Saturday was finally warm and sunny enough to get Mia out to stretch her legs. Top down, windows down, wind in our hair.

(Note: I think this photo is kind of funny. Since I was wearing my sunglasses at the time of taking the photo, the camera focused on the writing on the side mirror instead of on me like I had intended so I am blurred out. See my new hat?)

We decided to do a big loop: up to the lovely town of Warwick through Greenwood Lake and then come back down through our favorite little back road to Upper Greenwood Lake with a side trip to the Warwick Valley Winery.

At least some people who live on the road that goes past the winery have a sense of humor. I love this sign!

The road is so tiny and narrow that going much faster than that would be suicide anyway.

The winery is smack in the middle of what is called the black dirt region near Pine Island, New York which is famous for growing onions. Follow the link to learn more about it. The dirt really is black!

We were surprised to see the parking lot full of cars and nearly every picnic table was taken up with people enjoying the sunshine. We are always trying to find a nice place to have lunch when we take Mia out and for some reason we always forget about the winery. Too bad we had lunch at our little local diner down the hill before starting our drive because the food coming out of the cafe at the winery looked delicious—especially the pizzas! Next time!

We ordered a glass of Black Dirt Blush and sat down at a picnic table outside to people watch and soak up the sun. We think a dog had claimed our table sometime in the not too distant past. Do you agree?

We sat and sipped our wine, the sun warm against our backs, and watched as people ate, drank their recently purchased bottles of wine and spread blankets on the newly greening grass while little children from various families banded together to play.

The wine was such a pretty color in the sun! I know I keep going on about the sun, but we haven’t seen it much. (Fun side note: Rick has his yearly physical a week ago and all was fine except his blood work showed a slight Vitamin D deficiency! Dr. said he thinks more sun is needed.)

I thought the recycle “bin” for the empty wine bottles was interesting.

Such an enjoyable couple of hours! It was so nice to finally get out and take advantage of a beautiful spring day.

Sounds like fun!  I am looking forward to playing out in the sun…if the wind ever goes away…ggggrrr. Hope it helped Rick’s lack of sun problem - actually my brother had the same thing.  Guess it can be serious.  Enjoy the sun and enjoy being an object that may appear closer than you are   (love your hat)

Debra, that’s what I get for using auto-focus with my sunglasses on! Wind is not fun for sure. Today was 82F here but by the weekend we won’t hit 50F! Sounds more like CO than NJ weather with that!

Rick’s is not serious. We “seriously” have not had any sun!

Ifyou head back up to the Winery on 4/16, we can have a drink together and you can hear Marc Von Em play his guitar.  He is my friend’s new favorite local musician.

Maggie, we might just do that! Let’s keep in touch! I don’t know what the weather is supposed to do this weekend, isn’t it going to be rainy?

I don’t listen to forcasts, since most times they are wrong.  If it’s rainy, ~shrugging, Marc will play inside, where I can be dry, listen to music, eat good food and have a glass of wine.  It’s all good! 

Maggie, somehow at the winery my mind goes straight to “outdoor” concerts. It just didn’t occur to me that they would go ahead and have it inside! duh ...