Remember how I said this week was going to be a little “off” ?? well… maybe I am the one who is a little off!! Hahaha!! I mean, I have visited a lot of places and tasted a lot of wine, but I do not remember [which is the problem-LOL] ever totally forgetting a tasting. The date, the location, the building, the wine. It is almost even a little bit embarrassing that looking back at my photos still doesn’t jog even the slightest of memories!! Is wine amnesia a thing!? I have even

So, last week I mention “a newly rediscovered tasting room." The reason I said that is because Shawn and I visited Cooper’s Hawk Winery back in 2001. I think the main reason was to get lunch or dinner [I can’t remember which] and even though it was pretty good, that was the only time I was there… until a couple weeks ago!! [February 2026] I don’t think, at the time I was a huge fan of their wines either. However, with several years to condition my palate [Haha] it turns out t

Hello from Albuquerque!! We are just making a quick pitstop this year as we head back to Phoenix for the winter. It’s pretty amazing how many friends we have made here over the years and it’s always so fun to catch up with as many of them as possible when we’re passing through!! I do not know if y’all have been formerly introduced to Amanda Rae Warren [pictured in the last photo] yet or not, but she has made several appearances in multiple wine blogs in the past. The at home

I’ve always felt like I’m so lucky to meet and know so many wonderful people due to my travels. Let me introduce another travel nurse friend, Natalie Marr!! I actually met Natalie for the first time back in 2019 when I was on assignment at University of Washington. She was part of the permanent staff, but we worked different shifts, so we were kind of more like acquaintances back then. When I got to Spokane and started working at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital we were [re]intro

As I mentioned last week, we are still in Kalispell, Montana where my friend Deb, and I have found another winery to visit!! I don’t have to tell you since you can see if from the photo below, but we are big wine fans… hahaha!! Aren’t these just the cutest? I mean for those of you who even remember what a paper “fan” like this is actually looks like and is used for. I am pretty sure this is a quick stop; it is either in between am and pm hot air balloon flights or maybe it is

Wine with Wixy has been visiting the Glacier National Park area [Kalispell Montana to be exact] for the last couple of years, usually for one week during the summer. You see our friends, who I have talked about before, the Flying Flanagans summer in this area and it’s that time of year again!! [for us to go for a visit!!] It is kind of a vacation, but we do take our balloon along with us, and we have often flown a couple of flights while we are here so maybe a “workcation” wo

What to do when you have the day off , the air quality is poor, and you’re looking for something to stay indoors!?? You find and try out new wineries!! Haha!! Since coming to Spokane area, I have loved walking around the Riverfront. Not only did I think it was beautiful, but there were is also an upper and lower falls, as well as numerous shops. It was in the shops that I found several tasting rooms, though I will only be blogging about one… Nectar Wine and Beer!! It was a pr

Anyone who truly knows me or has ridden with me in the car, knows how dependent I am on my GPS. If you look up “directionally challenged” in the dictionary, there is probably a photo of me!! Haha!! As dependent as I am… GPS sometimes steers me wrong, it is not always 100% accurate, you know!? That is the case on this particular day. I feel like because the winery was in an alley [which I didn’t know prior to going, even though the address was Railroad Alley!!] it was hard for

Due to my love for wine and wine tastings, every time we take a road trip [wether it’s a day trip, a long weekend, or changing our home base location… it doesn’t matter] I always do a little research to see if there is a winery that is on our route. Or at least one not too far out of the way. LOL!! I especially love when I can find a place that we have not been to before!! Sometimes I get lucky and hit the mother lode of three or more wineries in the area. There is usually, a

Last week I mentioned this beautifully painted [wine themed] building that I saw on my way home from working in the city… I also mentioned that it was “one of a kind” and I’m about to tell you why!! Over the years I have never seen a winery that was open, much less that offered wine tastings in the early morning!! Yes, in the morning. After a little research into Latah Creek Wine Cellars, I found out that they were open Monday thru Friday 9am to 5pm, closed only for New Years

