wente

Mike and I have taken up a habit.  It's called:

Improve thy golf game.

And if you say this in a very deep, loud voice, it sounds very serious like it is something we must do.  Luckily the rain has stopped so we can continue on our quest to

improve thy golf game. (In my head that voice sounds just like the announcer on the old Nickelodeon show, Legends of the Hidden Temple...) love that show.

I digress.

Ok, now let me get back to the topic at hand, which coincidentally has nothing to do with the ever popular 90s game show on Nickelodeon. 

Recently we took an afternoon drive to a few different golf courses that we like, not to play golf, but rather to pick up a golf ball with the course's logo on it for Mike's golf ball collection (you see, he received a display cabinet for golf balls for Christmas, but an empty display cabinet looks plain old silly in the office, so we need to fill it!) Speaking of silly, we actually haven't hung the golf ball cabinet on the wall yet.  In due time my friends. 

You may be thinking to yourself...how does getting a logo'd ball help improve thy golf game?  Well, it doesn't. Pardon me, I keep getting off track.  Anywho, we went to Wente golf course to pick up a golf ball.  Mike has golfed here, but I have not...yet.  I will soon enough, because who doesn't want to golf among grape vines?  Hello! I do! and remember today's slogan:

Improve thy golf game.

 I'm pretty sure Barkley is saying in this picture - I really like it here... but PLEASE give me a haircut!

Do not fret, she has since received a haircut and looks to be about half this size.

How cool would it be to have an event under these lights overlooking the vines? Sign me up!

Nothing says "yippee it's spring!" like some daffodils growing curbside.

Many people think Napa or Sonoma when they think about wine country, but oddly enough there's quite a few wineries located in Livermore Valley as well.  The most recognizable (for me, at least) is Wente.  The Livermore Valley are what I imagine Sonoma used to be - very relaxed, very country and very wine related without all the hoopla that surrounds the estates. (Don't get me wrong, I like the hoopla, and Wente does give you some hoopla, just not vast amounts of the hoopla in this region.)  Case in point: we drove past one winery that looked like they just may have decorated their entire patio from Wall Drug.  You may be wondering, where in the heck is Wall Drug?   

[*]

Don't ask...there's plenty of bumper stickers in South Dakota that have beat you to it.  Anyway, the Livermore Valley wineries are still quite beautiful in their own right, just different than the experience you would have in Napa or Sonoma. 

Another fun thing about Wente is that they have a huge concert series in the summer.  Check out their website below for all sorts of beautiful pictures and fun facts of their wine...and come April 15, their 2011 concert lineup.

for more pretty pictures of Wente, go here

in case you have an aching for Wall Drug, go here.