Monday, June 17, 2013

Good morning crew,

What I discovered while researching Michigan wineries is just how close Michigan is from me. Really, all I had to do was make a short hop over one little corner of Indiana and I was in Michigan.

The practical upshot of this geographic arrangement was that a bare 90 minutes after leaving home we were pulling up to the first winery on our trip in a little town called Buchanan, Michigan.

In fact, it was so early in the day that they had just opened. I think the woman who was unlocking the register was a little surprised to see a couple of apparent alcoholics shuffling around the entrance looking for a drink at that hour of the morning.

But, to forestall hasty judgments about any substance dependencies the wife and I might have, we agreed to delay our wine tasting for a tour of the facility.

It was pretty impressive, too. They have 55 acres of grapes on site and they also buy tons of local produce in order to create more than 150,000 gallons of wine annually.

After looking appreciatively inside the giant, stainless steel fermenting vats in and nodding enthusiastically at the descriptions of the aging techniques we were finally led back to the wine tasting room where several more people had at last wandered in.

As one of the larger wineries in Michigan, this place had an impressive selection to choose from. Also, perhaps, because it was the first winery on our trip and we were a little parched from standing around in the sun and listening to the tour guide for a half hour, we plowed through a good selection of the wine list, tasting everything from dry whites all the way through the sweet reds.

By the time we were done sampling and ticking off the bottles we wanted we had purchased an entire case of wine. A little ambitious, maybe, but that is what we drove out there for.

Before leaving we sat down in their restaurant which was in the same building as their retail space and right next door to the winery itself, and enjoyed an excellent lunch. And we were going to need, because we still had about 200 more miles of driving and two more wineries to visit before the end of our first day.

Laugh it up,

Joe

joe@gophercentral.com

P.S. By the way, there is a new poll on the Clean Laffs archive page. "What is the funniest sounding U.S. city?" Please click the link to the right that says "Visit Our GopherCentral Archives" and go to Clean Laffs. I think you will be surprised at the names of some of the towns out there!

***
"Father's Day is on Sunday. The first Father's Day was celebrated in 1910. Before that, there were no fathers." -Jimmy Kimmel

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"According to a new study, as much as 81 percent of people lie on online dating websites. Researchers said they were surprised by how many people actually hate long walks on the beach at sunset." -Jay Leno

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"Opening this weekend is 'Man of Steel.' The whole movie, if you go to see it ? this is a spoiler alert ? is Superman complaining about having to fly friends to the airport." -David Letterman

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One cold night my furnace died, so I went to my parents' house. In the morning, a neighbor called to tell me that my water pipes had burst and flooded my town house and hers. I raced homeand on the way got a speeding ticket.

Then the furnace repairman arrived and told me he didn't think he had the proper fuse but would check in his truck. Meanwhile, the plumber cut holes in my bathroom wall to locate the leak.

When the furnace repairman returned, he held aloft a fuse. "I had the right one after all," he said triumphantly. "This must be your lucky day."


*-------------- Guaranteed to Roll Your Eyes --------------*
Hygiene is in the eye of the beholder, I have decided. One lunchtime I watched the woman in the sandwich shop spreading mayonnaise on my bread, and noticed part of her grubby work shirt was dragging across it. "Excuse me," I ventured, "your sleeve is in the mayo."

"No problem," she reassured me. "I need to wash it anyway."