Category: Pictures

06-05-2012 Nothing is Everything

We awoke a bit later today, all that bone fishing produced quite a need for rest. We decided to venture via car today and see the island. After a quick bite at the villa, we packed the car with beach chairs, umbrella, a cooler of beer, and hit the road. To leave Harbour Club Villas, you must travel a few miles on an unpaved road that we have come to enjoy – it is a true off road experience and Chad gets bolder with each attempt! After bumping our way along Venetian Road, we hit the main drag of the island, Leeward Highway. The road extends as the vein of the island, with many roundabouts along the way. Each roundabout is an adventure as well, so many tourists and locals mixing on these terrifying little turnstiles, it really gets the nerves racing as you approach each one, hoping for a smooth landing on the other side.

I was elected navigator, a job that I failed MISERABLY today! The map spread across my lap, you would think I could help Chad get somewhere – wrong answer. I was so discombobulated that I eventually just chucked the map and we decided to see what would happen. Providenciales is still a pretty undeveloped place – while there are basic staples such as a supermarket, power company, and of course a liquor store – there really isn’t much else. As we moved through the island, many locals were walking to work or waiting for rides. We saw school buses and small houses as we headed toward the beach. Our goal was to find a spit of beach that we could relax and snorkel. After a good car tour of the island and, of course, we scouted a place to eventually land for lunch, we made our way into the Grace Bay National Park and decided on its beautiful spread of beach. The sand was white and warm, the water was a perfect aquamarine with a clear view of the pristine bottom. We settled ourselves on the beach and immediately decided to snorkel. There wasn’t much in the way of exotic sites to see, but we were thankful for the cool water. The beach was pretty much empty, despite some adorable local boys frolicking in the surf. As we continued to snorkel, I noticed some older teenage boys moving down the beach and my instinct was to get closer to our belongings in case something looked exciting to take. Little did I know, my concern should not have been for those boys, it should have been for my own legs! As I looked back down in the water in front of me, a four foot barracuda swam, literally, a foot from me! He was a big sucker, and I just about lost it right there in the water. Chad was close to me and was startled as well at how close it had gotten. That is a lesson in being aware of your surroundings, while you may think you see something that needs attention far away, you really need to be aware of the things closer to you that may present more danger!

We enjoyed the water for a bit longer and more local families arrived to enjoy the park. Today was a national holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Since this is British territory, the island enjoyed a three day holiday. The families spoke different languages, some English, some others, but they all interacted just like any other family – it was neat to see local people enjoying their island. Beer-thirty was upon us and a cold Turk’s Head and some sun kept us busy for a few hours. We lounged and watched people up the beach parasailing, paddle boarding, and kayaking around their resort areas. We even spotted a HUGE yacht anchored out in our view and we speculated on who was visiting TCI on that monster of a boat. The heat eventually set in and we needed to seek shade and food.

We drove to Horse Eyed Jacks, a cool rounded tiki bar with blaring music and a cool vibe. Set right on the beach in Blue Hills, the beautiful conchs and bar atmosphere made this a great choice. Two Presidente beers started our experience, following by cracked conch, a panko battered conch served with a spicy sauce – crispy delicious! For lunch, I ordered the jerk chicken with peas and rice – a local version of beans and rice. Chad ordered jerk pork with peas and rice. The flavor on the meat was spicy and dark, a vibrant jerk flavor of the island. We shared our lunches so that both of us got to try the chicken and pork. After lunch, I found my way to a little table of jewelry that was manned by a local lady. I bought a beautiful carved ring as a keepsake of this experience.

It was clear the sun had sucked the life out of us, so we headed back to the pool at the villa.  At this point, our plan was to get out of the sun for the afternoon, reemerge in the evening, and head out for dinner. What is so great about days without an agenda is that sometimes, you just can’t be bothered. As sunset was upon us, we ventured back out to the pool. We made plans…. to do nothing and relax! No sunset on the beach, no dinner in town, no stroll to the marina, we just wanted to hang out poolside and have some drinks.

As we lounged, Barry came out to visit with us and we talked shop. The couple whom just arrived also came to the pool and grilled steaks. We had a pleasant conversation with them, learned they were honeymooners from Canada. We told them, marriage is awesome and it just keeps getting better. They were happy to be here, but were as taken back by the heat as we were on our first day. Having been here for multiple days now, we just take it in stride. We retired back to our villa and Chad cooked the most delicious cheeseburgers. I made a salad with large chunks of tomato, celery, cucumber, and carrot. We ate dinner on the porch outside the villa, next to the light of the hurricane lamp. It was an early night for us, as we had Darin awaiting us at 7AM for another day of bone fishing in the morning. Ah, this is the life! A full day of relaxation and enjoying each other, life is good!

Check out some video of our drive…

06-04-12 Bonefishing in the Turks and Caicos

We started the day at 6:30 with the sun. After a quick breakfast of a bagel and a banana, we started the drive down to the Walk-In Marina where we would meet Darin Bain, our guide for the day from D.B. Tours. Darin is a man of few words, friendly but quiet. We made the quick run by skiff to his first destination and I was the first on the casting deck. It is funny how being on the casting deck feels like you are on stage and everyone is watching.

We quickly spotted our first bonefish of the day, I made the cast, and the line smacked the mirror-like water… bad presentation. My next attempt was to a couple of cruisers, and I dropped the fly right on their noses…. bad presentation. Soon after, Darin whispered “bone at 9:00, 30 feet, you see that mangrove?” I did, and I laid the fly down right in the sweet spot. The bonefish turned and followed the fly. Strip, strip, pause… strip, and he eats the fly and instantly tears off 15 feet of fly line as he ran in to the mangrove. POP! This bonefish swims away with a Pink Gotcha lip piercing, and as if to taunt me, swims in front of the boat within reach for about 5 minutes. The water was so clear that you could clearly see his fashion statement.

“You see the school, 11:00, no 11:30… 50 feet?” I see it, maybe 10 fish together rooting around looking for something tasty. I make the cast, 50 feet is a long cast for me, well if I want to do it delicately. The fly lands short, so I water haul, and get about 5 feet closer. “Cast again.” I water haul again and get maybe another 5 feet, but this time the fly lands in the zone. I feel the tug that I have missed since Belize, and then strip set the hook, before I know it, the fish has stripped the line at my feet through my hands… feel the burn, and then another 30 feet of fly line off of the reel. The running fish spooks the school which I had underestimated; there were maybe 30-40 fish there.

I play the fish conservatively, really savoring it. Right as I get him about 10 feet from the boat, he makes another run of about 50 feet.  This would repeat once more before finally landing the beautiful 5 or so pounder. Marci did a wonderful job of videoing the experience and got an amazing underwater shot of the fish swimming off.

Knowing that the school had spooked, Darin decided to motor to another spot. This time Marci, is on stage. Darin silently poles the boat close to another school of 10 or so fish. Marci spots them and makes the cast, falling just short of the target. She strips in some line and casts again. Strip, strip, strip… there are three fish following. Pause, the leading fish takes the fly and before Marci even realizes, 100 feet of fly line are off of the reel, taking her in to the backing. Another blistering run and another 50 feet of backing is gone. She played the fish beautifully, and landed her first Turks and Caicos bone, an impressive fish of at least 5 pounds.

The bonefishing in the Turks and Caicos is different than what we experienced in Belize. The fish are larger and the schools smaller. We spent a lot of time stalking, and when you did find a lone fish or a small school, you had to make a perfect presentation. I landed one more bonefish this day for a total of 2 fish out of maybe 10 attempts. We did see a small school of permit, and I made several good casts to them, but being the spaz of the sea, they could not be bothered. Tough fishing, but the rewards were larger fish.

We enjoyed a dip in the pool after the fishing trip and then had our afternoon siesta. I woke up and went down to fish the channel later in the day. I hooked up with what felt like a good sized jack, but lost him as he turned and ran towards me. Cocktail hour soon called, as did the cool pool. Marci and I enjoyed some quiet time alone at the Harbour Club Villas before the next guests arrived. For dinner, we purchased 2 whole local snapper from the market. We stuffed the snapper with couscous, butter, and citrus, wrapped it in a foil pouch, and I cooked it on the grill low and slow for about 30 minutes. Marci made wonderful plantains and we enjoyed a hurricane candlelight dinner at the table outside of our villa, enjoying our meal over a bottle of white wine. We were both feeling adventurous and even decided to try the eyes of the snapper. Amazingly, it actually tastes like muscles, sort of briny.

Marci and I enjoy a good adventure, and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos fits the bill. This place is rugged, not over developed yet, and still full of natural beauty.  The fishing was tough today, the relaxation, and fun together however, came quite naturally.

Check out the video of Marci and I’s first Turks and Caicos bonefish!

06-03-2012 Decompression

Our first full day proved to be an exercise in decompression. For me, vacation is a complete separation from the mental juggernaut of work and stress. Coming to a place that requires little/no human interaction, copious amounts of good food and drink – along with a my very own dashing best friend/husband to share it all with – and a girl can start to get some relaxing done!

An early breakfast, complete with strong Café Bustelo coffee got the day started right in our kitchen. Right in front of our villa is Flamingo Lake, out first target to fish for the day. We packed up the fly rods, applied copious amounts of sunscreen, and headed to fish the flats of the lake. The lake has easy access along the shore, so we literally stepped out onto the flats and were fishing in minutes. The water was fairly still, but proved to produce no fish for catching – after some time casting and stalking, we decided to load up the car and head down the road. Where the lake narrows and moves out to sea, there looked to be some large barracuda. The water is so clear – you can see the fish even quite a few yards off! Chad almost connected with one, he was about to recast and the barracuda jumped out of the water at his fly! My attempts also were in vain – a barracuda also snapped a fly right off my line. By 11, the heat starts to set in, so we packed up the rods and headed back to the villa – a cold beer was in our near future.

The pool is super refreshing after a few hours of fishing. Once we got back, beer in hand, wading in the pool – we watched as the only other guests in the complex left – we officially have the entire place to ourselves! For one night at least, I believe others are arriving tomorrow. We really enjoy these places off the normal path – Turks and Caicos is definitely on the rise as a Caribbean destination. Hotels line the north shore of the island. I specifically chose Harbour Club Villas for its size and seclusion on the south side. There are no loud poolside bars, no all-night deejay party fests, no rat race – this place is a quiet gem amidst the slower side of Provincials.

After some cool down in the pool, we made lunch in the villa and then nestled in for a nap. During the hot hours of the day, it is best to siesta! The pool seemed the logical place to relax the remaining part of the afternoon. Barry, one of the owners, chatted with us for a long time about the history of the place. He and Marta have an amazing set up here, a real retirement plan to admire! Cocktail hour soon was upon us – a daily ritual for us!  Chad and I covet the special time that is cocktail hour in our day. At home, we spend many cocktail hours talking through our day, our goals, sometimes politics, sometimes just laughs. Today’s ritual included a beautiful spread of treats, we brought out some goat cheese, pepper jack cheese, pork pate, and green olives. I also made some rum mango drinks – I blended fresh mango, light rum, milk, and ice into a fruity treat. My recipe turned out to be a better granita than a boat drink. So, we froze the concoction for a treat later in the week. Oh bother, instead of a mango drink, we had to have Turks Head beers and rum and cokes – the world is such a cruel place!

Right before sunset, Chad went out to fish the marina for a bit. I chose to keep the pool occupied and started reading a novel. At sunset, I joined Chad past the marina on the beach. It was amazing, on one side of the horizon was the setting sun, and on the other, a gorgeous full moon rising.

Evening was low key, we really wanted to get an early turn in so that we were fresh for our bone fishing charter in the morning. This place is beautiful and I am so thankful we are here!

 

06-02-12 We have arrived

We started our day bright and early today. Our flight was at 9:00am, so we met my parents at their house so that they could drop us off at the airport at around 6:30. After a smooth check in with the airline, we bumped in to my old pal Bill waiting to get through security. He was on his way out to a job in in San Francisco. He joined us for breakfast and we all caught up. Flight times grew near so we parted ways and Marci and I boarded our plan to Miami. We arrived in Miami after a short trip and had about a 2 hour layover. Marci and I enjoyed a salad and Bloody Mary at Shula’s while we waited to board the flight to Providenciales.

