Wine Traveler’s Travels Vol. 7 (From the Archives)

Sunday, October 22, 2000

            After two weeks in the office I was ready for a trip, when they told me I had to travel on Sunday I was no longer so excited.  One good thing that occurred during these last two weeks was my luggage showed up.  It seems it was delivered to the office shortly after my trip.  It was being held in security and no one bothered to tell me it was here.  American Airlines still thinks it’s lost.  The tag on it infers that United Airlines carried it from Chicago and delivered it to the address on my tag.  In my letter to the CEO of American Airlines I informed him that it had been found and that if I were a less than honest person I could have filed a claim and collected on the lost bag.  I also sent him excerpts from my stories outlining the current level of customer service at AA. 

            Well back to today’s trip, I am on TWA, on my way to Camden, NJ.  I fly into Philadelphia via St. Louis.  There was a direct flight on US airways but it would have been $500 more and coach.  Of course I am in First class again, though it is a MD-80.  This flight left at 12:05 PM.  It just wasn’t worth it on a Sunday to get up early enough for the 757 flight.  The service was wonderful, as always; lunch was a nice ham and Swiss cheese sandwich in a hard roll, Bowtie pasta salad and a dark chocolate covered scoop of Ice Cream.  The ham was generous and lean, real sliced ham not the boiled pressed type you might expect.  I had Vodka and Cranberry with a twist of lime instead of my usual Bailey’s and Kahlua.  We passed a few areas of bumpy air but over all, the trip from Seattle to St. Louis was uneventful despite the obnoxious noise you always get in an MD-80.

            The trip from St. Louis to Philly was also on an MD-80.  The dinner consisted of a grilled chicken breast filet on a bed of rigatoni pasta with vegetables, a warm roll, a salad of wild greens and tomatoes with some small pea sized things that tasted like olives, and a very scrumptious slice of cheese cake with caramel topping.   

            Hertz surprised me with a Lincoln Town Car; I did not send this one back for my usual two door sports.  The Directions though were a nightmare there had apparently been some construction since they were last updated because they got me terribly lost just getting out of the airport. Finally I found my way back to the highway I needed. Then near the end of my route they listed some street names, which were actually all local names for the same Highway, which of course none of the signs indicated.  So I spent an hour in a very scary part of New Jersey, afraid to stop for directions till I finally found the Hotel.  Now it’s after Midnight local time and I go to check in at the Hilton.  The only room available, even though I have a reservation is what they call a Parlor Room.  This Is like a meeting room that has a huge dinning room table (probably seats 14 people) and a sofa bed, no coffee maker or dresser.  They promise a better room tomorrow if this is not satisfactory

            This trip is to support a brand new product from Spacelabs Medical, called the “Ultraview Clinical Messenger.”  It is basically a paging system that notifies a caregiver when a monitor has alarmed and sends the patient’s name, room number, classification of the alarm as well as a 12-second cardiac reading for the patient in question.  Giving the caregiver approximately 6 seconds before and 6 seconds after the start of the event.  This is a supplemental system to their central monitoring stations.  It allows the caregiver to evaluate the condition of one patient while caring for another.  I spent this last week learning the system and how to support the caregivers that are using it.  It will be a nice change from the Labor and delivery product I have been doing.

The next morning I get up and arrive at the hospital at 8AM local time (5AM to my body) and about 10AM I am told that I will be doing the Night Shift.  The first thought to go through my head is “Why didn’t they tell me this before I got here?”  Later I’m thinking why did I have to leave on Sunday?  So at noon they let me go back to my hotel room to get a nap before starting my 12-hour night shift.  The desk clerk is very accommodating in finding me a room with a real bed, and putting me down for first cleaning the next morning so I can get to sleep early.  I woke up at 4PM and thought “Maybe I’ll just go down to the pool and sit in the hot tub.”  Well they only have an outdoor pool that closed on Labor day and no hot tub or sauna, just a small room with a couple of exercise machines.  And to think they think $99/night is a cheap rate, the usual rate is $149. 

So after a 12-hour night shift I return to my room and wait for the housekeeper who is supposed to be here right after 8AM.  She finally shows up about 8:30, works quickly then off to bed for me.  Then it is up at 5:30PM and dressed and showered for my next 12-hour shift. 

The next morning after a call to the desk the housekeeper finally shows up at 8:45.  Then I sleep from 9:30AM to 5:30PM. 

Thursday morning I wait till 9AM and finally call down and tell them I can wait no longer I call the desk and tell them to have my room cleaned after 6PM when I leave for work. 

Friday morning I ask for a late checkout as I may get to go home today, and I get to my room only to find it has not been serviced.  I call down and complain, as I am on the phone the housekeeper knocks on the door; when she sees I am still here, she leaves.  I head down the hall after her and ask her to clean my room.  She says they were supposed to do it last night and I am scheduled to check out today.  I explain that it did not get done and I need clean towels and such for when I wake up at 1pm for a late check out.  She did clean the room and restock the Coffee, which is what I needed most.  I ate at the Hospital each night and won’t scare you with the details.

I wrote a long letter to the management regarding the lack of service and amenities at this hotel. 

I called my travel agent and got an earlier flight but I lost my first class seating, I called the Aviators desk and requested an upgrade, which she told me, was not a problem.  When I got to the Philadelphia airport I was informed that she had gotten me first class seats all right but they were on November 27^th instead of October 27^th.  The flight was full and I would be on standby.  I got on the plane in coach, well as my luck goes we pulled out from the gate and then didn’t go anywhere.  It seems one of the engines wouldn’t start on this MD-80.  So we pulled back up to the gate while they replaced the starter on the engine they let us off the plane and I tried to rent a movie for the flight.  There is a service that will rent a portable DVD player and a movie for $10 if you are traveling between Seattle and certain other cities, Philadelphia happens to be one of them.  Well I must have my planets in the wrong house this month as I approach the booth she is closing it up because she has to leave to get more batteries.  Before she returns they call for us to board.  So it’s another trip on an MD-80 with no movie.  Things did get better the cabin crew were a couple of gals that put on such a comedy act they had us all laughing.  And they passed out free booze because of the delay.  No food on this 2 hour flight, but the flight attendants made the time fly by.  When I got to St. Louis I was pleased to find that I was in time for my connection and had a first class seat on a 757.  Now this is the way to fly the movie is Shanghai Noon.  This was a very needed comic relief to this week.  I highly recommend this as a rental.  The meal was a choice of Chicken and Penne pasta or Taco Salad.  I chose the Taco Salad; it was a nice portion of romaine lettuce, sliced fajita style beef, guacamole, sour cream, salsa and beans, with a bag of Doritos to crush over the top.  And the desert was a dark chocolate covered scoop of chocolate ice cream.  I arrived home on time and highly recommend TWA to anyone.

