Back home and well rested

I'm finally home from my vacation to the NJ shore.

I had planned to blog while there, but the house we rent has encrypted wireless and the owner was out of town on business so we had to suffer through dial up.  With the cost of dial up, I kept my internet usage to as little as possible, which meant no blogging.  But I have lots of photos to share which I'll do over the next few days!

The first drink of vacation (a Washington Apple).

My brother Luke enjoying his WA.

My SIL Debbie and Luke enjoying the first cocktails of the week.

I'm hamming it up for the camera.  Isn't that a pretty sunset behind me?

This sign says "I HATE Steve Singer!".  At first I thought someone was spending a whole lot of money to trash someone, but my brother explained that this guy is a jeweler who undercuts the competition, and this is his way of advertising himself.  I also noticed that we only saw this sign being towed on Sunday, and that Steve Singer doesn't advertise during the week.  Whereas the local bars like the Ocean Drive and The La Costa advertise their bands and drink specials all week long.

This is Boo and my brother's partner Joe.  I didn't know Joe very well until this past week, but I got to know him better and found out that he is such a great guy.  I was very happy that he was finally able to join us this year on vacation.

Part of our trip was spent visiting some of the vineyards in South Jersey.  On Monday,  Luke, Joe and I went to Natali Vineyards first, sampling 4 wines.  I purchased two bottles of their Court House Blush which is a rose wine.

Our second stop on Monday was to Turdo Vineyards down near the bottom of Cape May.  This picture to the left is of their tasting room.  I can honestly say that they have some amazing wines, including a full bodied Merlot and a Rubino (Ruby Port) which is to die for.  I have tried Port before and not liked it.  The Turdo's make theirs using grappa and it is heavenly!  I liked it so much that I went back 2 days later with Joe and bought a second bottle of it because I couldn't stand the thought of only having one bottle until I go back next summer.   

See that large bush to the left of the door?  That is a rosemary plant! 

The Turdo vineyards.

They also had at least 5 fig trees.  Too bad the figs weren't ripe when we were there.

Beach roses next to the path down to the beach.

Calvin next to the sand castle that he and my husband built.

Isnt' that calming to look at? 

Our weather on vacation was the best we've ever had in 20 years of renting down in Sea Isle.  We didn't have one rainy or cloudy day, the water warmed up while we were there, and I've come back very, very tan. 

I wish I were still there!

More tomorrow.

Comments

[Mary Carey]

I can't believe it took me so long to find this blog. We're real blogging birds of a feather, aren't we? Where are you a bartender? (I keep thinking I would like to bartend one day.) I'm looking forward to catching up with past posts and reading more.