We boarded the flight to Providenciales, which was probably ¾ full. It seemed that many were headed down to a large wedding that was to be held at the Beaches report. Right before we started to taxi away from the gate, a gal a few rows up received a call from someone already on the island who said that Beaches had been quarantined due to a virus that had already shutdown another resort. This news got the plane full of people buzzing.

Marci and I had caught wind of the story about the virus the week prior on Trip Advisor, but we figured that we had waited this long to go on vacation, so we were going hell or high water. Since the Turks and Caicos are in the middle of the Caribbean and we were headed down in June, we had already bought travel insurance in case of a hurricane. This insurance also included a medevac out so, if the virus did strike us, we figured we could get out if we needed to. We had also made the choice to forgo the crowds and all-inclusive resorts for a more intimate alternative, the Harbour Villas. The Harbour Villas were on the opposite side of the island, and we figured we would probably be seeing more wildlife than people. That is more of our style.

We arrived at Providenciales, cleared customs, and met our rental car agent. I was a bit apprehensive about driving on the opposite side of the road before we arrived, but found that I took to it quite naturally. Marci on the other hand was not immediately comfortable, which got us both cracking up. She has only had to warn me one or twice… “OTHER SIDE!” The major highway is paved but you will not find a stoplight on the island. Instead you will find roundabouts of different sizes, which does take some getting used to when doing everything backwards. However, we quickly figured it out and made it safe and sound to Harbour Club Villas.

Upon arriving, we were quickly greeted with open arms by Marta and Barry, whom you immediately feel that you have known forever. They showed us to our villa, which is a quaint but rustic little home for the week. The villas are decorated in wicker and bamboo in island style. The view from the living room overlooks Flamingo Lake and there is a full sized kitchen. There is no central air in the villas but there is a small AC unit in the bedroom which will keep you cool at night. There are open storm shutters on the windows which allow the warm island breeze through the villa.

We chatted with Marta and Barry for quite some time and they showed us some prime fishing and private beach locations on the map. They then took us over to the pool area and showed us their little lady… a momma humming bird sitting on her little nest guarding two white eggs about the size of jelly beans. COOL! Barry also let us know that there are no drinking and driving laws on the island so to not be alarmed if we saw folks driving with a beer in their hand. This also meant it would probably be safer to not be on the roads too late.

One of the best ways to get a feel for a new place is to check out the markets, so after stopping by to pick up a couple of fishing licenses from the local marina, we went to the Wine Cellar (the local importer) to pick up some libations. Being an island nation, most everything is imported so you will find the prices to be quite high compared to the states. Imported beer, such as Coors or Miller lite will run you around $20 for a 6-pack… SERIOUSLY. Marci and I opted for the local beer, Turk’s Head which ran about $40 for the case. We also picked up some whiskey and rum, which in all honesty, was not priced too bad, and will last longer. Funny thing, they have cops stationed at the door of the liquor store – I wonder why?! After stocking up on the important stuff, we went to the IGA supermarket to pick up some food. The supermarket was packed, an eclectic mix of local families and tourists. The market had everything you could ever want – we were impressed with the selection. Beautiful fruit and vegetables, fresh breads, cheese, cold cuts, pâtés, meat, fish, etc so we stocked up for a few days of cooking in our nice villa kitchen.

After provisioning the house, it was time for cocktails and some exploring. We drove down the road about a mile from the villa and found a secluded beach to watch the sunset. It was a bit hazy, but very tranquil on the stretch of sand. Marci and I spent a few minutes saying how blessed we were to be here and what a great week was ahead.
When we go back to the villa, we decided to walk down to the marina to check out the view. We immediately met a group of salty dogs congregating at the dock sharing some fruit and drinking some beers. They were super friendly and invited us to sit down, who could resist? Two couples from Texas were sailing a catamaran from St. Marten back home and were only in for the night. The other couple was dive masters that worked out of the marina. We shared stories and laughed for quite some time, but Marci and I finally decided it was time for a dip in the pool and a late dinner. I fired up the grill around 9:00 I think and we celebrated our first night with a couple of rib-eyes and baked potatoes. It was a good first day of exploring the island and getting acclimated.

