hillside Estate Winery. We enjoyed a great meal on the roof top patio.


Last stop in Naramata was La Frenz. Great wine too. Then we drove back up to Kelowna and stopped at Mission Hill. It was a huge complex with ridiculous tasting fees so we took some pictures and bought some wine we can't get at home and moved on to the next winery. I much prefer the smaller wineries.

Mission Hill

Then on to Quails' Gate where we took a behind the scenes tour which was neat!

Crusher

Corker

Dessert wines are served in dark chocolate cups. A perfect combination!

The last stop was Little Straw, yet another great smaller winery.

After day 2 Jess and I had 3 cases and Tavis had 3 1/2 cases!

That night we all went to Summerhill Pyramid Winery for dinner to celebrate Jesse and I's fourth wedding anniversary. We had a great meal overlooking the lake. I could really get used to this lifestyle!


Then back to the condo for another early night. We had to be up early to get on the road to Vancouver

Vancouver

July 12, 2008

On the road to Vancouver at about 8:00 am. It took Jesse and Tavis the better part of 1 hour to figure out a way to fit 6 1/2 cases of wine in the trunk will all of our luggage. We made great time and got into the hotel around 12:30 pm. The hotel was just up from English Bay. We walked down to the water taxi to head over to Granville Island to meet up with my mom and dad, Jamie, and Julie-Anne, Tavis' parents Rob and Lill, and my cousins Bryan, Deneige and her boyfriend Dan. We had a great lunch on Bridges' Patio drinking sangria. Then onto a Saki distillery to do a tasting. Jesse and Tavis bought a bottle each.

Jesse, Tavis, Dan, Deneige, and Bryan on the water taxi

English Bay

Then we hurried back to the hotel to get ready for the birthday party. It was a great celebration with many tributes and speeches.

Phyllis, Daisy, Bill and Edith.

My cousin Deneige and my Aunt Lill

My uncle Rob, Bill, and Bill M, Phyllis, Daisy, and Edith


The Agnew women always entertain!

July 13, 2008

Happy Birthday Jesse (he turned 29 + 24 months)

On Sunday my family and Tavis' family went for brunch at the Fish House in Stanley Park. Amazing food! Unfortunately Jamie and Julie-Anne had to leave early in the morning to catch their flight.


We left around 2:00 pm with Bryan joining us for the return trip. We stopped at Quails' Gate for appetizers and wine on the patio. It is so beautiful there!

View from the patio

The Aromatic Flight

Then we drove up to Vernon to our hotel and had some wine before heading to bed.

July 14, 2008

Up early to get on the road home. We stopped in Golden for a great lunch. We arrived home at about 5:00 pm or so. What a great trip!

Gull Lake, June

June at the cabin, quite possibly my favorite place in the whole world!

These pictures may seem weird. But for anyone who has come up to the old cabin before we built a new one, you are familiar with having to use the outhouse. As much as I hated having to find a flashlight and run outside to the outhouse in the middle if the night, I was in a strange way sad to see it come down.

The beach

Sunset from the cabin deck

The Girls

Since we don't have kids here are more pictures of the girls. Jesse always complains about living with three girls!

Che, not looking very happy

Halo

Sleepy Cats

Big cat, little cat!

Watching TV

Pretty Halo

Big cat in a little drawer

Hanging out in my office

Europe!

My mom and I recently went to Europe, May 15-28, 2008. We went to Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, Paris and London. Here are some pictures. We did a tour with the company Insight, and really enjoyed it!

Rome to Florence 284 kms, 3 hours

Florence to Venice 277 kms, 3 hours

Venice to Lucerne 515 kms, 6 hours

Lucerne to Paris 664 kms, 6 ½ hours

Paris to London 456 kms, 5 ½ hours

Total 2196 kms

This is our tour group. Taken in Piazzale Michelangelo over looking Florence.

Enjoy!

Sarah