Our “fall wine” trip is kicked off by the big wine festival in Palisade…a festival we aren’t going to. We are going with the same Meetup that went to Palisade in June, so we plan to have just as much fun (…or more since the bigot and his wife aren’t going. My only disappointment is that I have no reason to wear my bi pride shirt; I legit bought it just to mess with his bigot brain.).
Day One
Hooking up went smoothly. We even got to watch a mama/baby bunny pair. I love that our storage lot has bunnies.
Denver to Wolcott boondocking
Other than the rough roads, the drive was easy enough. There wasn’t too much traffic or jerks or construction. The views were pretty, as always. We drove through a little light rain (which made the mountains even prettier). Oh and E “caught” a cone during this drive. There were a bunch of them knocked over. You’d think they’d learn to keep them on the other side of the line.
As we neared our stop, we saw “fjb” [sic] spray painted on the roads (I-70 and highway 131) a few times. There were even some that had mistakes and had to be painted over with more of their own graffiti. The magats know no bounds.
On the way to a BLM boondocking spot, we got a sweet message from our hosts and a couple of pictures of them already there and at a winery with their dog! *squee*
Once we set up, we took on a couple of small projects. Our inverter has been turning itself off. We think it gets too warm (and is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do). They installed it in a box (with some other electrical gear) under the bed. There is no way for air to get to it, so we drilled a few holes in a space smaller than the size of a vent. If this works, we’re done. The platform of the bed is recessed back quite a bit. Those holes only show when you crawl down there or when you both raise the bed and also take the unscrew the cover from that box. If we are ever feeling fancy, we’ll buy vents and finish it out. We also “mapped” the bays storage into a diagram I made.
After that, we settled in with dinner and a little football.
Day Two
We awoke to a great view and a field with a pretty pair of horses (not pictured).
We made breakfast, packed up the few things we had taken out, and took a very scenic drive back to the Interstate. The road on our drive was quite rough in a few places, and we drove through a bit of rain, but the scenery made up for it all.
Our group has a great host. J makes everyone feel welcome. To get ready for the weekend of wine, she set up a meet & greet. Between cancellations and no-shows, there ended up being five of us, but we had a great afternoon and evening. We had tacos, drinks and more food, and some chatting by the fire. It was a great day to start off a fun weekend.
Day Three – wine fest day
The Colorado Mountain Winefest was sold out of Designated Driver tickets the first time we looked for them. Who limits their DD tickets? We didn’t want to buy two wine tix, and we didn’t want to split up. Our friends and the rest of the meetup group went to the fest, but we went to the wineries themselves instead.
We started out with some Jeepin’ Around, but every road we tried ended up being gated/private, so we didn’t last long.
We then went to the Sauvage Spectrum. Our server used to work for Talon and is opening her own winery: Mafia Princess. She’s also from Amarillo. The other guy working there went to Florida State. And, they had a great food truck named “What Would Cheesus Do?” with some pretty dang amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. They even serve Maui Onion potato chips. The best drink was their frozen lavender lemonade: it’s a frozen ball of lemonade, lavender simple syrup, and rosé. YUM!
Talon, where we are members, was next. To celebrate the festival, they had a non-profit with some birds of prey: a turkey vulture, a hawk, and a great horned owl who still squeaks like a baby owl for his food. They were also serving blueberry wine slushies. I also had a glass of their sparkling strawberry rhubarb.
Next up was the Grande River Vineyard where we met a very funny couple. He drives from LA to Golden and back for work. He takes Coors back to Southern California.
Blue Beryl is new and was also a favorite. Courtney is the wine maker and a local artist (which comes in handy when designing the labels!) and she is a lovely person. We had several yummy wines and bought a few bottles, too. Oh, and the blue beryl is a kind of the Colorado state gemstone (aquamarine). It’s like a blue topaz, which is the state gemstone for Texas.
For dinner and football, we went to Warehouse 2565 and watched his Aggies beat my Hurricanes.
Day Four
First stop: the Farmer’s Market with the Meetup hosts. We all went in June, but got there just as they were closing. Today, we got to see all the vendors.
Colorado National Monument. We didn’t even know this one was over here. It was a gorgeous drive, but not the safest one. A few days ago, a car went over the edge. One person died, the other is in critical condition. The car is still down in the canyon.
After lunch and watching some of the Broncos game (who won!), we took their Service dog to the park to run off some energy.
On the way back to the campground, our hostess stopped for gas. We saw someone having a very bad day and getting arrested. The store had to call the police and a restroom was closed, so we think whatever it was happened in there. We all agreed that there was a mental incident (unbalanced meds, a break, undiagnosed condition, a diabetic episode, something.) We hope there was good medical attention and that things are better, now.
We spent the rest of the evening around the fire. It’s not the same as wood, but those little gas fire pits are amazingly fun and convenient.
