62. June 25th, 2011 Picture.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday, ready to tackle the day (bright and early for me and Ratty is to be ready for 9am.  We were only KINDA late).  We headed to Collegetown Bagels, an Ithaca trip tradition, for breakfast and coffees, before hitting the road to the Farmers Market and winerys.  I tried to eat a Belgian waffle in the lobby of our hotel, but I was told that I had to save room for my bagel, the waffles smelled so good!  I could have taken one to go, I'm innovative like that. 

Collegetown Bagels was really good, tons of bagels to choose from and a coffee menu that took over the entire wall - this is my kinda place!  I opted for a bagel with Nutella and an iced coffee - nothing like diabetic shock to get you going in the morning!  No but seriously, I never thought it was possible, but I think I OD'd on Nutella.

Next up was a visit to the famous Ithaca Farmers Market, which is located in this awesome open air building on the water.  This place is apparently UBER famous because it was absolutely packed with at least one million people.  The line to pull in the parking lot went down the street and there were police officers directing exiting traffic.  I've never seen a Farmers Market like it before and I have to say, it was pretty awesome.

There were tons of stands and vendors, selling everything from food, snacks, reclaimed wood cutting boards (I wanted one so bad!), jewelry, kittens (yes kittens), fruits, vegetables, plants, pizza...honestly you name it they probably had it.  THEY HAD KITTENS!

Since we'd already eaten, we skipped all the food stands, and just browsed while taking in the gorgeous scenery.  I've now come to realize that almost every inch of Ithaca is on a lake, which makes for very pretty photo ops.  

Once we'd had our fill from window shopping, I bought 2 pairs of earrings, one for myself and one for my mom, we hopped in the car and make the trek out to our first winery.  It's very clear Ratty and his mom had done this before, the plan was to start at the winery farthest away and then work our way back towards Ithaca, stopping at places along the way.  There were over 20 wineries on the 45 minute stretch, but if we stopped at them all we never would have made it home.  I'd say we stopped in at 10, but I can't be sure since my photo taking skills started to slide towards the end.  My goal was to take a picture of each winery's sign, but yea, I didn't.  Apologies in advance!

This was my first time to the Finger Lakes winery rodeo, so I had to be schooled on how it all went down.  Most tastings were $3 and included 6 samples of wine.  Each winery had their lists printed and laminated, including detailed descriptions of each kind of wine.  You'd read through the list and check off which ones you'd like to try.  The people behind the counter would then go ahead and start serving you, explaining the wines as they went, keeping everyone roughly on the same pace.  Sometimes we'd all pick the exact same wines, getting into a rhythm of chat, drink, repeat, while other times we all chose different wines to taste.

This whole process was new to me, but I liked it!

Sign hanging on the wall at our first stop - did anyone know this?!

Once we were finished we hopped into the car to our next stop.  We definitely weren't the only people with similar ideas, we bumped into lots of familiar people throughout the course of the day, including a huge bachelorette party that was traveling by limo.  They were really hard to miss after an entire day of wine tasting.  There was lots of WOOHOO's and OMG YOU GUYSSSS!

So while we were sipping wine at our second stop, we noticed that there was quite a bit of donkey paraphernalia in the building.  I didn't really think that much of it (I don't know what's more concerning, that it was there or that I didn't think it was weird), until I looked out the window and saw that there was a mini donkey outside.  A MINI DONKEY.  Named Doobie!  It was the winery's mascot, hence all the donkey stuffed animals around the place.  I quickly dragged Ratty outside and we trudged through the field to go see Doobie. 

Oh my goodness isn't he just the cutest wittle thing you've ever seen?? Who doesn't LOVE a mini donkey!

Aw, I just wanted to take him home with me!

Ratty was realllllllllllllllllllllllly hesitant about the donkey.  'PET THE DONKEY' I screamed.

So he did, though I am absolutely positive he didn't want to.

Okay, I think that is a sufficient amount of mini donkey pictures, don't you?

Now on to people!

Seriously, how picturesque is that?!  Beautiful green fields, big red barn, WINE, seriously this place was heaven!

Phew, our next stop was pretty nice too.  Check out the twinkle lights in their tasting room.  All I could think about was how pretty that would be for a wedding.  A wedding for 20 people, because that's all that could fit in there.  Okay, maybe a rehearsal dinner instead.  Oh who am I kidding, a party for 20 people would be like a casual Sunday at my mom's house.

Some of the wines with all the awards they've won - must be pretty good!

Our next stop was a new one for all of us, Sheldrake Point, and yes when I hear Sheldrake I think of Dirty Dancing, and you should too.  This was by far my favorite, again, right on a lake, with outdoor seating and a beautiful view.  They were the only winery that had a standard sampling menu, meaning we all sampled the same 6 or 7 wines, and they were all fab.  Our bartender (can you call them bartenders?), no, you can't, scratch bartender.  Our sommelier was really nice, and we spent the majority of the time chatting with him and discussing our taste in movies - okay this was all Ratty, I was busy sipping my wine and enjoying the beautiful weather and even more beautiful patio.

And finally!  Last but not least!  Americana.  Woof.  By now I was absolutely starving, even though I grabbed an appetizer at one of the middle wineries, and I was starting to get a serious case of heartburn.  Seriously, no one ever said drinking wine all day would be fun.  Wait, yes we did.  I was just ready for some food, and Tums.

Once we were all done sampling wine (we had to stop because most places were closing, yes we closed them down, but it was only 6pm), we headed back to Ithaca to get ready for a nice dinner out.  We headed into town to continue the eating and drinking tour of the city, no rest for the weary!