Wine Tasting in Sonoita

Our friends Jim and Kim are visiting us on their way back to Texas.  Their coach spent some time this winter at Elite RV Repair and Remodel, it's now very beautiful.  They have new floors, MCD shades, carpet, furniture, and the uber sexy Corian entry way steps with LED lights.  Thursday we rented a mini-van and drove out to Sonoita.  Arizona has three main wine producing areas, and Sonoita is one of them.  They grow Italian and Spanish varietals there.  We visited three tasting rooms.

This is the Dos Cabezas tasting room.

I love wine speak. This product write up describes the wine as reminding him of a "bag of blood".  Kim has an educated palate and speaks wine fluently, me - not so much.

 There is an Inn across the street for your sleeping pleasure.

What Sonoita looks like.

Then it was on to Elgin for two more wineries.
 

This is the Callaghan Vineyard,  They're the best of the three places we went.

The tasting room.

Out back, looking at the vines in the distance.  It's fairly desolate at the moment.

The third and final stop, Kief-Joshua Vineyard.  No wine was purchased here.  We look at the size of this building and would really like to see their books.  It's a labor intensive business and we always wonder how they make money.

Then it was on to lunch.  This is new restaurant that just opened, named Overland Trout.  That would be slang for bacon.  Really.  It's a nice restaurant, it's odd to see it out in the middle of nowhere.  The population of Sonoita is 818.
 

 

So, if you enjoy going wine tasting, Sonoita is the area for you.

Riding the CDO Loop

Look at the reflections in the water.  It was a calm day in the Old Pueblo.  It's just amazing after last year.

We did the reverse CDO loop again today.  It's a hard-ish ride for me still.  However, the glory of the day smoothed over my weakness on the hills.

That's it!  That's all I have for the day.

The Cutest Dog

On the way back from riding today, we rode across a piece of desert to get to Mission Road.  There was a small dog wandering around.  No collar, no tags, no nothing.  His ribs were prominent, he was lost.  If we'd gone straight down the trail, we never would have seen him, but we did.  As we headed towards the really busy road, we saw him following us in our mirrors.  Is there anything worse than a lost dog?  No.  No there is not.
Jim went for the truck, and I stayed with the dog, trying to get him to come to me.  Feeding him an Odwalla Bar gained some trust. I sat on a big rock, scooped up the dog in my lap, and eventually he went to sleep. 
He's a Chihuahua mix.  Instead of carrying his tail over his back, it's a flat carry with a twist at the end.  Also, his neck is really long.
 

Look at that face.  Is he not adorable?

I wish we could have a dog now, but it's just not doable for us.  We took him to the pound.  At least he will not be run over by a car, eaten by a coyote, or die from any number of other deaths that befall a stray dog.

I feel bad about this.  After being lost, he had a nice nap in someone's lap, two Odwalla Bars and  a ride in the truck, which he enjoyed.  Then he was at the pound with lots of scared barking dogs. Dogs really pay the price for their association with people.
The pound was sad.  There's a waiting line to drop off dogs. With the terrible economy, people can't afford to keep their pets.

A Trip to the Dentist and Out to Lunch

Saturday we did the CDO route in reverse.  Normally it's a fast ride with some excellent downhill bits.  Going the other direction is not nearly as much fun, but it's a better workout.  We went through the Christopher Columbus park, the tethered airplane guys were out with their really noisy little planes.  In this photo, look in the upper right hand corner, and you can see a plane doing slow flight.  It was interesting to see it doing that.

This is just a gratuitous picture of the sky and palm trees.  The weather continues to be excellent this winter.

Today we were up and out to go to the dentist.  It was a beautiful morning.

Afterwards we met friends for lunch at Roma Imports.  These are frozen cannolis.  The pointy tube is full of frozen cannoli filling.  I'm thinking we could defrost that and just suck the piping tube dry.

Roma carries the good San Marzano tomatoes.  They also have olive oil that looks like it might be unadulterated.  I am still scandalized by recent articles about what goes in to many brands of "Virgin Olive Oil."

Lunch was fun, good food with good people.  Neither of us had any cavities, so it was a total win for the day.

Lunch at Roma Imports

The Friday lunch ride went to Roma Imports.  The wind was up, so we wussed out and drove there.  It was a farther ride for the northern contingent, and they rode their bikes.  I'm glad we took the truck, the amount of dust that was in the air just kills my contact lenses.  It was really good.  In addition to a very good lunch, they have frozen take out; lots of frozen take out. 

Check out the takeout;  lasagna and sauces of all sorts.

Ravioli.....

Mmmmm, anchovy stuffed olives.

 
All the pasta you could ever want.

This is a great find.  If you're in Tucson, check it out.   There are meat and non-meat entrees ready to take home for your dining pleasure.

As Seen in Tucson

Tucson has a problem with red light running.  Red lights seem to be treated as merely a suggestion, with predictable results.  We saw this yesterday at the intersection of Mission and Silverlake.  One involved car is off to the left.

The other car really took it in the head.  That's kitty litter on the ground, soaking up the vehicle's precious bodily fluids.  Anyway, the point of this is to offer the advice that while driving here, don't automatically move forward on a green light, look both ways first.

This is one of the coaches in the RV park.  They are getting a new windshield.  The install has been taking quite awhile.   

This morning, they had the glass out again, put it back in and spent several hours pounding on it with heavy rubber mittens.  We were wondering what happens if they can't get the glass in properly.  What happens then?

I took this at the intersection of Mission and Ajo.  It's a busy part of town and there are high traffic volumes.  Why on earth would you bring your horse to a McDonald's parking lot?  We've seen him multiple times, but this is the first photo I've gotten.  The horse's rider is wearing a huge gun, similar to the Buntline Colt that Wyatt Earp allegedly used.  It's very odd.

These are a few things we've seen in the Old Pueblo.