Wine Traveler’s Travel Vol. 6 (From the archives)

Wine Traveler’s Travel Vol. 6

02-SEP-2000

            The weather is getting cooler as I head out early Monday morning for my next trip.  With my new bag packed I take the interstate to Sea-Tac airport.  I’m always amazed at the amount of traffic in the Seattle area; even at 4:30 in the morning the interstate is crowded.  Today’s flight is a welcome change as it is on TWA and First Class on a 757, I couldn’t be happier.  The lady that sat next to me was very social and we spoke quite a bit about our jobs and travel.  She shared with me, as I spoke of my disdain for the MD-80, that she too scheduled her flights to avoid them whenever possible.  She mentioned that she was not having the best of days; her suitcase zipper ripped on the way to the airport and when the porter was helping her by taping it together a lady behind her in line started complaining about holding up the line.  She said to the lady “I was just in this same line do I not deserve the service you hope to receive when it is your turn?” 

            This week I am returning to Wheeling, West Virginia to complete the training I started a while back, this week’s schedule is quite full and I’m not sure I will have a chance to visit my family.  So to those of you on my mailing list I apologize in advance but if I do get to visit, you will most likely read about it here.  Please feel free to forward these stories to anyone and if there are family members that would like to be added or removed from my mailing list please let me know. 

            Well I got off the plane in Pittsburgh and waited for my new bag to come it was about the fifth bag but the attached backpack was missing I waited till all the other bags were delivered and did not see my backpack piece.  I then went to the baggage counter and filled out the now familiar paperwork for a lost bag what will make this one difficult is that I did not separately tag the backpack since it was completely attached with a zipper.  Then I went to Hertz to get my car they did not have one ready, so they called for one and it was a white 626.  Now I avoid white cars because they always look like something a Grandfather would drive, but I remembered my 1982 626 and it was a sporty little two door car so I figured it would be OK.  Well up came this four-door 626 looking not at all sporty.  I went up to the counter and asked the lady if she had anything else, that it was just too Grandpa-ish.  She laughed and said sure and procured me a silver Chevy Monte Carlo, while this wasn’t very sporty looking it was better than the 626.  The ride was nice but my Chrysler Town and Country has a better turning radius. 

            I got into Wheeling at about 6:30 PM and checked into the same Hampton Inn as last time.  When I opened my bag to hang-up my clothes, I found the backpack inside my bag.  Relieved, I called the airline to apologize and stop them looking for my bag.  I went to check out the Restaurants near the Mall and chose one called Longhorn.  I ordered the Pork Chop dinner; this consisted of two thick, well-seasoned and juicy pork chops; seasoned fries; and brandied apples.  They also served a very good multi-grain bread with whipped butter.  Then back to the hotel to get some sleep for the next day at work.  Lunch on Tuesday was at the hospital lunchroom; it was a homemade Salisbury steak with mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and macaroni and cheese, Vicki had the carved roast beef and mashed potatoes.  We worked till about 6:30 PM because the software was not performing as it should, class proceeded very slowly.  We tried to troubleshoot what was wrong but ended up getting Brent to come back on Wednesday.  Tuesday night Vicki and I went to the River City alehouse again, this time I had the barbecued pork wrap, Vicki had the grilled Chicken fajita wrap, we were given a choice of soup, fries or, salad.  We both chose the French Onion Soup and were well pleased with this traditionally prepared soup complete with bubbling cheese on top and served in a crock type bowl.  The wrap had shredded barbecue pork, coleslaw, and cheese wrapped in a pepper tortilla.  I have yet to eat anything at this alehouse that wasn’t well prepared.  I also had the Oatmeal Stout again that they brew in-house.  My brother would call it skank beer but I don’t like the pale tasteless commercial beers, for me the darker and heartier the better.

            Wednesday we worked with the nurses while Brent worked on the system to get it working right.  This site is working with a Beta version of our software and is very patient and understanding with the problems we were having.  Because the software misbehaving interrupted our training I offered to order out for Pizza; Dominoes did a good job as usual.  That night we ended up staying late again so we went to the alehouse again since it was close to the hospital.  This round I had the Grilled Portabello sandwich and French onion soup.  Vicki had a salad and onion soup. Brent had the Chicken wrap that I had on my last visit to Wheeling, again we were not disappointed.  By the way the sandwich soup and beer was under $10. 

Thursday, Brent only worked till noon then got called away to another site he will return here next week to reload all the software again.  This day for lunch the nurses suggested a diner nearby called Saseen’s.  I tried the hot sausage sandwich with “Teezers” and Vicki had the hot roast beef sandwich and mashed potatoes.  The sausage was patty style and very tasty the “Teezers” turned out to be like long tater tots with jalapeno cheddar cheese in the center.  Vicki’s sandwich was good but the potatoes were Instant.  Vicki left for home as she was only here to observe me training, I had to stay to complete some training on Friday.  My last night in Wheeling the nurses suggested I try the Wilson Lodge at Oglebay Park.  This was definitely high-class place; you know one with more silverware than you know what to do with.  I had a glass of house Chardonnay I was brought a basket with warm sourdough bread and butter.  The salad was wild greens with an obviously homemade Blue Cheese dressing.  My appetizer was a grilled portabello mushroom that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar; my entree was black pepper Fettuccini Alfredo.  All were prepared to perfection, the atmosphere was very elegant, the view was down a slope into a 400+ acre park which houses four golf courses, a zoo, and museum. 

Friday for lunch I accompanied two of the Information Services staff to a Lebanese bakery that they knew.  I had the broccoli cheese roll and French onion soup.  The soup was not as good as the one at the alehouse but was not bad either.  The bread used to make the roll was not like the Lebanese bread I am used to but was tasty; my real find here though, was some Zataar seasoning.  Zataar, also called Thyme seasoning, is used to make mannish which is pita bread with a light coating of olive oil then sprinkled with this Zataar and baked.  It is a favorite of ours, which we usually get shipped from Massachusetts.  Now we will be able to make it at home from store bought pita bread.  I didn’t get to finish early enough to visit any of my family this time so I waved from the air. 

I did find a real good deal on Beanie babies at the Pittsburgh airport they were $5.99 each or three for $14.99.  When the Beanie Baby craze started I thought I was safe having three boys, but Trevor was given one as a prize from a teacher and they found out it was a retired one and then they all had to have them.  So I try to watch for good deals on them.  I was relieved when they said they were stopping at the end of 1999, but then they started with the 2000 series.  Oh well they are relatively inexpensive and they could have worse hobbies.  They each have over 30 of these stuffed toys and display them proudly in their rooms.  I pick up the bears for Gail.

