We wanted to do some wine tasting but we really felt awful, we just were absolutely exhausted and wanted to crawl into bed. We were even debating whether or not to find a hotel for the night because we were nervous about seeing her later that evening... but we figured the worst was over.
Josh and I finally made it to our first wine tasting around noon. We visited D'Anbino and met the owner, who had a great story! He was a newly retired sound engineer who worked on the TV shows "Deadwood" and "Rome," and the movie "Dirty Dancing" plus others. He even won an Emmy for his work! We really enjoyed the wine and conversation, and our day started to look up!
Our next winery was Anglim; it's owned by a husband and wife and we were served by the wife, who was like a cartoon character! She was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, though we realized she definitely misread us when she suggested a $58 per person dinner and wine flight at the best restaurant in town.
The third winery was Orchid Hill, and the woman there was very quiet, reserved and spacey... though we did taste maybe seven wines with generous portions. Honestly, they started to taste the same to me by the end...
We got Applebee's to go for lunch (thanks Beba!) and I fell asleep in the car as we tried to find a fourth winery out in the country. We stopped and ate our "picnic" lunch at a nice vineyard, though we didn't even go into the building.
Someone had mentioned that Eberle did tours of their wine caves so we headed over there after lunch. When we arrived, we were told that we had missed their last cave tour so we just started a regular tasting, but our wine server broke the rules and took us and two other couples on a brief cave tour. The caves were pretty neat!
We went to Rabbit Ridge but they don't offer tastings on weekdays, so Josh just posed for a few photos...
The sun was starting to set as we GPS'ed our way to Serena's house. Things again went downhill once it got dark... she lives in a very rural area with no streetlights and it was difficult trying to find her place in the dark. My GPS led us to an intersection where we found her mailbox, so we followed that dirt road for over a mile, passing many nice houses, though none were hers. I wasn't sure what to do but Josh suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no.... I think I know where she lives!" He drove back to the intersection and down a hidden path that led us to a really terrifying trailer in a junk yard, complete with lots of scrap metal and a creepy shack. I was horrified. I really wanted to leave and go to a hotel, but Josh said it was too late. We left the junk yard and drove the dirt road again, though we still couldn't find her house, and I was praying that she did not live in the junk yard. But then... we found her house!! It was just down the main road, and it was an older, regular house; thank goodness!
We met Serena's sister, Kathryn, Serena's nine year old daughter, and Kathryn's four year old daughter. They put on "The Land Before Time" and we ate homemade chicken soup. Serena came home from work quite late and after the girls had gone to bed, she continued to sell us on her laser. Though we had been pretty awake before she came home, she must have turned on her energy-sucking ability because Josh passed out at 9 PM, which he never does. I was therefore left alone to listen to her propaganda. My favorite was when I asked if there were any negative side effects to using the laser... her response was, "Hmm.. side effects? Yes... you get better sleep, more energy, your eyesight improves... yeah, there's a lot of side effects." I tried to change the subject but she really didn't care about anything I had to say; she just wanted to talk about her laser, crystals, energy.... oh my gosh, I'm exhausted just thinking about that conversation.
My high was talking about our conversation with Serena.. though it was a traumatizing experience, we remembered and laughed about her most ridiculous statements for the rest of the day. Josh's high was visiting the first winery because it was reenergizing and the owner was really cool. Josh's low was the feeling he got after talking to Serena... she honestly thinks that the government is trying to kill three generations with vaccines and cancer in order to save social security. My low was realizing that she is using Couch Surfing to advertise her practice :( My "ho" was thinking she lived in the junk yard; that really would've made things so much worse! Josh's "ho" was calling a supermarket because we needed milk... my GPS found one with a Spanish name so I asked Josh to call them and see if they carried milk.. They answered the phone in Spanish and Josh asked, "Do you have milk?" and they asked, "Que?" so Josh used what little Spanish he knows and said, "Leche! Do you have leche?" to which they responded yes (in Spanish) and laughed. First of all, I can't believe we called a grocery store asking if they had milk, and second of all, we could not go to the store because they would've seen us, the whitiest of whities, and known that we were the idiots who called them. (We later got milk at a Trader Joe's.)
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