July 22, 2013

Getting ready to leave Irvington after a fun day yesterday. It was a lazy Sunday – slept late, ate a hearty breakfast, did a few boat chores and then went into town. We sat in a little coffee shop, The Local, drank iced coffee and soaked up the air conditioning while we indulged in free wifi.

Tom and I rode our bikes around town a bit after that and came across a pretty little vineyard that was offering wine tastings in the afternoon. After the Polaris crew got out of church our plans were to ride the trolley that took travelers to two other small towns in the area. Now it sounded like it might just be prudent to end our excursion at the vineyard later to taste some local wine.

So after a light lunch we all waited at the trolley stop for the trolley that did not come. Thirty minutes later, it dawned on us that just maybe the trolley didn't run on Sundays. A quick call to an area hotel (which had a trolley stop marked on our map) confirmed that to be the case.

Plan B: visit the vines. The wine (made exclusively from the grapes grown here) is named Dog and Oyster, presumably because they have watch dogs among the vines to keep the deer away, and because they also serve delicious steamed oysters. We all sampled the five wines available and then ordered a chilled bottle of one of their whites called Pearl to share. Tom ordered oysters which only he and I ate since Denise is allergic to shellfish. Attitudes were adjusted quickly and it didn't seem nearly so oppressively hot as before. Laughter abounded. Seemed as if that wine was quite special and so several more bottles were purchased to take with us for later!

Back at the boat, we were just about ready to sit down to dinner on Kentris when a thunderstorm rumbled in. Lots of rain but not much wind so all was well (and cooler too).

We have become Farkle addicts and now have our very own set after receiving “the prize” given to the first round winner last night. Thanks to our buddy boat for thinking of such things.