 I even have a few for myself; I have a Pink Flamingo in my cube at work. This started when I bought a picture of white herons at the Seattle Home Show my first few months in Seattle and hung it in my cube and a wax figure of flamingos from the zoo in Tampa to remind me of Florida.  Later I put up a set of prints of Pink Flamingos that just didn’t look as good in our house here as they did in Florida.  Then last year one of my coworkers bought me a set of plastic yard flamingos for my birthday as a gag, so I put them on top of the shelf in my cube so they could be seen from all over.  I told them that my wife wouldn’t let me put them anywhere at home.  So my cube has become the landmark people use to give directions on the first floor, such as “two cubes down from the flamingos.”  I also have some plants hanging from the ceiling, my beanie flamingo is on one of the hangers, and this does make me feel like I am back in Florida.  It’s especially cheerful in the winter when we go months without direct sunlight. 

The plans are that I will be in the office next week.  So I may skip a week in my stories unless something of interest happens.  It becomes a bit boring to hear about the hour and half commute to go twenty miles to work and back each day.

Wine Traveler’s Travels 5 (From the archives)

Sunday 23-Sep-2000

Well this was a very short weekend as I spent most of Saturday doing my laundry and everyone else’s too. Gail works extra shifts on the weekends so I do the housework, with some help from my boys.  The hardest part is getting them to hang up the clean clothes, so often I find folded clothes and clothes on hangers in their laundry baskets.  But they try real hard.  This week’s trip is out to Madison Wisconsin to one of our subsidiaries Burdick to take a weeklong class on their products and software.  I arrived at the airport in plenty of time with all the items I should have (Gail was home when I left so she runs me through a checklist).  This week it is on American Airlines and as I approach the gate at the time it was to start boarding I notice that it doesn’t look like they are ready.  Only a few minutes later though they start announcing the boarding process and this very unfriendly sounding lady announces that due to a short turnover there will not be the customary advanced boarding for frequent flyer’s (here goes another letter to American).  I should have known that it was a portent of things to come as I finally get my seat 10F, we sit, and we sit, and we sit.  Finally the pilot comes on the speaker saying that they found a dent the size of a dime on the outside of the aircraft and there is paper work that must be filled out.  Well after about 45 minutes he comes back on to say that the mechanics are arguing with the home office on how to repair the hole, yes the dent has now become a hole.  And that they are trying to measure how sharp the point is on the hole.  Well we end up getting delayed about 2 hours they announce that anyone with connecting flights will miss them and American will put us up in a hotel and get us to our destinations on the first flight in the AM. 

They refused to take anyone’s baggage off the plane so we couldn’t even try to get another airline to our destinations.  If you recall from my earlier travel that I have not been much impressed with the level of customer service on American well this isn’t helping much.  The Flight attendants were all in good moods despite the level of frustrations that could be felt among the passengers.  I tried using the airphone to cancel my hotel reservation but it would not work.  So off we went to Chicago, the meal was a very small portion of Chicken Strips (picture one regular chicken strip sliced into three pieces) two tablespoons of macaroni and Cheese and about ten pieces of green beans.  While they were well prepared and actually tasty, the portions would have had my youngest son begging for more.  The best part though was a cinnamon Oat bar from Love and Quiches deserts.  They also gave us a complimentary glass of wine.  They next round though they had no wine on the cart so it was just a small cup (4-oz) of club soda. 

The nightmare was only beginning, as we deplaned at Chicago it was obvious that we were late there was no one else in the terminal and only two agents to handle the arrangements for the whole plane full of passengers. The fellow ahead of me received his paper for the room at a Clarion Hotel he asked why aren’t we at the Hilton here on the airport property?  The response was “they don’t give us a discount.”  As I was given my paper for the room I asked about meal vouchers, “This is all they gave us” was the response I received.  I complained about the lack of food on the plane but it fell on deaf ears.  Then we were directed to the Baggage Claim area.  After waiting quite some time and the belt finished only about half of us had our luggage.  So off we went to another line.  It seems our luggage was taken to the area for our connecting flights, They seemed surprised that we would want our luggage.  One passenger had noticed his bag was in the American Eagle area and had asked the lady there for it she replied to him that “Can’t you see we are closed?”  Another lady from the American Airlines section, after hearing out plight, got our claim tickets and descriptions of all our bags and went in the back and brought out our bags. 

Then the long trek to the place where you get to catch the Hotel shuttles I’m talking a good half to three quarters of a mile through tunnels.  When I arrived there some of the passengers were trying to get the shuttle for another hotel to take them to the one we were to stay at.  It seems that when they called our hotel they were told there were no shuttles were available this time of the night it was 1 am now.  Just then another man came up and said that after explaining that there were quite a few of us they agreed to send a shuttle.  We got to the hotel to find they did not have the usual continental breakfast and that the shuttle would start running at 5 am to take us back to the airport.  So I got about two hours sleep before I had to get up and get dressed for the class I would now be late for. 

The flight was only 30 minutes airtime but took over an hour from gate to gate with no food or drinks served.  So now it has been since early last night since I have had anything to eat, good for the diet I guess.  I arrived at my destination ready to drop from lack of sleep, the rest of the group was well rested and we stayed working with the computers till 7pm that night.  The group members in this class were Tom Taylor who is one of the technical trainers from Redmond, Dave Crossly and Adrian who are CSR’s (customer service Reps) from the UK, and Erik Lam a CSR Manager from Hong Kong.  For lunch they brought in was great it was from a local sandwich shop made great subs.

Checking into the Hotel in Madison that night they removed the no show charges from the night before after I recounted my experience.  I went straight to bed without dinner.  The next morning this hotel, a Comfort Inn, had a great breakfast and I was much more attentive in class.  Lunch on Tuesday was Chinese take-out and left a lot to be desired. 

Madison is the state capitol for Wisconsin and has a beautiful domed capitol building at the center of town, and also boasts some wonderful Frank Lloyd Wright buildings namely the Manona Terrace, which is a civic center that is on the shore of Lake Manona.  It is also the home office for Oscar Mayer Corp.  The wiener mobile is seen quite regularly here. 

Tuesday night I found a wonderful Italian restaurant named Bellini’s it was inside what had once been a church with the cathedral ceilings and stained glass windows intact.  I had the Brochette as an appetizer and the special, which was a tomato-basil fettuccini with a clam and garlic cream sauce.  The food and the atmosphere were really satisfying. 

