Friday, September 09, 2016

Boise Weekend

Labor Day weekend Gary and I went down to Boise to spend time with our family there. Boise State football is huge in the family and Saturday morning we went to my sister's house to watch the game with a friend and Gary's brother, wife, (Jim & Paula) and one son. BSU played Louisiana-Lafayette and pretty much whipped 'em 45-10 in Lafayette. That's a good way to start the season!

Later we went down to District 44 where two wineries have their tasting room - Split Rail Winery and Syringa Winery. Both Gary and I are Idaho natives and while we are big supporters of Washington wines, it's exciting to see Idaho expanding into the wine industry!

After that, we drove out to Nampa to join Gary's Aunt Christie for a catch-up dinner at JP Thailand Express. It doesn't look like much driving up to it, but that place was busy and the food was excellent!

Sunday morning we were pretty lazy around the house, but spent the afternoon hiking in the Boise foothills at Upper Hulls Gulch.

Starting the hike at Upper Hulls Gulch

 This trail is for hikers only so it was nice to not watch out for bikes!
The day was cloudy and we even had moments of light rain sprinkles - nice hiking weather. After our five-mile hike, we drove over to Table Rock where a fire burned a few weeks ago.

View of Boise from Table Rock
The Cross at Table Rock
We then met with my sister and her husband for dinner, the more conversation at Jim and Paula's home.

Monday we had another leisurely morning, and I got a little stitching in and the packing up done. Then on our way out of town, Jim and Paula and Gary and I visited a couple more wineries starting with Fujishan Family Cellars on the Sunnyslope of the Snake River Valley


After Fujishan, we drove down the road a couple of miles to Ste. Chapelle Winery, the largest in Idaho, and one of the oldest as it was established in 1975 producing mostly white wines back then. We got a little meat and cheese plate to go along with the tasting as the taste buds begin to dull after slurping so many different wines. And as I've been chastised in the past for dumping my taste of wine in the dump bucket (I'm usually the driver), I added to Gary's tastings, lol! To end off the visit, we stopped at Huston Vineyards, a very small, family-run operation.


As usually happens, other tasters come along and the conversations that result among the pourer, or even the owner, and the tasters makes for a fun time and we had some great chats there at Huston.


Too soon it was mid-afternoon and time to head home, but not empty-handed. We'll be enjoying Idaho wines for awhile now, in addition to our Washington favorites.

Syringa Winery, 2010 Primitivo, 2010 MaRehna Red
Split Rail Winery, Horned Beast SGM
Huston Vineyards 2014 Merlot,
Fujishan Family Cellars 2014 Amatino Red Blend, 2014 Chardonnay
Have a glass of wine this weekend (if you enjoy the stuff, lol)!


5 comments:

Barb said...

Sounds like we need to go to Idaho. My DH is a real wine lover. It does sound like you had a great time!

Vickie said...

What a lovely weekend you had Von!

Brigitte said...

From what I see on the pictures your weekend must have been gorgeous. Such a wonderful scenery.

Barb said...

Looks like you had some great family time. My DH would love all the wineries. I'm kind of a beer person on occasion. Usually too many carbs for my diet. UG! Hope you enjoyed the Hawks today!

Julie said...

Sounds like you had a fabulous time with the family and enjoyed some nice new wines too.