TOP: Fruits of our cooking labors
2nd: Laraine helping the professional chef move up to a new level. NOTE: this may be the only shot that exists of Annmarie in a kitchen
3rd: Tom and Annmarie doing "Bend Dog" in yoga class
4th: Annmarie hours later in the wine fields, still stuck in the "Bend Dog" pose
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After that exciting day of race watching yesterday...arrive 2 hours early, drink wine, eat subs, watch cars and bikers go by for 10 minutes, drink more wine, go home...we were ready for a break. And break we did, with a lovely full day at the DeLoach winery. Accompanying Tom, Laraine, Kathy and me were Laraine's sister Annmarie...the midget in the family. Her husband Ed opted to chase a little white ball for a few hours.
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We started the day with breakfast at the winery, followed by a personal yoga class. Our young instructor, Ana, came in special to teach us, and she was leaving that afternoon for a week's master yoga training in Hawaii. She really had her hands full with our crew! We did all kinds of poses...Down Dog, Triangle pose, Foot in Butt pose, Finger in Nose, and the infamous Seated Testicle Under Kneecap pose. Took me hours to recover from that one.
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Following yoga, we had a tour of the wineries garden, and then into the kitchen. As foreign as yoga was to Laraine, the kitchen was like Mars to Annmarie. To her credit, she asked a lot of good questions...What's that thing (an oven)? Are you allowed to mix green and red in the same pot? Doesn't the cake come out with a UPC label on it? But, she got through the class, and even helped a bit...at one point she actually poured more champagne for us to drink. Talented gal...
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After a couple of hours of cooking, we enjoyed an outstanding meal...of course, the meal was actually prepared by the professional chef, and they threw ours out to the hogs. They refused to eat it.
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Next up, we had a private tour of the winery by the head vinter. We saw the vats, the crushers, the bottler, and, more important, we then headed back in for a couple of hours of tastings. We're there (I swear) 30 seconds into the first bottle, and Ed comes rushing in to join us. The man knows his priorities!
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Later, we thoroughly enjoy dinner in Napa, and retire for the evening. Big day tomorrow, we're watching the KOM in Sonoma, and then racing the peloton to Sacramento to see the finish, and hopefully get an eyeful of "Da Governator".
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Wine-soaked Lumpy out
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