While I always love a good road trip… YIPPEE we have finally arrived at our new summer home!! We had a pretty big spot towards the back corner of the campground, near the nice big doggie run. In my usual fashion, I must explore our area and find things to do nearby. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you a found a winery practically within walking distance of the RV park, would you!? Well… it is absolutely true!! Haha!! Liberty Lake Wine Cellars, aptly named such... since we a

So, remember last week I mentioned that this week’s winery wasn’t even on my radar? Sometimes those are the best kind to find!! I remember seeing a winery sign on our way to Sno Road Winery. I didn’t really pay attention, just made a mental note that I wanted to stop and check it out on our way back through. Wow, I am so glad we did… “Check out this awesome freaking silo built in the 1900’s!!” was my FB post!! Haha. While it may be a pretty common sight in agricultural area l

From Boise we headed on up into Oregon, again we were trying to avoid the snowstorms predicted to happen in Montana. Our last stop before checking into the campground for the summer was in Stanfield, OR at the Pilot RV Park!! How funny that I just mentioned our truck driving history last week and here we are staying at a truck stop RV Park. I didn’t even know there was such a thing!! I remember two things about this park. First, you had to drive through the truck stop parking

As you know, things do not always go according to plan, and sometimes you have to make changes along the way in order to adapt. Shawn saw a winter storm in the forecast along our initial route, so decided we should take a detour through Boise, Idaho. This was going to add another day of travel, but we had the time. A couple nights later we ended up at one of the last open spots at a campground in Boise. Wouldn’t you know that there was a winery only a couple miles down the ro

"If we were meant to stay in one place we'd have roots instead of feet!!" - Rachel Wolchin . The great thing about going to new summer locations is taking routes of travel that we haven’t driven before. [at least not since way back in our trucking over the road days] This means we are driving through new towns, with new sights to explore and new wineries to find and visit!! Haha!! Shawn usually plans out our stops before we head out so we can find and reserve our camping spot

So, when I first read out about Garage East Wine Bar I thought it was a little far to drive to taste wine. It was all the way down in Gilbert, a little over an hour away. However, I do so love going to new places and trying new wines that I somehow convinced Shawn to make the trip with me. I’m sure we also had plans to get lunch, and Shawn [usually] humors me and my adventurous wine seeking spirit!! I also thought, solely based on the name, that the theme would be about garag

Once upon a time I was really into trying to discover and then frequent interesting and fun looking speakeasy. [p.s. I still am… hahaha] When I found out about Kazimierz World Wine Bar in Scottsdale and that was also a speakeasy, well you know I just had to go!! I’ll say finding the entrance was quite fun in and of itself, but maybe that was by design?? LOL So when you stepped inside it almost felt like a different world, a dusky atmosphere immersed in a medieval times theme.

Let me start off by saying that until now I have mostly only written about wine bars, wineries, and vineyards. However, there are so many great places that could fall into one of these categories, but just do not. The Sicilian Butcher is one of these places, it is an awesome Italian restaurant [that has turned into a chain restaurant] founded in Arizona in 2017. It may not be a wine bar "per se" but you would never know it by the wine selection, or the way the charcuterie boa

I remember heading to a shopping center called The Scottsdale Quarter this day. The Quarter is an absolutely beautiful [as seen below] luxury, upscale, open-air shopping center in Scottsdale. We had a balloon friend in town visiting, Chad Cassell. He needed to stop by an Apple store and there just so happened to be one at The Quarter. I heard or read about another self-pour wine bar in this very shopping center, so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone!! While Chad

So I know that a wine friend initially told me about this wine bar, a place where you can pour your own wine tasting, but I am not 100% sure exactly who that was. I think it was another traveler I was working with at Banner Thunderbird, Jenny Moran, but both of our contracts were getting ready to end so we didn't have time to go. Plus, Shawn and I were getting ready to leave for the summer and there just wasn’t enough time to go check it out. When we got back into Phoenix, [J