2011/2012 Shad and Crappie Fly Box

2011-1012 Shad Fly Box

 

I am adding this post 12/5/2013 because I found my original Shad and Crappie Derby fly box picture for the 2011/2012 season on my Facebook albums that I posted 12/10/2011 and wanted to archive it on our site. I take a picture of the fly box each year as I usually tie flies in December that I will end up fishing during the shad run in Jan-Feb and want to be able to look back at patterns used each year. While I did fish the run in the 2010/2011 season a couple of days, I did not catch a shad, and really had not developed a true understanding of what I needed to catch one. Looking at this box, I see the beginning of a transformation in patterns I tied and fished. Each year going forward I hope to take a picture and show the evolution of flies I tie and throw.

New Flooring Project

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Marci and I saved for around 6 months in preparation for, what atleast I consider to be, the last major update to our home. New roof… check, new AC… check, new appliances… check, new flooring… under construction!

Floors Direct has a crew on site today laying new laminate flooring in our living room, hallway, and bedrooms as well as new tile in our kitchen, foyer, bathrooms and back porch and I have to tell you, these guys are busting it out.

To get ready for the install, this weekend I ripped out the old sinks and cabinets in our master bath and found out that the entire dam wall to our walk in shower was completely rotten. Thank goodness for my dad who was kind enough to come over and instruct me on how to build a new one so as to not impeed progress on the flooring installation. Needless to say, instead of just replacing the sinks and toilet and then coming back to the shower remodel, we now have a full master bath to remodel, so, maybe I spoke too soon about that “last major update.” Maybe I should just say that the flooring is the most dramatic update. However, we plan on renovating the bathroom ourselves rather than hiring in a crew. I am sure with my dad’s instruction and assistance, we will soon have a kick butt master bath to match!

Anyway, here are some pics showing the progress HERE.

Fred Howard Park to Anclote Key

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Marci and I paddled from Fred Howard Park to Anclote Key as part of our birthday extravaganza this year. The morning started out very overcast and we were afraid we would get rain. The paddle consisted of a 3 mile open water crossing, which was calm this monday morning. We arrived after about 45 minutes of paddling with a short break to do some fishing from the kayaks and found that we had the island all to ourselves! We took a brief walk to the lighthouse and found that the mosquitos were very hungry. Since we had not applied bugspray, the time spent at the lighthouse consisted of a quick picture and a much faster walk back to the beach.

After setting up a makeshift sun shelter, Marci found a happy spot to read her Kindle and I found a fishy looking spot by the dock to do some fly fishing… it’s what we do. 🙂 The overcast conditions meant great fishing in the morning and I caught several grunts and a nice sized trout.It seemed that the white on white clouser minnow tied on a size 2 hook with 5/32 dumbell eyes was the fly of choice today.

I also saw tarpon attacking bait and even a manatee right off shore. Marci spent her time reading “The Yearling” and was quite content reading and taking pictures of the sandpiper who had a home in the roots of a downed tree nearby.

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The wind picked up and knocked down the tarp shelter while I continued casting in to the bait pods. Marci took it upon herself to rig up a much better shelter which was soon needed as the sun burned off the low lying clouds. With the high sun and tidal shift, the bite soon died down and I found myself ready for a beer and a dip in the cool water. We brought snorkeling gear, but found the area off the beach in front of the lighthouse to be pretty merky. We enjoyed a nice swim while watching sea gulls dive in to the bait pods.

We retreated from the sun under the shelter and had a wonderful lunch that consisted of chicken salad, cheese, crackers, jerky, and of course another beer. We figured it was around noon as we listened to the coast guard radio looking for a vessel that had made a Pan Pan call, a call that we did not originally hear. We decided to check the time and found it was actually around 3:00! Time flies when you are relaxing.

The breeze had died down as we started our crossing back to Fred Howard. It was blazing hot and Marci and I both kept dipping our hats in the water to try to keep cool. The paddle back seemed to take a while longer, but, we made it and decided to take a dip at the park before packing it all up and heading back to Innisbrook.

Check out more pics HERE

Blue Spring to Hontoon Island

Marci and I decided to head to Blue Spring State Park for a paddle this morning. The weather was nice, mid 70’s and low humidity in the morning. You can paddle all the way up in to the spring until 11:00am so, we took advantage and did so before the crowds got to the park.

