Bus driver, MOVE THAT BUS!

Yesterday, we went on the wine bus.  I saw a great Groupon a while back for a bus tour of area wineries.  I was just going to get it for me and Cas, but he suggested we invite Dan and Laurie to go with us.  We finally scheduled it for yesterday, so it happened that our wine bus trip was on Laurie's birthday.  Serendipity.

We started out at Coal Vines, which is a pretty fancy restaurant in uptown.  There was a "family style" meal, meaning we had to share with each other and a few strangers.  No matter, though.  We ate plenty.  After the meal, we all got on to a bus that would take us to three wineries.  The first one was honestly a disappointment.  We were crammed into a tiny room, and some inept guy (he broke a cork off in a wine bottle- rookie move...) poured some pretty bad wine, one ounce at a time into the glasses of the 52 people who were sardine-packed into a small room.  After that, he poured three other pretty bad wines into our glasses.  None of the wines was good, and the crowd in the room made it feel like he was the slowest wine-pourer alive.

Here we are, between sips:

And, of course, our traveling companions:

After we left there, we got back on the bus.  The next stop was about 75 miles from the restaurant where we began, in a town called Alvord.  There are, evidently, a pair of vineyards in Alvord, and the first one we went to was called Brushy Creek.  

This is the dude who makes wine there:

Just shy of Lucy and Ethel smashing grapes with no shoes on, Cas and I did take a turn at some more sophisticated squishing:

We went to another place in Alvord after that, but this time, we had a bottle of wine to enjoy on the bus.  I kind of wish the wine at the first place wasn't so bad- It would have been nice to have a bottle with for the long trip out to Alvord.  We picked up a bottle at Brushy Creek, though, and we had a small glass each on the way to Marker Cellars winery.  

Their wines were the best ones of the trip, and it was the place we left with a box full of our purchases.  They also happened to have the most reasonable prices of any place we visited.  

The bus ride on the way back was entertaining.  One girl in her early twenties fell down at Brushy Creek, and the ride back showed the rest of the bus that her group of friends was pretty much on par with her level of sobriety.  The twenty-somethings were walking around with the plastic bag from the inside of a box of wine and opening the spigot up over the mouth of whomever would say yes.  They offered some to me and Cas.  We said no.  They offered some to Danny and Laurie.  They declined.  They were a little obnoxious and a little entertaining, but who makes it through their twenties without being some part obnoxious and some part entertainment for others?  

Overall, though, it was a pretty nice day.  I hope Laurie had a good birthday.  I certainly had a good time celebrating it.  Of course, we have to head to Richardson today.  Mom made cake.  Must have cake.