How did I end up with such great parents? I'd already asked them to help me with money issues and now they wanted to spend more money on me. They wanted me to come home for Christmas, which I hadn't done for a long time and I had not seen my parents since moving to Dallas to go to school in the first place. My emotions were all over the place. Happy to see my family again, but upset that I still needed help from my mom and dad.
As the season grew closer, I did get more excited to go back East again. I knew I'd be visiting my sister, too, who lives on the coast of Virginia near Langly Air Force Base. Even if we didn't go to the beach, the smell of the ocean would be in the air, which I love and miss.
My friend, Jerrad dropped me off at Dallas-Ft.Worth airport at about 5:30 IN THE MORNING. Yes, I was up and running around in the morning! But it was for a good reason because when I arrived in Roanoke, Virginia and saw my mom and dad waiting for me, I could feel a wash of relief left behind.
When we got to the house, they said, "We goin' to a winery tomorrow. You'll like it, anyway, we're gettin' low on wine." I saw the stash of about 20 full wine bottles and thought, "huh? I guess that's getting low?"
Off to Peaks of Otter Winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains we went. Compared to the forestry on the east coast, the trees back in Dallas look like shrubs. I have missed trees without even knowing it.
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| low clouds around the Blue Ridge Mountains |
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| goofing off at the orchid/winery |
After a winding drive on the road around the mountains, we arrived. Inside was a renovated barn with the wood plank floors still intact. We set out to taste all the wine on the menu. Danny, one of the owners (an old moonshiner, he said) poured for us. He told us if we didn't like it or just wanted to toss out the last sip to throw it on the floor so they could continue to "season" it. So I did with the Mojo wine I got; it was too minty for me. We tasted some good flavors. My favorites were the Vino Cafe, which is a white apple wine that is infused with coffee beans and tastes just like it sounds: coffee flavored wine. I also liked the Truffle which tastes like a Tootsie Roll.
We got down to the bottom of the list where two wines called Chili Dawg and Kiss the Devil set. They are infused with a variety of hot peppers and I was anxious to try them. My dad tried the lighter of the two last time they were there, but I wasn't afraid. For the Chili Dawg wine, Danny put a line of squeeze-cheese on my hand and said, "Now, ya taste the cheese then ya drank the wine and you got yo'self a chili dawg." So I did ... and I did! These people are great with experimenting and inventing new wines and great ways to drink wine! The last wine on the list, I was given a sticker to put on my coat collar which said "I kissed the devil at Peaks of Otter Winery." I asked what that was for and our host said "It's so the doctor know what wrong wit' ya if ya got to get to the hospital." I looked at my mom and dad and my mom said, "Go for it!" Of course she would be there to egg me on, she's always the one to say "just try it" to about anything. So I took my swig of this apple wine infused with five types of peppers which included habanero and Thai chili. At first, I could feel the buds on my tongue dancing around like trying to cross the street barefoot on a July afternoon, then it settled a bit as my stomach got warm. "That's actually quite delightful. I can definitely taste the hotness, but it's not as bad as a New Orleans 5 Alarm chili." My host gave me a sip of strawberry wine to chase it down anyway.
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| me and the devil, we're friends now |
We left with lots of wine, some jars of jam and a hot tongue.
Back at home, my mother decided to make collard greens, which of course I love, and my dad was talking about the moonshine they had. My head was still fuzzy from the wine sampling, so of course I said I wanted the moonshine. We poured a shot of blueberry 'shine and I ate one of the blueberries that was in the jar, which was not the best decision I had made all day. It felt like a shot to the chest, but I like to thing I held my composure and continued to breathe, but by the way my mother was laughing, I probably looked more like a flopping fish reaching for sanctuary.
The rest of my visit was pretty tame. We celebrated Christmas with a shot of honey whiskey and two days later drove to my sisters house, who also had moonshine. I didn't feel the need to drink that, but I did eat some of the pumpkin cheesecake she made. We also had a Girls Day where we went shopping and ate at Olive Garden.
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| a hat I need someone to crochet or knit for me! |
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| mom and dad on the porch at House Mountain Inn which overlooks Lexington, Va. |
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| me a the bottom of the stairs |
When we got back to my parents' house in the mountains, I felt a little want to return to Dallas. I don't know why, maybe I missed my friends there. However, the day before I was to leave, I then felt that I didn't want to. That feeling I knew why: I didn't want to come back to responsibility and bills and cooking for myself.
Blah! Being a grown-up sucks.
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