Wednesday, was another long day at class starting at 8 am and ending at 6 p.m.  We had been invited to the house of one of the staff from tech support, Melissa Owens.  Melissa used to work in the Redmond office but had relocated to Spacelabs/Burdick after becoming pregnant to move closer to her family.  She and her husband had just built a new house so four of us that were in the class came over for barbecued chicken and salad.  She had also made a wonderful apple salad that had whipped topping and caramel in it.  Chris, Melissa’s husband, used to work for Spacelabs Medical in technical training with Tom Taylor, but now does web designing for another company.  Chris had wired their house for the future he had cable in every room and at least two Ethernet outlets in each room.  Chris had also just built a table for their kitchen, which was quite unique, it was like an island work area with a breakfast bar attached to one side and wrapping around the far end.  The Bar section was built up about four inches above the work area. The top was laminated with a marble like Formica to complement the kitchen counters.  The food and the company were great. 

Thursday was another long day of class in which I learned much and found very enriching, we ordered from the sandwich shop again. 

This was our last night in town so the instructor took us all out to dinner at a Japanese Steak House I had Chicken and Shrimp.  This was one of those places where you are seated around a large grill and they prepare the food in front of you.   The Shrimp was prepared with Kogane sauce this is a combination of egg yolk, lemon juice and spices then it is place on top of the butterflied shrimp and covered on the grill till done.  It was really a taste sensation I want to experience again.  The Chicken was grilled with teriyaki sauce and the veggies were onion, Zucchini, and bean sprouts.  While preparing the veggies the chef took a thick slice of onion separating the rings and stacking them atop each other to make a cone. He then placed some form of alcohol inside and lit it moving this to a hot area of the grill it shot a flame way up and he announced “Japanese Volcano.”  After the flame went out it continued to spew steam and really was impressive.  Of course the usual fancy knife work and the juggling of the large salt and peppershakers were all part of the show.  It was a real dining experience.  

Our last day of class everyone was in overload but the presentations were so well done we continued to learn more.  I’m real excited about taking on these new products. 

The flight home was another adventure in American Airlines, we were first greeted with a slight delay but they would do their best to catch up the ten minutes it was behind. Well when the plane arrived they couldn’t get the Jetway to work so they brought up the portable stairs and announce that we would be boarding the plane from down stairs so we all went downstairs.  As we watched them off load the Regional Jet we were to fly back to Chicago we stood in disbelief as they moved the stairs away and attempted again to get the Jetway to connect.  They then announced that we would now be boarding upstairs so we all moved upstairs again.  As we watched out the window they continued to struggle with the Jetway, we were sure we would be told to go back downstairs again.  Then finally they started boarding from the Jetway.  As we were taxiing out to the runway we stopped and you could hear the engines slowdown…The Pilot announced ”I’m sorry there are problems at the Chicago Airport and we are to wait twenty minutes.”    We finally took off and had an uneventful short flight, as I got off the plane at G-19 (the very end of the G concourse) and was checking the monitors for gate information. I heard my name over the intercom stating that this was the final boarding call.  Off I ran two concourses over; they were actually holding the plane for me.  This is more like the customer service I would expect; I thanked the crew extensively and heard one of the flight attendants say to another “let the captain know, he is the one who was waiting for this passenger.”  I stuck my head in the cockpit and thanked him personally.  Well the short wait for me (only five minutes) was nothing compared to the wait in the taxi line as it seems that we were about fifteenth in line to take off.  It was another MD-80 and I won’t bore you with my dislike of this very inadequate plane.  The meal again was good but so small one of those $.79 frozen dinners would be a feast in comparison.  This time it was barbecued chicken, green beans, seasoned potatoes and a salad.  The highlight was the triple chocolate brownie for desert again made by love and quiches.  I noticed a web site on their package, which I will be checking out http://www.loveandquiches.com/.  Again they only gave the small cup of soda, not the whole can like TWA and Delta do.  But the fact that they waited till I could run from the end of one concourse over to the middle of another really goes a long way in making up for these other complaints.  I don’t want to sound unreasonable it’s just that when other airlines have had similar occurrences I have been given meal vouchers and phone cards to alleviate my inconvenience.  You get used to a certain level of customer service and expect it from others.   As we approached Seattle the Pilot announced that we were entering a holding pattern as the traffic at SeaTac was backed up.  As I am heading home this does not bother me, but I feel for those who have connections. 

I won’t make it in time to see Gail before she goes to work so I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.  I don’t know how she puts up with me when I’m home or when I’m away. 

I should have known better than to think this nightmare was over.  As I watched the bags move along the carousel I thought “ya know I bet my bag didn’t make the tight connection in Chicago” and sure enough it didn’t show up.  So I walked over to the baggage department for American Airlines and explained my predicament, they gave me a print out with all the pertinent information and the 1 800 number to call to check on my baggage.  I left with a sure feeling that my Bag would be on the next flight from Chicago and that I would get a call in the morning that my bag was to be delivered.   Well all day I stayed home (cleaning house and doing laundry, Oh yeah!) and the phone never rang.  The paper I was given said I would be called once every 24 hours with an update, so I waited.  Ten PM and no call, I called and spoke with a very nice young man who checked all my information and verified that my bag has not yet been found.  

On Sunday at 10 AM I called again with no luck so off I went to buy a new bag.  I found one at Target it is a rolling duffel with a small backpack on one end, which can be detached.  The best part was the price; it regularly sold for $29.00 but had a sale tag for $19.99.  When I got to the counter it scanned $9.94, finally something was going my way. 

Wine Traveler’s Travels part 4 (From the archives)

Tuesday 19-SEP-2000

This morning I am winging off to Oakdale, California, via San Jose on Alaska Airlines.  I specifically booked this flight due to the listed equipment was a Boeing 737-400.  I arrived in plenty of time with my wallet and new pager.  I parked my van at the MasterPark lot where you get to drop your vehicle at the door they cart your bags to the waiting bus then whisk you off to the entrance of the airport.  They know me so well here they will tell me how fresh the coffee is as soon as they see me.  Well the first change this morning was the gate, not much of a change, from D-1 to D-3.  They started boarding the plane after about 2 minutes they stopped and made an announcement that the type of plane had been changed and that the following people had to come to the desk for new seat assignments.  “Uh oh” I thought Here goes my luck and sure enough it was an MD-80 and all those people who were in the D seats now had seats in the rear of the plane.  The MD-80 is narrower and longer than the 737 instead of two sets of three seats in a row they have one set of three and one set of two and the rows are much closer together.  Using my laptop is next to impossible without getting cramps.  The one saving grace of this flight was that Alaska always serves Seattle’s Best Coffee, which is so much better than Starbucks.  We were also served our choice of a raspberry coffeecake or an orange and currant scone.  I chose the scone that was very flavorful but a little too moist to be called a scone. 

