Interlude

Continuing with the unreal feeling, we spent a couple nights at my brother’s house. He conveniently chose to live halfway between Boston and Ann Arbor – he’s very considerate that way.

The reason it’s unreal is that we’ve been there before, so it’s still in our comfort zone. It’s still part of life in Boston even if it’s not Boston. This strange not-quite-here, not-quite-there state.

Anyway, we took a break from the road and went out with friends in the morning. Got empanadas at the public market, as well as some nice yarn before heading to a Puerto Rican restaurant for lunch. You have to understand, these are friends who have been promising me Puerto Rican food in Rochester for *years*, but something has always put a monkey wrench in the plans. (Last time BOTH restaurants we went to were closed for the weekend.)

So finally, after years and years of the siren’s call, we made it to a Puerto Rican restaurant in Rochester :)

After being dropped off back at my brother’s (our friends were kind enough to chauffeur us for the morning so that we didn’t have to unload everything from our car – getting to stash it in my brother’s garage was such a relief!), my brother then suggested this Finger Lakes wine and music festival. So I said sure!

I sampled nearly every rosé there (that was the sweetest most vendors had; there aren’t lot of reds in that region). I really liked the first one – enough so that I went back and bought a bottle before leaving.

However, it was downhill from there. I liked each vendor’s rosé less and less. Sort of what motivated me to go back and buy a bottle from the first guy - rewarding something I like :) Which I’m glad I did; while waiting in line, I heard the vendor talking about how badly the organizers had communicated with the vendors and how much money the vendors were losing. (In fact, he said several vendors got there, realized what was actually going on, and left. And several didn’t bring enough stock.) So actually purchasing a bottle makes a difference for the vendor.

The event had someone from the Guinness Book of World Records on site, as they were trying to break the record for highest number of attendees at a wine tasting. It didn't seem like they were anywhere close to what the needed for numbers, so oh well - I haven't helped break any world records.

So yes, a little pause halfway through the trip for a last bit of normalcy and fun, living in denial a little longer.


Oh! And my brother now has a new puppy: