Week 20: Birthday Trip

For my birthday this year, I told my spouse that I wanted to do something new: go on an overnight trip. We (actually, I) decided on visiting Ohio wine country, located near Lake Erie. He hasn't been up there since the 1980's, when there were just 2 or 3 wineries in operation. I visited a few with friends a couple of years back, but wanted to return to check out some more new places.

Our first stop of the day was Laurentia. It was quite a long drive through the woods to get there. The building reminded me of a Montana lodge. As you can see, it was a cloudy, overcast day, so we were not able to enjoy their lovely outdoor seating.

But we made the most of it on their enclosed porch. We enjoyed a flight, while taking in the scenery and watching a number of hummingbirds attracted to a feeder nearby.

Our next winery was Hundley for lunch and a glass of their Baron. Surprisingly good for an Ohio red wine. And the food was amazing! Some wineries' idea of a charcuterie board is Ritz crackers and swiss. Here, we had Cotswold (Gloucester with chives), Red Dragon (studded with whole grain mustard), English 5 County Stripey Jack, and some sort of basil cheese. And the dipping sauces with those pretzel rolls were delicious!

While the majority of the wineries are clustered in the same county, very few are located on main roads. We went over a few bridges like this, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The area is also known for their covered bridges. We stopped in at two other places, M Cellars to try their port, and Benny Vino's Urban Winery. We chose the last one just because of the strange name. There was absolutely nothing urban about it. It reminded me of a VFW hall in the woods.

Next stop was our hotel for the evening, Geneva Lodge. It's located right on Lake Erie and it's a place I've always wanted to check out since it opened about 10 years ago. Finally made it!



Here is the view of the lake from our room. For dinner, we headed to Ferrante, an Italian winery/restaurant. After a filling dinner of salad and pasta, we strolled over to listen to Lyle Heath, a guitarist/singer performing in their tasting room. He played everything from Led Zeppelin to John Denver.  It was a relaxing and romantic end to the evening.

This is the view when we returned to our room! Stunning! The next morning, we had a buffet breakfast at the lodge and then took a walk along the lake. Unfortunately, it was 45 degrees and with the wind, it was just freezing.  Hopefully, we can return in warmer weather.