Despite the Travel Agent’s assurances that San Jose was closer to my destination than Sacramento which I requested (67 miles verses 77), the neverlost system in my Ford Taurus from Hertz told me it was 98 miles.  But the Drive was very interesting I passed through the hills where all the power-generating windmills are, it was such a site.  This is one of those trips I really wish I had a digital camera to capture the sites with.  I have thought of bringing my 35-mm camera but I have about 45 rolls of film at home that need to be developed, so that wouldn’t be worth the space it would take up.  I keep watching the prices are getting better and so is the quality.  Then I passed through the farming area of the Central Valley of California.  Almond and Pistachio orchards, vineyards and strawberry fields forever. 

Oakdale is a quaint little town that claims to be the Cowboy Capitol, it seems the national rodeo circuit starts out here, though I saw no cowboys, Central Florida had more cowboys than this.  I had to go straight to the hospital to start work I was there until about 6pm.  I had booked my lodging at the Best Western Rama Inn, a nice hotel I have stayed at before.  As I walked in the lady at the counter smiled.  I said, “I’m here for one of your fine rooms.”  She said she had just the room for me, it was to be a suite which she said because I was a business traveler I could have at the same rate as a regular room $59.  Well this room had a King size bed a desk and full closet and a Jacuzzi right in the room.  After the flight on the MD-80 and the two-hour drive then having to work I was ready for the tub.  I filled it up with real hot water and soaked for about 20 minutes with the jets on full.  Feeling much refreshed I looked out my window and noticed a new Mexican restaurant next door.  I walked over and was very pleased with the generous portions and great service.  I had the Chicken Mexicana, which was strips of chicken tenderloin with onions, green peppers, and Jalepenos.  Served with refried beans, rice and tortillas.  I left very full.  Back in my room I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed.  The next day was another full day at the hospital with return trips at 7:30 PM and 12:30 am to do some trouble shooting.  If it hadn’t been for the Pizza I bought for the staff at lunchtime I wouldn’t have eaten at all this day.  When I got back to the hotel at 9pm I was too tired to wait for the tub in my room to fill so I went to the indoor pool and hot tub there at the hotel and was pleasantly surprised to find it was hot.  It has been a common occurrence to find hotel hot tubs to be cooler than my pool was in Florida.  When I mention it to the staff they usually say that too many people complain that it is too hot when the set it at the mandatory 103-104 degrees that most Health Departments require for sanitary reasons.  This is also where it is most therapeutic.  The only disappointing thing about this stay was they charged me long distance for my local calls to my ISP, this will be credited after I showed the manager the phone book, which listed the exchange I called as a toll free local number.  This occurred when I checked out Thursday morning.  That day at the hospital with the help of Tech support we were able to get their system functioning better though it took all day.  I had to reschedule my flight for later that night.  Then we ran into a problem that required me to stay over another night.  The hotel I had just checked out of was now full so I had to drive about thirty minutes to the next town of Modesto.  The caveat here was there is a great restaurant here called St. Stan’s.  They have their own microbrewery and great food as well as live entertainment Weds-Sat.  I sat down and the barmaid came over promptly and asked what I would like to drink.  They had 9 of their own brews on tap.  I was undecided between the Amber and the Virgin Amber.  She explained that the Virgin Amber has less of the yeast filtered out so I tried that one it was very full bodied with good hops taste.  I ordered Wiener Schnitzel, you would think with a name like Schessler I would have had Wiener Schnitzel before, I had always assumed this was some sort of sausage.  Well this was some very lean pork finely breaded and sautéed in butter and lemon.  It was served with fries, which were lightly battered potato wedges, and a vegetable medley that had broccoli, carrots, beansprouts red peppers and snow peas.  The veggies are perfectly cooked, not too soft not too crisp.  I had a second beer while listening to the band which consisted of three guys two with guitars and one vocalist though all three sang. The Barmaid informed me that the band’s name was Chandler-Pratt.  Two of the guys are 16 and one is 22.  They did some classics from Jimmy Buffet to Leonard Skynard. 

The travel agent had gotten me a room at the Courtyard that was very nice but not as welcoming as the Best Western, not to mention the lack of the in room Jacuzzi.  The next day I ended up not finishing till after 4pm this just left me enough time to get back to San Jose.  Well it seems that due to construction it took over 45 minutes to get in the entrance of the airport and through the car rental return.  I missed my flight, fortunately they were able to get me on the next flight.  To my delight a 737 pulled up to the gate.  The flight home was uneventful though roomier than the fight down.  I got in about 11pm I had to stop by the office on the way home to drop off some papers and pick up some things for my next trip.  I left the office about 1AM.

Wine Traveler’s Travels part 3

Wine Traveler’s Travels part 3

(Sometime in 2000, didn’t date this one)

This week I am off to Helena Arkansas, a small town on the border of Arkansas and Mississippi.  My morning flight on American Airlines was missed due to my error of leaving the house without my wallet; I sat at the airport on standby till 1:48 PM which got me into Little Rock, AR at 10:30 PM with a two and a half hour drive to Helena.  This was the first time I had used American in quite a while I was pleased to see the attitudes of the employees has changed greatly.  They used to always seem angry.  The food on this flight was awful; it was described as a smoked turkey sandwich, which wasn’t much bigger than a small dinner roll, and a bag of chips that had more air than chips.  Needless to say I was starving.

At the recommendation of the Sales Rep I booked a room at the Isle of Capri Casino hotel across the river from Helena in Lula, MI.  Well at 1:00 am I was tired and grouchy my room was almost the last room from the one and only entrance.  I was on the second floor; there were about two hundred rooms per floor, with only one entrance (many alarmed fire exits) and a security guard at the door.  When I finally made it to my nonsmoking room I noticed a strong smell of smoke and two ashtrays in the room I called the desk and the girl said, “Well the computer says it’s a nonsmoking room.”  I won’t go into all the details of my conversation but I was less than pleasant.  She said, “I will bring up keys to another room” So I moved to the room that was furthest from the only entrance.  I then ventured down to the all night restaurant, for a rather pricey breakfast it was like an a la cart menu each item was $1, so two eggs, grits, sausage, a biscuit, and a glass of milk was $6.  The good thing though was it was well prepared and delicious.