The spring run was not quite as clear as last time we vistited. Evidently there has been a lime collapse of some sort (according to another visitor.) There are still TONS of alligator gar, and it is clear enough to see them in great detail. One surfaced right at my bow and spooked as it knocked in to the kayak.

When we got to the springhead, there were only two other guys there. They quickly head down river and we had the spring to ourselves for the better part of a half an hour. We did some snorkling in the cool water and then made haste as a group of divers arrived. We decided to paddle down river to Hontoon Island and have some lunch, then turn around.

About a mile in to our paddle, we came across three guys in a jonboat. One had a heavy fishing rod, like the size of a deep sea rod, that was bent in half. All of the sudden, there was a mightly splash and whatever was on the end of that pole, started pulling the boat. Marci quickly decided it had to be a gator, I was not so sure. I have never seen anyone catch one on a pole before. We sat and watched for probably 15-20 minutes as these guys fought this monster. We quickly realized Marci was indeed correct! After a serious fight, the guys managed to subdue the alligator, and with a mighty BANG, the gator met his match at the end of a bang stick. Who would have ever thought you would run in to that in the middle of a Saturday morning!?

It was quite a show, but, I do admit to feeling a little bad for the creature… Especially on this opening day of Florida Gator Football. None the less, they peaked our curiosity and we had to ask them… “So how big is he?” The response, “At least 11 feet, maybe more! But big enough for sure!” It easily looked about the size of our Hobies… but WIDER! Times like this will definitely remind you that you are indeed part of the food chain when you enter the water in Florida. 🙂

We continued our journey to Hontoon and ate our lunch. The trip back was quite a bit warmer than the trip down. The last hour we baked! We totaled around 8 miles round trip, with the spring run included. A great way to spend a Saturday.

More PICS here.

 

Charci Day 2011

  

Each year, Chad and I plan a special day for May 26. This is the day we met, and while our wedding anniversary will be important (we celebrate our first one this November!), we want to keep the tradition of Charci Day as a momentous occasion!

We headed to Temecula, a wine town located south of Manhattan Beach. Near San Diego, this sleepy town has a million family-owned wineries and  a laid back atmosphere. I found a small resort online last month called South Coast, after much research on rates and deals, we settled on a visit for two days. The pinnacle of the event would be a hot air ballon ride. We checked in Wednesday afternoon and proceeded to start happy hour the moment we arrived (yes, I am a Hall (now Helenthal) girl!) Our villa was tucked in the rows of vines and we had a perfect view of the mountains in the distance and flowering grape vines on our villa porch.

After a few Manhattans and Cosmos, we decided to make our way to the tasting room at South Coast. We then sauntered (slowly….) to dinner at the restaurant. A tart French man was our waiter, and we immediately assumed, “Oh great, he will be immensely annoyed with us.” But, after we talked Tour de France and discussed our trip, he was immediately warm and helpful. We started with a 2005 Merlot from South Coast, their “Rolling Hills’ blend – it was rich and loaded with flavor. We had ceviche as an app, then headed into main courses of filet mignon and ribeye. Both were fantastic. We teetered home and crashed for the evening, super tired but really excited about Charci Day.

Failed to mention, the hot air balloon company called during our dinner and let us know one of the balloons was out of service. We could either reschedule to Friday or cancel. Since a hot air balloon ride is basically one of my top bucket list items, and it is super romantic, I wanted to still go. Even though it wouldn’t be ON Charci Day, we decided to go. Charci Day might not have a balloon ride in it, but we were making it a wine fest instead!!

