Off We Go For An Adventure 4/25/2011
87 miles door to door
The newlyweds go wine tasting
Wine Tasting At Faulkner
Ed studies the offerings and is confused about etiquette
Man with an empty glass.... This is bad
Vicky and Del (the designated watchers) enjoy the kibitzing
"Here's mud in your eye"
"Na back home even the Roo's drink a bit"
Vicky demonstrates how to wear the lastest in fashionable glasses.. Vicky is fair dinkum
Do not drink and gamble...
Vicky gets a wine tasting class
Wine Drinking Professionals... Check Out The Clothes
Wine makes Paul serious
What... no wine in his hands???
Meanwhile Ed studies the menu some more
Oh oh... Del, I have an idea...
We need a wine bottle chandelier in our house...
But who will drink the bottles empty?? Oh, Paul.....
Poor Del
"Hey... that's not too bad after all"
It's you!
Vicky doesn't want Del to see the price tag
We ought call him "Muggs" from now on
He looks to debonair with the wine glasses... Or are they specimen glasses
Across The Parking Lot To The Restaurant
The peacocks watch the valley below
The peacocks gave Vicky an idea.... Where is Ruby?
Neat porch
Great view over the grapes
Lunch At The Pinnacle Restaurant
Four years of planning and construction was completed in September 2006 with the Grand Opening of The Pinnacle Restaurant at Falkner Winery. The Pinnacle offers great panoramic views, outstanding Mediterranean style food, and high quality service. This outstanding restaurant is open for lunches 7 days a week. Best of all, it offers the finest Temecula wine
Set on a 1,500 foot hilltop, The Pinnacle offers customers seating in the air conditioned indoors or on the open-air outdoor balcony. The restaurant also serves as an evening wedding and banquet venue.
According to Ray Falkner, "There are many fine Temecula restaurants. But the Pinnacle Wine Country Restaurant is is unrivaled in the Temecula Wine Country. Plus, we offer a unique dining experience in our VIP Room located in our "Wine Cave" below the Restaurant".
Tummies are full
It's costume time
We begin simple
Its a veiled threat...
Vicky remembers High School
Priceless....
What a bunch of nuts
We had loads of fun
Debbie sneaks into the picture
Debbie knows how to take a picture
Wilson Creek Winery
Super California Spring day
Flowers were quite beautiful
One has to look up close to see the flowers
Wine in the garden... Life is good
The pepper trees were in full bloom
Iris flower were simply magnificent
Did You Know? - In water purification, Yellow Iris (I. pseudacorus) is used. The roots are usually planted in a substrate (e.g. lava-stone) in a reedbed-setup. The roots then improve water quality by consuming nutrient pollutants, such as from agricultural runoff.
Purple bearded iris
Did You Know? - Irises are extensively grown as ornamental plants in home and botanical gardens. Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in New Jersey, for example, is a living iris museum with over 10,000 plants, while in Europe the most famous iris garden is arguably the Giardino dell'Iris in Florence (Italy) which every year hosts one of the most famous iris breeders' competitions in the world.
The preferred method to get to the other side of Wilson Creek
The footbridge was freshly painted
Look carefully to see crockagators... No really, Vicky saw one...
Vicky's description of the croc was a little difficult to believe
Look carefully
Just simply beautiful
Time To Imbibe
Did You Know? - From Latin prefix
im-
(“im-”) +
bibere
(“to drink”), from whence also
beverage
(via Old French).
Last one in gets the bill
Belly up to the bar... Wine tasting is hard yacka
Yeah yeah.. The gang's all here
Yes Dear...
Daniel is learning quickly
Looking good
Today no wine is onkus
I like this one...
Wine tasting is in full swing
Getting the scoop
She is studying too hard me thinks... This is a great water hole
Del found a "Gotta have"
Snort..... No No Vicky, it's SNIFF
By golly... she's got it
Bye winery
Over The Ortega Highway
Did You Know? - State Route 74 (SR 74), a part of the Pines to Palms Scenic Byway, is a mostly scenic highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs from Palm Desert in Riverside County westward to San Juan Capistrano in Orange County.
A portion of Route 74 in Orange and Riverside counties is named after the famous Spanish explorer Sgt. Jose Ortega, who led a small party of men around the newly discovered San Francisco Bay from Palo Alto to the Carquinez Straits.
Above Lake Elsinore
Did You Know? - Lake Elsinore was a popular destination in the first half of the 1900s for celebrities to escape the urban Hollywood scene. Many of their homes still stand on the hills surrounding the lake, including Aimee's Castle (Aimee Semple McPherson), a uniquely shaped house perched on a hill above the water.
Hope we do NOT see one of these for the next 30 minutes
Did You Know? - A road train or roadtrain is a trucking concept used in remote areas of Argentina, Australia, Mexico, the United States and Canada to move freight efficiently. The term "road train" is most often used in Australia. In the U.S. and Canada the terms "triples," "Turnpike doubles" and "Rocky Mountain doubles" are commonly used for longer combination vehicles (LCVs). A road train consists of a relatively conventional tractor unit, but instead of pulling one trailer or semi-trailer, the road train pulls two or more of them.
On top of the world
I think there mean "Look out!!!"
Stop... Go no further... Alert alert
The guys are about to break out in song... Run for your lives
Bye for now... See you soon