We were up by 6 a.m., so we could get ready to go to the grape festival. Son and family didn't sleep very well in their tent last night, thanks to constant traffic on the campground road, and the train that passed through on the other side of the lake. But they were still up and ready to leave by 9 a.m., since Grandson was scheduled to compete in the grape stomping contest at 9:30. Also, Hubbie wanted to be at the roadside fruit stand before the vendor arrived with peaches.
But Hubbie was at the festival before 9:30. He, and several other folks, waited a long time for the vendor, who never showed up. Maybe he didn't pick peaches for sale today. Anyway, I was glad he returned to the festival in time to see Grandson compete.
And he was glad he did, too, because Grandson won! He competed against two boys, younger and smaller than himself, and a young adult woman. It was obvious to us by the way Grandson stomped the (very cold) grapes that he was going to win, but we gasped when the lady who held the half-gallon jug under the spout nearly dropped it when the grape juice gushed forcefully out, splashing over her hand and onto the ground. Still, when Grandson's jug was compared with the lady competitor's, his held a fraction more...enough to make him the winner. If all the juice he stomped had gone into the jug, though, it would have filled it.
For his win, Grandson was awarded a certificate, and his choice of a grape festival logo t-shirt, which pleased him, because that's exactly what he wanted. I took lots of pictures of him, of course, including one with him standing with the town's mayor.
Following the grape stomp, we spent some time watching The Polkateers perform. One of the members of the band urged festival-goers to be sure to sample the wines being offered by area wineries at tents around the festival grounds. "The more you drink, the less we stink," she joked.
Seriously, though, we've always noticed that even though free samples of wines are served at every winery tent, no one has ever appeared to abuse the privilege. The crowd is well-behaved, and there has never been an "incident" in any year that we've attended. Of course, the festival is patrolled by local law enforcement, and maybe that's a deterrent, but it's more likely that the locals fear losing this fun event if things got out of hand.
The town's mayor invited folks to get up and dance to a couple of The Polkateer's numbers...the Hokey Pokey, and the Chicken Dance. I did the Chicken Dance on the sidelines, which Daughter-in-Law caught on video, while the rest of the family laughed. Well, it is
a funny dance...or maybe watching a great-grandma dance it is what made it funny?After that, we left the festival to tour the town. We stopped first at the beautiful Catholic Church, on a hill overlooking the town. We were disappointed to find the church doors locked. But Family enjoyed the view of the valley below, anyway.
From there, we went to see the vineyards of one of the wineries, where Family climbed up to a platform that overlooks the vineyards, and where we took pictures of grape clusters.
Then we headed to a town about 22 miles away to hunt for peaches. We didn't want to come home without peaches, since we were in the part of the state that is known for the succulent fruit. We finally did find a roadside vendor who had two varieties, and we bought both kinds.
I asked the older lady who was selling the peaches if she was having a good sales day. "Yes," she said, "I've been busy all day, and I'm tired. If my husband would have come out here today and helped, it would have been better. But no, he's at home in the air conditioning, playing games on the computer. I could kill him." Whoa! Sorry I asked.
We were back at camp around noon, and had deli meat sandwiches, with tomatoes, Vidalia onions, and lettuce, along with chips (we'd stopped on the way back from buying peaches so that Grandson could choose his favorite chips for lunch).
Mother stayed home after lunch, while the rest of us went back to town to continue touring. This time, we visited three wineries, and toured the cellars of two. I'm glad Mother wasn't with us, since we climbed up and down steps at the first tour, and up and down a hill at the second.
Obviously, the most fascinating thing for the guys at the first tour was the "Swiss Miss" (a buxom young woman dressed in a Swiss maiden costume), who was our tour guide.
The most interesting things at the second tour was a gentleman playing folk music on a fiddle, and the information from our tour guide that the winery feeds its fermented grape hulls to its cattle. Staff have to begin shoveling the hulls onto the ground as soon as they enter the field to keep from being stampeded by the cattle, who can't wait to eat enough of the stuff to get "mellow."
At the third winery, we sampled wines in the pleasant air conditioning of the large area set up for the event. Here, Grandson tasted several varieties of grape juice, while Daughter-in-Law, who is not fond of wine, learned that she liked certain varieties, if they were doctored with grape juice, which takes away the after taste that she dislikes.
Back at camp, we had hamburgers, potato salad, and corn-on-the-cob for supper, at the picnic table. Afterward, we visited for a while, before Son and family packed up to go home.
Later, Hubbie, Mother, and I played four games of Skipbo, with Mother and Hubbie each winning one, and me winning two. Then Hubbie and I went to the other end of the campground so I could photograph the lighted bridge.
And that ended our day, and our trip. Time to head home tomorrow.
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