Well I had to be up and dressed at 7 am the next morning and fortunately the Hospital was only 5 minutes from the casino.  After spending all day at the hospital with some very nice nurses, the sales rep, the Installer, the Monitor demonstrator and I went back to the casino for the Buffet dinner.  I was less than impressed with their treatment of vegetables the carrots were all mushy and so were the Brussels sprouts, (Is there a group for the ethical treatment of vegetables?)  Now the seafood part of this buffet was a whole other story.  The fried catfish was excellent very crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside.  The boiled shrimp was very well seasoned and not over cooked.  Even the shrimp salad was very good, and the King Crab and Stone Crab were tasty as well.  The price of this buffet was a reasonable $13.95.  I also made a $5 donation at the one armed bandits.

            Then Wednesday before I returned to Little Rock to catch my plane home, we stopped in the casino again and I won back 3 of my $5.  Following the Sales rep back to Little Rock as he lived there, we stopped in a little town called Brinkley where they had a Stuckey’s, which unlike the ones I recall from my childhood was more like a convenience store than a restaurant but still with all the souvenirs.  What he stopped for was the Mexican blankets they sell here; you know those nice colorful woven blankets that are great to use to cuddle up in front of the TV with.  They were priced at $5.99 each; we paid more than that in Mexico about 8 years ago.  So I picked up one for each of my boys. 

            I got to the Airport in plenty of time for my scheduled flight but was met with bad news.  The flight was so delayed I would not be able to make my Seattle connection in Dallas.  So the very nice young man got me a flight on Delta which was leaving in the next 15 minutes.  This allowed me to return to Seattle at 10:45 PM instead of the 12:30am I would have on American.  My opinion of American Airlines is definitely better than it was prior to this trip, while the food sucks the employees have a much better attitude and go out of their way to help you out.  The flight home on Delta was lacking only in the food department, as it was a late flight, only pretzels were served in coach.  The flight from Dallas to Seattle was in a 757 and as I have said before I’d rather be in coach in a 757 than First Class on a MD 80.  The Movie was Frequency so I saved $5 since I had already seen this one and was less than impressed.  We were served pretzels and soft drinks on this 3 hour and 45 min flight.  But the comfort of being in a 757 made up for the lack of food.  Somewhere on the flight home my pager must have fallen out of my computer bag, as it was not there the next morning.  Arriving at a little after 11 it was about 12:30 when I made it home.  Fortunately I had a message from the office that I could come in a little late in the morning. 

Wine Traveler’s Travels 2

Wine Traveler’s Travels 2 (From the archives)

05 Sep 2000

            Well it was another early morning trip out of SeaTac made bearable by the fact that my wife, Gail accompanied me to the airport.  This is a rare occasion since our schedules rarely coincide, and it was a welcome change to have her there to say goodbye to before I went into the terminal.  Well my luck has remained with me and this trip is on TWA again which means I get the free upgrade to first class.  The breakfast was the vegetable quiche again and was just as good as last week. The movie was Frequency, a very predictable movie about a son making contact with his deceased father via a HAM radio with the help of solar flares.  I expected a tearjerker, and as my kids will attest I cry easy at the movies, well I didn’t shed a tear here as it was too canned, and even for a diehard sci-fi fan too improbable.  Well the wait in St. Louis was only 30 minutes so I went right to the gate.  To my surprise the 42-minute flight to Indianapolis was on a 757.  This flight was very quick and comfortable. 

            The drive from Indianapolis was in the 2000 Mazda 626 from Hertz.  It was a comfortable but small vehicle with that tin can feeling but miles above the contour they first offered me. 

            Terre Haute Indiana is the home of basketball great Larry Bird and the Indiana State University.  It is also the home of, in my humble opinion; the best managed Holiday Inn in the country.  The place while not new is well maintained and clean.  You are met with a smile and coupons for a complimentary breakfast bar in the restaurant (a real breakfast with sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and home fries) and a coupon for a free drink in the lounge.  The indoor pool is clean and warm the Hot tub was also clean and could have been a little hotter but over all a great experience.  This was my third time at this particular Holiday Inn and while the rate has increased from $69 to $79 it is still one of the best values I have ever experienced in the hotels I have visited.  I have even been known to add to evaluations at other Holiday Inns that they could learn something from this site.  The Mall here has a store called Bach Rack, which is an outlet for Bachrach clothing.  You can find fine dress shirts usually priced at $45+ for $6.  I did not find anything I liked on this trip however I did run across a Fred Meyer Jewelers that had a pair of peridot earrings on sale I could not pass up for my wife since last month I was unable to get anything nice for her birthday. 

            I spent most of my time here this trip at the hospital so I did not get to explore the city much.  I finished early and hoped to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Indianapolis on the way home but their schedule did not coincide so since I finished early I was able to change my flight home and get all 757 service home.  The movie on the way home was “Keeping the Faith”, one of the best films I have seen this year.  It is the story of three best friends; a Priest, a Rabbi, and a girl.  I laughed and I cried and so did most everyone else on the plane.  I can’t wait till it is available to rent so I can see it again and share it with Gail.

            I was able to get home before Gail left for work that night and gave her the earrings; she was very pleased.  She wore them the next day when we went on a dinner cruise on the “Spirit of Puget Sound”.  Gail’s employer sponsored this cruise.  We left from the Port of Everett at 4 PM the ship has two decks for the dinner cruise and seats about 300 people.  There was a live band on each deck as well as a dance floor.  The Buffet was great there was dill carrots, crab salad, tossed salad, potato salad, beef stew and rice, teriyaki chicken, and baked salmon with dill sauce.  The dill carrots were fantastic, the crab salad was also good.  I also had the teriyaki chicken and the salmon all of which were awesome. The Desert was a flamboyantly prepared cherry jubilee.  Then came the Show, which was a musical presentation that was very well done.  The Band was great and I even got Gail up dancing, something I wish we did more of.  I highly recommend this dinner cruise, and I will be adding it to the list of things to do with visiting friends and relatives (any excuse to get Gail to go dancing with me).

Wine Traveler’s Travels Part 1

Wine Traveler’s Travels Part 1 (From my archives)

27 AUG 2000

This is the first installment of my travels and escapades as I discover America one city at a time. 

First a little history, I am a forty-year-old man going on twenty-five.  I work for a medical monitoring company teaching other nurses and health professionals how to use the medical software developed by my company.  I love to discover the uniqueness of the city I am visiting, and I hope to chronicle it here so I can recall it when my memories fail me.  I won’t bore you with the details of my job just the fringe benefits of all the travel it entails. 

