Wine Tasting and Huckleberry Picking

Another great weekend in the books! Jeff and I drove down to Walla Walla for a night to celebrate our BFF's 30th birthday. We stopped at a few wineries and enjoyed the sights of Southeastern Washington. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Sleight of Hand is so quirky that you just have to stop in for a visit. I mean, who else features Neil Patrick Harris's face on a bottle?

Yes, I did buy a bottle of the Neil Patrick Harris vintage.

And guess who happened to be getting hitched during that exact moment I was drinking out of his face...NPH himself! It was meant to be. 

We were the only people tasting at that time of day, so we got to choose which record was playing while we sipped on wine. Good wine + good music means lots of dancing. The workers thought our group was pretty entertaining.

Our next stop was a private tasting at Garrison Creek Cellars. This wine is fantastic. They manage a small amount of grapes so that each bottle of wine can be done right, rather than mass producing wine in the assembly line style. The result is exquisite. Each bottle sells at $63.00, but it is really hard going back to Two Buck Chuck after tasting this wine.

We tasted wine straight out of the barrel, then went upstairs to see what an extra 2 years in the barrel will do to the results. I tell you, this was dangerous. I will definitely be visiting again in a couple years to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I will stroke the glass and say to it, "I remember when you were just a little guy in a barrel. You were so sweet and delicate. Now look at you. All robust and grown up." It will be tender and weird.

There are only 5 people who work at this winery, and we met 4 of them (plus their adorable dog). That is how small the operation is.

The view driving to the winery wasn't bad either. Not bad at all.

If you are tasting in Walla Walla, this place was 5 stars in my book.

Once we were all wined out, we stopped at Graze for lunch on their patio...check out this mural...

...then we made the drive back home to take our little Everett huckleberry picking in the mountains.

He stripped these huckleberry bushes clean!

And put the berries directly in his mouth.

He kept saying, "Blueberry. Bucket. Blueberry. Bucket. YUMMMMMM!"

He had so much fun. It was the perfect way to make memories. And you guys, look at how big my baby is getting!