DIY Wine Tasting

Robbie and I traveled a LOT this summer, but most of our trips were weekend trips which meant quick turnaround times. For our trip to Michigan, we finally got to take a trip that was longer than just a couple days. It's amazing how long Thursday-Sunday feels when you're relaxing at a lake house!

We woke up at 3:00 a.m. to pack and catch our 5 a.m. flight a couple Thursdays ago for our last summer vacation trip to Michigan. Fifteen hours later, we made it to the lake house in Michigan. The original plan was to go wine tasting on Friday, but instead of going to a winery we opted to create our own wine tasting experience at the lake house!

First, we had to get the goods. We went to Shay Station Friday morning to get some exotic beer. Yes, beer. For wine tasting. You'll see.

They had a fun selection of wine, but we were already stocked up at the lake house with California and Michigan wines. The moms and aunts were prepared with their wine picks.

Shay Station had a cool vibe. It reminded me of a Speakeasy. And there was a young boy playing piano for tips. He was great.

Robbie with his Texas beer.

The weather was absolutely perfect in Michigan. I don't think it was hotter than 75 the entire time we were there.

The masterminds behind the lake house wine extravaganza. Robbie's Aunt Pam (on the left) and his mom (on the right) organized the entire wine tasting day.

We took some time in the morning decorating wine glasses with glitter paint. You can see a decorated wine glass in Robbie's mom's hand.

Then, everyone split up for about an hour and created four different wine tasting stations. After we were done with the set up, the tour started.

First up: Beertopia. 

You can see at the bottom of the list, there's a map for us to follow. :) First up, the Red Horse Flats cabin. We walked from the big lake house to the smaller cabin right down the road.

The Beertopia crew! Sam, Jessie and David. Don't you love their hats?

Sam did a great job explaining the different types of beer.

They had the best sign by far.

Even Hayden, Jessie's little girl, wanted in on the Beertopia action. She got tastings of blue vitamin water. :)

Syd's cute wine tasting glass.

Next up was the California winery. Here's Robbie practicing his wine facts.

He started off with a excellent demonstration on how to open a wine bottle.

Then we tried all kinds of wine.

Next was the Pontoon Winery where we tried all kinds of Michigan wines. We loved the background music that played on repeat- "Pontoon" by Little Big Town! Aunt Pam and Syd were the hostesses.

Pam did a great job telling us about all the wines and Sam did a great job pouring for us!

Robbie's brother David's glass, my glass and "Hob's" glass. We called Robbie Hob all weekend long. According to Wikipedia, Hob is an acceptable nickname for Robert. So is Hob, Dob, Rob, Bob and Nob. Now you know! (Bill Nye, anyone?)

The "kids" on the trip.

What a pretty view!

The whole gang on the way to the last station.

The last station was the finale! Robbie's Uncle Lew was very secretive when setting up his station, so we knew he was up to something sneaky.

Welcome to...

Luigi Da Fireball Vineyards! The one and only station where we sipped on whiskey instead of wine!

Uncle Lew with his pirate friend.

Part of Uncle Lew's spectacular presentation was having the Fireball Whiskey shipped in via zipline. David was in on the zipline surprise. He snuck away and when Uncle Lew said it was time for us to try the whiskey, David released the whiskey package and it flew down the hill on the zipline to Uncle Lew's station.

Lew had a couple of different selections you could pick at the Luigi Da Fireball Vineyards on his tasting board. Here's everyone checking out the board.

After each tasting, we got stickers to put on our wine tasting glasses.

Me and Robbie's mom, Marilyn!

The zipline was a hit! Everyone took a ride, and I mean everyone. Grandmas, aunts, uncles and even little cousins.

More photos coming soon of our epic cross-country croquet game!