             I flew out of SeaTac airport at 6:05 am (the only time to try to get to SeaTac airport from North of Seattle if you wish to avoid the traffic and to get a Boeing 757) Tuesday Morning the last week of August on TWA.  I was pleased to have the free corporate upgrade to First Class.  The movie was Center Stage, one I hadn’t seen yet.  The breakfast that was served was exceptionally good the vegetable quiche was quite tasty with a surprisingly flaky crust.  The ham slices (much like Canadian bacon) that accompanied the quiche were also very tasty. Then there was the one hour layover in St. Louis, made bearable by the First Class ticket granting me access to the Ambassadors Club.  The hour and a half flight from St. Louis to Pittsburgh was on a DC9 I was surprised that First Class here only offered pretzels, but the Bailey’s Irish Cream and Kahlua on the rocks made it a pleasant flight. 

            From the Airport to Wheeling West Virginia I drove my rented Pontiac Grand Am, the 2000 model was a vast improvement over the last one I had driven not only was the styling a bit more sporty but it actually had some get up and go.  Entering Wheeling I was not prepared for the appearance, while I noted another fairly large hospital, the rest of the town looked quite ramshackled.   I met some of my coworkers at the Hampton Inn where we were to stay we then headed out to look for a good place to eat.  Brent, the installer, had been here before and recommended the River City AleHouse.  So off we set through some very seedy areas of town till we came to a couple of buildings that had obviously been recently renovated.  One being the Wheeling Visitor and Transportation Center (a parking garage and Bus Terminal) and the River City Artisan Center which also housed the AleHouse.  Entering the building, it was apparent that some real talent had been engaged in this renovation project.  The interior gave the impression of two three-storied buildings that had been connected by stairs and bridgeways, the opening between them covered by a glass roof.  We were seated in the non-smoking section (it’s times like this that I really miss the West Coast) The service was exemplary and the food was ample and well prepared.  Our server started by bringing us some fresh focacia style bread and introducing herself. Then took our order Brent ordered the House Stout, which fortunately was the only local brew available at this time, I followed suit, Vicki ordered ice tea.  The Stout was like Chocolate syrup and the head was thick and creamy.  The taste was ample without being overpowering with a slight bite but no bitterness.  We then surveyed the very eclectic menu.  Brent ordered the Filet on Toast, Vicki the Philly Cheese Steak and I the Portabello Mushroom Pizza.  The Filet on Toast was medallions of Filet Mignon on Texas toast with grilled onions and Cheese, served with Brewery Fries (seasoned steak fries); I heard no complaints from Brent.  The Philly Cheese Steak was an ample version of this famous staple, also served with Brewery Fries; Vicki’s only complaint was she couldn’t eat it all.  The Pizza was a healthy twelve-inch crust with pesto sauce, portabello mushroom slices, red Onion, green pepper, and three cheeses.  I have been known to eat most of a large delivery pizza I could not finish this one.  We had to skip desert. 

            The next day work finished early for Vicki and I so we went exploring.  Our first goal was lunch; the staff at the hospital recommended we head towards the Mall about 8 miles away and the Mehlman Cafeteria received their highest recommendation.  After looking in the mall and wishing to try something local we left in search of Mehlmans, we were not disappointed.  It was your typical cafeteria or Buffeteria style, only better.  The food was all made from scratch, Vicki and had similar tastes this time we both chose the Egg Custard, the Prime Rib and a baked potato.   I think the Egg Custard was my favorite though nothing went to waste.  The ice tea was fresh brewed; this Florida boy won’t touch instant.  

After Lunch we went in search of the park that some of the staff had mentioned.  We went west of the Hotel on US 40.  We saw some wonderful old colonial style homes and one that had a Frank Lloyd Wright with an Oriental twist look.  And we found a wonderful park that had a golf course, miniature golf as well as standard park amenities.  Vicki marveled at the old cemeteries we passed and the unique headstones.  When we again spoke with the staff they told us we saw the small park and that even more impressive homes where over towards Oglebay Park which had two golf courses. 

That night we went back over by the mall to search out new tastes for dinner, we settled on the West Texas Roadhouse.  This is one of those places where you get a bucket of peanuts and the floor is covered in shells.  I ordered a Red Wolf draft which came in a large frosty 34-ounce mug, there were ice crystals floating in the top of the beer.  This is the way beer was meant to be served, I don’t recall what Brent or Vicki ordered (must have been the beer) I had a Prime Rib sandwich on Texas toast with fries (that looked and tasted very similar to the brewery fries from the AleHouse).

Vicki and I wondered what industries had once made this area so prosperous.  My last night in town I found out; I returned to the River City AleHouse to try more of their menu. I was there early enough to visit the Artisan center, which included a tour of the history of Wheeling.  Being on the Ohio River and situated as the gateway from East to West.  Some of the first settlers were brewery types, relatives of the brewery people brought other industries Glass making, Steel, and Tobacco were among these industries.  Wheeling was most famous for its production of Nails; they now have a Hockey team named the Wheeling Nailers.  Mail Pouch tobacco was packaged and shipped from Wheeling as well as Wheeling Stogies cigars.  The self-guided tour through this artisan center was uniquely displayed in a barrel where you could turn a wheel on one end to change the information displayed in a window in the barrel.  The National Highway, which was one of the first east to west thoroughfares, passed through Wheeling.  This visit I ordered the Spinach Wrap this was a very generous portion of grilled chicken with a spinach, rice and cheese mixture wrapped in a spinach tortilla; served with Brewery Fries I could only eat half of the wrap.  I also had another glass of their stout they make there.

We finished a day early and I was unable to get my flight changed so I stayed in Wheeling Thursday night then drove back to Pittsburgh to visit family I have there.  I called my aunt, Sister Gregory, at the convent to see if it was convenient for me to visit.  She welcomed me; I was also able to visit my great aunts Sisters Claver and Georgine.

Sister Gregory invited me to join her for lunch touring the Mother house of the Sisters of St. Francis of Milvale was the highlight of my trip the artwork here was breathtaking, the cathedral was humbling with the great vaulting ceiling and the stained glass windows.  Lunch was served buffet style and included a wonderful salad bar the entrees today were pancakes (both plain and blueberry) or tuna melt sandwich. There was fresh cantaloupe as well.  I had a salad and the tuna melt with a slice of the cantaloupe. Sister Gregory stepped up to the microphone in the lunchroom and introduced “the man” who was visiting.

