Some of the more popular places in town are difficult to visit on the weekend without reservations, so Leandra booked us both lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday ahead of our trip. El Camino for...
Blog posts from wine
San Diego 2024: food & drink
Thursday This year we arrived in San Diego in the early evening, so after checking in to the hotel {link to hotel blog post} we drove to Hillcrest Brewing to check out what they had on offer....
Oregon Wine Tasting, a weekend with friends in Willamette Valley
A Southwest airfare sale spurred us to look at some options for a quick weekend trip in December, and much like 2019, we choose a weekend of wine tasting in Oregon's Willamette Valley. On this trip...
September 2023 Wine and Rugby: daytrip to Peñafiel
The drive from Valladolid to Peñafiel was fairly easy, with most of the route through rural countryside (and a decent number of trucks). We stopped briefly at the necropolis ruins outside of town,...
NY Summer 2023: wine and beer tasting
July 1: Long Island Farm Brewery We stopped here after a long day of driving to stretch our legs. Though this brewery is about 30 minutes from my parent's house we had never visited before. I...
Italy 2023: Bologna food & drink
Monday On our first afternoon in Bologna we saw these little cakes in the window of Paolo Atti & Figli - torta di riso, so we had to try it. It is a lightly sweet cake made from rice that had a...
Italy 2023: daytrip to Modena
Modena has intrigued me for a while, after all it is the home of balsamic vinegar, with ham, lambrusco and other tasty items also produced locally. And with it being about 30 minutes from Bologna by...
Italy 2023: lakeside walk to Garda
From Bardolino it is about a 40 minute walk to Garda. In the morning there is lots of shade, and since it was Saturday the path was busy with dog walkers, bicyclists, etc. Besides the amazing views...
Italy 2023: wine tasting in Veneto and Lombardy
During our planning, we became quite interested in the wine regions around Verona, and we were not disappointed in our visits. There are multiple appellations within 30-60 minutes driving, and each...
Italy: Bardolino food & drink
Thursday Dinner at La Piccola Osteria. I tried the macaroni picante (spicy) with Gorgonzola cheese, delicious! Leandra got the beef cappacio with a pile of cheese on top! We split a 500 ml carafe of...
Italy 2023: Venice food & drink
Monday El Sbarlefo - With our first round of wine, a grechetto for me (lighter white with mineral and nice acidity) and a primitivo for Leandra, we also ordered some fried cheese bites. Leandra had...
Italy 2023: Milan
On this trip to Milan we flew into the smaller, but much closer, Linate airport, which let us take the city 73 bus to the Duomo area. After dropping our bags at the hotel we walked around, trying to...
Shelton Vineyards
Our drive back from the mountains took us near the North Carolina Yadkin Valley AVA, so we figured it would be a good opportunity to try out a winery. Shelton Vineyards had both red and white wine,...
Poland 2022: Krakow food & drink
We tried quite a few different places in Krakow, including cafes, restaurants, bars, bakeries, and street vendors. Our only regret is that we couldn't try even more spots! Thursday Koliba Góralskie...
NY Summer 2022: wine and beer tasting
Much like previous summers, we sampled several wines and beers across the month of July. Lenz Winery, Peconic We've been members for years now, and Lenz always has some interesting wines available....
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon wine tasting
Dominio IV - Our first wine tasting of the trip. Jose did a great job taking care of us and we enjoyed sitting at the high top outside on the patio. We even had a mini tour after the tasting was...
Oregon 2021: wineries
Because of COVID we had to make reservations in advance for each place, so we only did 1-2 places per day, which forced us to relax at each a bit more than in previous trips. Arborbrook Our first...
Oregon 2021: Portland
Our Oregon trip was bookended by days in Portland. On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Holiday Inn and headed to the Gateway Breakfast House for breakfast. They were busy! After a short 10...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)