Re-Energized

What a fantastic get away weekend. I really do think we may have found a great little place to escape to now and then. There’s still a bunch of stuff in the area we didn’t have time to check out, which means something new we can do the next couple times we decide we need a small escape.
We got down there (Giant City Lodge) in the early evening on Friday. It was a good 4.5hour drive and Friday night the weather was starting to get nasty. By 7:30 the wind was blowing and it was snowing pretty good. The cabin was nice and cozy. An electric fireplace, two comfy chairs and a couch. A small fridge and wet bar area. Just what we needed. We had a nice country dinner at the Lodge and called it an early night. Yes we are bums, or morning people, we went to bed early.

As a result of that we woke up early and ready for a full day. There was about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and it was cold. We were lazy around the cabin for a few hours waiting for the sun to warm up the day a bit. Goofy cartoons and coffee cake was the morning entertainment. The sun was out and the birds were singing, so we bundled up to go for a hike. I’m not exaggerating when I say bundled..I had on two long sleeve shirts, a down vest, a hoodie, two pairs of pants, fluffy socks, and my poofy winter hat. The only part of me that ever got cold was my nose and that wasn’t too bad. =0) The long hike we wanted to go on was closed due to damage from the many ice storms they had this year. So we went on three smaller trails instead. We hiked to the top of some bluffs, and then hiked between the large rock formations. We learned how the glaciers formed the rock and coupled with erosion there are some pretty cool rock formations left. There were lots of icicles dripping in the sun. We were the only ones out there hiking in the cold, but it was far from quiet.  We saw quite a bit of wild life too. Some tiny little squirrel, lots of birds were singing. We saw a couple of cool woodpeckers from the cabin, and another large almost vulture like bird. Then of course there were lots of deer. After a couple hours we headed back to the cabin for lunch, and a nap.

After a wonderful nap we headed out to check out a winery or two. We went to Blue Sky winery first. It was a nice little place with a Tuscany theme. They had some pretty yummy wines and a nice atmosphere. We tasted 5 wines, each had a glass of our favs. I bought a bottle of my favorite, the Villard Blac.
Next we went to Owl Creek winery, where everything was themed with owls. It was a small cute little place down some twisty curvy country roads. If it had been warm enough we could have sat outside on the balcony built around a tree. We were lucky it was cold out though because we stayed inside and met the owner. Brad was a great guy, he told us all about his wines, started us off on a tasting describing each and why they are different. He went into a little bit about the tanins and how they affect the flavor. Turns out he went to high school in the Peoria area so when he found out we were science geeks at the Ag lab, we talked a little bit about the science and voodoo involved in wine production. We tasted his full line of wines, each got a glass, and got a grand tour of the winery. March is still their slow season so it was great to be able to get the tour and smell the oak barrels. This is the experience I always thought a winery should be, Blue Sky was nice and friendly atmosphere, but it felt more like a bar. We left Owl Creek with six bottles of wine, two of the Bald Knob, two of the Blush, one ZenGeist, and a bottle of the Raspberry Framboise. That’s me up above and that’s the happy face of someone that just bought half a case of wine. I would go back to his place in an instant. It’s small now, but they have some big plans, and some interesting experiments going on.

Sunday was a lazy morning. The time change made the morning go a little faster. We had a breakfast at the Lodge then left for home a little before noon. We got home and played with the kitties. I’m not sure they were thrilled with being left behind. After talking with Brad at Owl Creek and how he has the business that you can tell he really enjoys it really inspired me and got me thinking. Last night I made a flower I’d been planning for a couple months now. I’m also re-energized to start a couple other flowers, make some leaves to finish up some bouquets. And to get some more stuff together to get that booth shot I’ve been putting off. I’m very excited, completely re-energized, and inspired. I’m pretty sure Chris is feeling the same way.

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