After lunch we went to visit the “old Sisters” in the infirmary. Sister Georgine was still eating her lunch and Sister Claver had been brought into her room.  Sister Claver is in her nineties and was diagnosed with a brain tumor about two years ago and since it was painless she made the decision to have no intervention.  Sister Georgine is a few years younger but has been an insulin dependant diabetic for many years.  She is now hard of hearing and She told me about five times she can’t see; though, as I was leaving, she told me she liked the cartoon characters on my shirt.  I was wearing my denim shirt which has a large embroidered Bugs Bunny and While E. Coyote on the back. Sister Georgine recognized me right off sister Claver said she did but as her memory has been failing I wasn’t so sure.  Sister Georgine asked about my three boys and even remembered their names.  After this visit we went back to Sister Gregory’s office to call my Uncle Skip to see if he was open to a visit.  As we walked though the convent I was stopped many times by sisters welcoming me and thanking me for stopping by.  This is one place I would like to visit again.

Sister Gregory and I drove to my Uncle Skip’s house and visited with him and my Aunt Claire, Uncle Ray also stopped by.  While there we put in a call to my cousin Kathy who was at work.  It was wonderful to visit with my family.  Uncle Skip shared some old family photos of my Grand Father and Great Grand Father.  He also proudly displayed his new Z scale train he and Aunt Claire had made.  It was ingeniously mounted on a platform that resembled a toy drum, it was very christmasy.   After leaving their house I drove Sister Gregory to the auto body shop so she could pick up her car she had repaired.  Sister Gregory told me the story of why she has two hard hats in the back window of her car.  She was once told that putting a man’s hat in plain view would help to discourage attackers by giving the impression that a man was traveling with her.  So she figured a hard hat would go one better, not only was a man traveling with her but also he was a tough one.   Saying goodbye but not really wanting to leave I headed back to the airport. 

The flight home was very enjoyable, from Pittsburgh to St. Louis it was a similar DC9 like the one I arrived on, the same hour and a half flight; but the crew had such a sense of humor we were laughing the whole way.  This time we were served a beef wrap that tasted so fresh I would have thought they had made them on the plane with a three bean salad and Pepperidge Farms cookies with my favorite Bailey’s and Kahlua on the rocks. 

I spent the two-hour lay over in the Ambassadors Club writing this account. 

My flight from St. Louis to Seattle was most miserable as it was in a MD-80.  This is the worst Jet ever devised; the ride is always noisy because of the wind noise that penetrates the hull even in First Class.  They have no entertainment system and they take about 40 minutes longer, to make the same trip, than a 757 would.  So the trip is longer and there is no movie or music to help pass the time.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to ride in Coach this time as my knees touch the seat in front of me; MD-80’s are so cramped.  The crew was very attentive though, and the half sandwich (grilled chicken on a croissant) was acceptable. I will fill out yet another suggestion form ranting about the inadequacies of the MD-80.   

As I reread this first attempt to chronicle my travels it seems I focus a lot on eating but there was not much else to do in Wheeling. 

Becoming a Phoenix

               I am always looking for way to improve myself and one of those includes my writing skills. If you have been a long time follower of my writing (mostly my family, cause the didn’t have much of a choice J) then you know I am not the most fluent writer. I tend to just write as I speak some fragments and some run on sentences. Well you will be happy to know I have enrolled in school to change that. I am now attending the University of Phoenix Online (UOPX). My Wife was very successful in getting her Master’s Degree in Nursing through the UOPX and is now working on her PhD in healthcare administration.

                I really enjoy doing social media for some of the local wineries so I decided to go back to school for a business degree with an emphasis on marketing. The online school is mostly writing assignments so my online presence may be less as I work to fulfill my school obligations for a bit.  I plan to post some of my old writings that I shared via email with my family when I was traveling the country installing medical software. Hopefully there will be a noticeable improvement in my writing skills as I progress with my education.

                I am going to continue to Tweet and talk about the local wine industry and hopefully use it as much as possible in my school assignments. So like the mythical bird my old writings are going to rise from the ashes I hope you enjoy them .

a new "old" way of doing wine.

There is a new "playa in da 'hood." Piccola Wine, I will let their press release speak for them, but I do know they are using premium wines in this new/old format. You can find them in the same spot as Edmonds Winery. Are you ready to rediscover the way wine used to be made available to the public?


PICCOLA CELLARS OPENS WINERY IN WOODINVILLE’S WINE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT


First Washington State winery to specialize solely in wine on tap.
WOODINVILLE, WA – Hosting a dinner party next week? Taking a road trip in your new RV? Wish you could just chill and serve a keg of fresh, delicious wine? Now you can. La Botte Piccola Wine Company, specializing in Wine-on-Tap, has opened a new winery, Piccola Cellars. Based in Woodinville, Piccola Cellars will focus exclusively on offering wine in keg in new consumer-friendly mini-kegs. Piccola, who has been working with several restaurants and bars in the Seattle area, is branching out so that they can work directly with the public. Their new mini-kegs have a sophisticated built-in gas module and tap system and come in both 5 and 11 liter sizes. The keg keeps wine fresh for up to 3 months and is completely re-usable - simply bring it back to the winery for a re-fill.
Sound a bit too modern for your taste? Actually, Piccola Cellar’s theory is that serving Wine-on-Tap is a return to our roots – for years serving wine direct from the barrel was the traditional means of providing local wine to the community. With the benefit of new technology, they preserve that tradition while still delivering a high quality, local product. Piccola Celler’s founder and co-owner, Diana Kaspic said “Many people think that serving wine from a keg is new idea. It’s actually a really old idea. We’ve just put a new twist on it.”
Serving wine on tap is both economically and environmentally beneficial. The kegs are extremely efficient to fill and transport and topping them with Argon or similar gas keeps the wine as fresh as the day it was packaged. Along with preserving the wine, the keg packaging
reduces much of the waste involved with packaging and serving wine in glass bottles. The kegs weigh less, they are completely re-usable and they take up less space. And, because of the larger size and minimal waste of product, you can consume more and save money at the same time. Now that’s an idea that we all can embrace.




ABOUT PICCOLA CELLARS
La Botte Piccola Wine Company specializes in Washington wine packaged in large format kegs poured using a traditional tap system. Serving the restaurant, catering and consumer market, their reusable keg containers give customers a unique economic and environmental advantage. Piccola Cellars is based in Woodinville’s wine warehouse district and their tasting room is open Fridays 3-5, Saturdays 12-6 and Sundays 12-5. Clients include Black Bottle, Locol Barley and Vine, Bear Mountain Ranch in Chelan, Willows Run Golf Course and more. To learn more about Piccola Cellars, please call 206-271-2692 or visit their web site at www.piccolawine.com. Come get “Tapped In.”