Weekend in the Vineyards

*Caution: picture overload ahead*

If I told you last weekend was pretty fun...it'd be an understatement.

It involved one of my best friends Tyah, from Humble Haro Abode...and wine.

So if this were a math equation it might look something like this:

Tyah+Carissa+wine=fun.

We drove down to southern Arizona for the Sonoita Wine Festival and the blessing of the vines.

We looooove Sonoita and all the wineries in the area! We've been making our way down there most every spring or summer since 2010.

Check out last summer's visit HERE.

Sidenote: this was on the stall in one of the bathrooms...I deemed it worth taking a picture of.

As always, we started out in the main house, enjoyed some wine tasting, some wine pairings, and some serious dodging of creepy, drunk, old men that wanted to take a picture with anything that walked and had long hair...although that part wasn't really enjoyable as much as it was annoying.

Man with grey hair and wrinkles...and chaps and spurs and cowboy boots, comes up to us and says, 

"look at you drinking wine. How old are you anyway?"

I told him I was forty.

But I don't think he believed me considering he rolled his eyes at me and told me I was funny.

He invited us to stay for dinner but we told him our husband's probably wouldn't be down for that. 

And on we went. 

We had wine to taste, and food to eat. I can't have creepy old men messing that up.

#aintnobodygottimeforthat

When it came time for the blessing of the vines we had a bit of a church service out front.

Local church leaders read a series of prayers, they sprinkled holy water on the vines, and prayed for the wine drinkers....and all God's people said Amen!

 

During festival weekends they offer wagon rides up into the vineyards and you can get the 411 on the land, the vines, the grapes, the history...and more wine. 

And Tyah and I aren't ones to pass up more wine.

So we said giddy up!

We finished at the main house with some more food and wine pairings and a stroll through 

the barrel room.

And on we went to our next, and favorite spot!

I think Tyah and I both agree, they have the BEST wines!

...that being said...we bought a lot of wine to take home with us.

I don't really wanna talk about it.

Before we left we made sure to fit in a photo sesh.

And since our husband's weren't with us this year, that means we could take as many pictures as we want, for as long as we want, without having to listen to them complain about it.

That's right, no wambulance this year.

No wamburgers or french cries either.

Just us, the camera, and the self-timer button.

And what do you do when you have unlimited picture taking time??

...You rearrange the signage that's directing traffic so you can get the perfect picture.

Don't get all crazy, if vehicles drove by...we pointed in the general direction.  

At the last winery, 2 things happened:

1.) We tasted more wine.

2.) We signed their guestbook...like so:

See, I'm an Arizona State Sundevil and Tyah is a University of Arizona Wildcat.

Normally, those two species don't really hang out.

BUT I forgave Tyah many years ago for becoming a wildcat and she's tolerated me all this time for being a sundevil.

So you know, we make it work.

And since we're both really bad at talking shiz, our smack-talk is usually something like,

"Go ASU!"

"OMG yeah right...go Uof A!"

"No pitty for the kitty!"

"Seriously, Rissa...A-S-Who?"

"That was a good one Tyah."

"Yours too Rissa."

...and then we're on with our day.

Saturday night we ended the day with dinner at Olive Garden.
Cause I'm pretty sure Olive Garden is a good way to end your day.

Then Sunday we worked on homework all day.
I know, we went from being really really fun on Saturday, to really really lame on Sunday.
#gradstudent probs
It's whatevs though.
We be gettin' smart.

Until Tyah comes back to visit me in the coming years, this will probably be our last wine festival together, as she and her husband will be stationed somewhere with the Marine's this fall.
Speaking of which...I've got a bone to pick with him.

Even so, I'd say we went out with a bang!