Instead of getting up at 5 a.m. for the balloon ride, we got to sleep in! WINNING! We lounged for a few hours in our villa. We finally got a move on and headed to breakfast at the lodge. Chad had Eggs Benedict and me, Huevos Rancheros – mimosas included, of course! Since downtown Temecula was only a few minutes away, we decided to explore. The downtown is about 8 blocks of shops filled with antiques and interesting knick knacks. We did an olive oil tasting at the Temecula Olive Oil Company and bought quite e few bottles of vinegars, lotions, and soaps. The rest of the morning was spend tooling around the shops and sightseeing for interesting finds. I love old books and hoped to stumble on good condition classic hardbacks. Chad wanted antique fly fishing reels or fly boxes for his growing fishing collection. Mid-afternoon, we settled in at a cheese shop in a little corner on a back alley on Temecula. There, we ordered a cheese and meat platter, complete with olives, fresh fruit, organic almonds, brie, pecorino, goat cheese, and prosciutto. Flights of wine complimented the platter – we could not believe how fresh the almonds tasted – they were not processed, leaving them completely flavorful and pure tasting. The sun was out, the wind was breezy, the white wines were cold… we were in heaven!

 

After some more shopping, we headed to winery row back toward our resort. At the olive oil shop, a local recommended Hart Winery. Luckily, it was on the way home! We stopped in to an unassuming warehouse nestled on the side of a vine-covered mountain. We walked in to a winery in progress, the wine vats and packaging took the majority of the warehouse space, and tucked in the corner was a small tasting area for visitors. You could immediately tell this was a small vineyard with no frills. We pulled up to the tasting bar and started with their delicious wines. We each tried six wines. Before heading to Temecula, I had it in my mind we would be tasting primarily reds. But, this region produces nearly every type of wine you could imagine – over the course of this week – I swear I think we tried a dozen new types of wines that we have never experienced. Chad loved their port – it was chock full of berries and was sweet and served with a chocolate. I loved their (white) Roussane – it was peach and mango flavored, hinting a citrus note. The woman at Hart was lovely, she respected the winery and spoke highly of those who worked vineyards in the area. Another woman, who was visiting, was also interesting and knew a lot about the area. We came to find out she owned Cougar Winery, a few miles away – we promised to visit her on Friday.

Temecula is an eclectic group of wine people – they respect each other, are completely accommodating to visitors, but are equally unassuming and laid back about what they do. It is not a hard sell to love their wine – instead, they invite you to enjoy and decide for yourself.

Next, we headed to Lionesse Winery, we heard they had the best view from their tasting room in Temecula. A short drive brought us to this gorgeous spread atop the mountain. Indeed, the view was breathtaking – the mountains coupled with the rolling hillsides of vines created a Tuscan feel. We (again) pulled up the tasting bar at Leonesse for 6 more! At Lionesse, we preferred their Roussane as well. The Meritage (red) was also delicious. To end the tasting, the beautiful  server offered us chocolate truffles with our port. WOW! The sweet flavors of chocolate and berry was outstanding – I don’t know if I have ever tasted something that decadent! Knowing we had tasted 18 wines at this point, we found it necessary to get back to South Coast before we tried any more! But hey, once we got there, we thought, better do some tastings at South Coast! Chad’s best line of the day, “We are getting drunk… one ounce at a time!”

After a quick break at the villa, we headed to South Coast’s tasting room. Since this was open until 6, a lot of those making their rounds get to South Coast last, as it is open an extra hour (most close at 5). The ambiance at South Coast was much more frenzied, there were a ton of people and the tasting bar was packed. We tried 6 more (yes, that brings our tasting total to 24!) – and marginally enjoyed the Meritage. They also had a blend called Group Therapy (great name) that Chad enjoyed.

Since we felt strongly that staying away from a car was wise, we ventured to the lodge restaurant another night. Phillippe was our waiter again, making it special. We decided to surf, not turf tonight. Chad had the Frutti de Mare, a pink pasta dish with mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp and while fish. I had the Lobster ravioli. Both were cooked perfectly and hearty!

Being that we had to be ready for our balloon ride at 5AM, we headed in for an early night after dinner.

All said, Charci Day was one for the ages. Finding someone to live your life with is special, but finding someone you share common interests with is over the moon! Chad and I love cycling, traveling, wine – we are always up for an adventure. We will try anything and love to experience new things together. This was the first big trip for us since we got married – I feel infinitely blessed to have someone that cares for me and loves a good adventure with me. Chad is my heart and I cannot begin to count our blessings together – we always make our time together special and we make a point to celebrate our life together every day. But today, Charci Day, celebrates the day two good people decided to make a go of it – and I could not feel more loved and blessed on this day.