Third Installment of the Banana Slug Chronicles

Dear Reader, as you will recall we left our trio heading to Dry Creek Winery after visiting two great wineries. The road was open and the company was, well, starting to be very giggly. The trio did not intend to stay at Dry Creek for long, just a dash in and then on to the next stop on the list. Dear Reader, you must understand that the BS Club had 8 wineries on their list so ABBA was responsible for keeping the party rolling.

Dry Creek turned out to be one more in a list of great experiences. At this point, the drinkers, the Queen and Sam, began referring to the people serving the wine "barristas" because they couldn't come up with any other way to refer to them and "wine pourers" just didn't have the same zing. The "barrista" at Dry Creek provided not only great suggestions for wine, but great commentary on the wineries in Napa....they are over-crowded and pretentious. At this point, the trio all agreed because they had met outstanding people at the wineries thus far. The barrista, who shall be named Eric, whether that was his name or not, served the Queen and Sam a variety of reds and offered ABBA a cool beverage as well. Since ABBA was the designated driver, she did say thanks, but no thanks, and then did accept a taste of a WONDERFUL Fume Blanc, a smidge of a artichoke tart, and then lots of water.

As the trio left Dry Creek, they realized that the moon was already up in the sky, which seemed odd since it was still early in the day, but they decided to marvel at it and take a picture of it. They couldn't pass up the opportunity since they were visiting wineries in a region called "The Valley of the Moon". Luckily, a very nice lady offered to take a picture of the ladies and since she had experience in photography actually staged the photo so that it did not look as if our heroines were in a line up. She also asked where the group were headed off to next and recommended that they go to a place called the "Family Wineries". This winery is actually a group of smaller boutique, family wineries that came together to provide an outlet for the taste and sale of their wines. After some small discussions, the party decided to divert from the original plan and try out this new recommendation. Kudos to this decision because the Queen and Sam had the opportunity to taste a much wider range of wines than if the ladies had hit up the individual locales.

Sam and the Queen started making their selections with the assitance of the barrista, Sean, from Boston. ABBA opted to take a seat out on the front porch and enjoy the sun and scenery. After a period of time she hears "Andrea, get in here we need your ears!" Mind you, ABBA had mentioned earlier in the day that red wines have and affect on her ears. It turns out that Sam and the Queen could not really distinguish the differences between a couple of the wines and needed a "virgin" set of taste buds. Since ABBA was drinking water, she felt it was okay to take a sip and provide her opinion as to what the affect was on her ears (its all about how the tanins kick in).

The Queen and Sam were becoming quite friendly with Sean, the barrista, and ABBA just watched and was entertained. At one point, Sean and the Queen began a fabulous rendition of Bobby McFerrin's hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and we all recieved great smiley face pins. The Queen acquired a present for her dear husband and then the group headed out to find their next winery adventure.

It was at this point in the travels that ABBA was starting to have quite the challenge of herding the drunks, but this was just adding to the hillarity and enjoyment for all.

That wraps up this installment. Please tune in again and join the ladies as they head to their final two wineries, Blackstone and Imagery.