Fall Roadtripping and Grape Stompin’ in Pennsylvania
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Did I ever tell you that one of my dearest friends in the whole world owns a winery?
Actually, her whole family does.
I should probably start at the beginning. Sometimes the planets align and you are lucky enough to find the right thing at the right time in the right place. That’s how my college experience was– I attended a small liberal arts college nestled in the Susquehanna Valley, right next to a river in the middle of farmland, and met some of my favorite people ever. Even though it was an 8 hour drive from my hometown in Massachusetts, I never felt alone because of the friends I made there and how their families made us feel at home. What an amazing four years that was!
Last weekend, Noodle and I hit the road to visit two of my college girlfriends who happen to live near where I went to school {albeit on different sides of the river, which means two different worlds!) As I drove toward the winery, one memory stood out from the others. I remember visiting my friend’s family home my senior year for some home cooking and conversation. As we drove away from her house, her dad was in the garden carefully inspecting something. “Those are dad’s vines” she said. “His dream is to grow grapes and make wine.”
We all smiled at her dad’s “hobby”. Fifteen years later, my smile was about 10 times bigger as I pulled up to their vineyard for their annual Harvest Festival:
Thousands came to enjoy two days of grape stomping, live music, pig roasting, and wine tasting. The wine store was so packed it took almost half an hour to buy my favorites. In fact, every time I visit the place is bustling– and I’m sure a huge part of that is not only the amazing wine but also the warmth her family exudes doing what they love.
They’d never tell you this, but Shade Mountain Vineyards is one of the biggest in the entire area. They have over 30 varieties of wine and 40 of grapes! They grow enough to sell to other wineries. They’ve won tons of awards as well, and yet stay incredibly humble about how much the business is thriving.
We’ve been waiting 3 years to be free the same weekend as the fall festival. Our calendars aligned. There were grapes to be stomped. Noodle was ready.
It lasted about 2 seconds for her before she said “all done”, but many others got into it!
In my life, I’ve seen some really sad things happen to some really great people and it’s devastating. So when something great happens to someone wonderful and deserving, it makes my heart sing. I wish I could have gotten more photos because the winery itself is incredibly lovely, but my hands were full of a wiggly Noodle and bottles of… mama’s juice. 😉 Here’s one of the arbor with the grape leaves showing how nature makes the most beautiful patterns, before Noodle got the wiggles:
I stocked up on a few favorite varieties, including their Blueberry wine and William’s Port (that last name is a pun, you central PA folks will understand!)
The rest of our weekend road trip was spent with another college best friend and her daughter, just a month younger than Noodle.
These two BFFs enjoyed each other’s company immensely, as did their mommies.
Noodle loves my friend, here she is snuggling against her.
They painted pumpkins; check out the concentration!
They made owl hats, explored nature and got their faces painted. Noodle got a lady bug on her cheek and her friend wanted a watermelon then changed her mind to earthworm. Wish I had a photo of that one, so funny!
Roadtrips are just good for the soul, you know? Sure, I still don’t have real pumpkins on my front porch or anything packed for another trip I’m taking next week, but we’ve added some much-needed time into our “friend bank” and chased the winter-is-coming blues away for a bit.
Unfortunately, Noodle came down with something on our trip so on this 82 degree sunny day we are “enjoying” some resting time inside. The kids actually sat for half an hour and did this:
What can I say. It was worth it. Now I just need to start planning another girls’ weekend for the spring with my other group of girlfriends. The taste of lavender martinis is fading and I’m missing these gals immensely!
