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Published: December 18th 2007
This place was great
Great patio, great company, stinky cheese. ¨I doubt the rest of the kids will invite me on their honeymoon,¨ my Dad joked as we enjoyed our first wine and cheese happy hour high above the city on our hotel terrace. We like to say the honeymoon is over and ended at our Mexico hotel with infinity pool, so we were thrilled to have my Dad meet us in Argentina´s wine country of Mendoza.
After pestering him to meet us in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, my Dad finally had a window of opportunity to join us on our trip. This was the longest I hadn´t seen my Dad since studying in Spain for five months, and even though he flew for two days to Argentina and back to spend only four days, it was wonderful to see one of my very favorite family members months later.
We took my Dad on his third international wine-tasting trip of the year, but the only one that included Argentina´s world-famous malbec. Argentina is the fifth-largest wine producer in the world, and malbec is its signature, spicy red vino with delicious dark berry undertones. My Dad is like Trev and I - he´s up for anything and willing to taste
The McCulloch Clan is ready to taste wine
This was the first of a few vineyards we saw that claimed they are the oldest in the country everything. ¨Trying a bunch of different things has been my philosophy in life for pretty much everything. Except for women,¨ he says.
So we hopped on a bus to wine country and then biked between bodegas for some serious sampling. We kicked things off with a tour of the oldest vineyard in Mendoza, led by an Argentinian Tony with an English accent (sorry, Tony, we would´ve cornered him for a photo, but we were in a rush to get to the tasting). Then we cruised past vineyards, an olive factory named after my sis, Laur, and a family-run candy and liquor factory. We must´ve sampled a dozen wines, along with citrusy liquor, and saw our lives flash before our eyes only a few times as we raced back against truck traffic.
We took a spectacular day trip to see the natural Inca´s Bridge and Aconcagua, the biggest mountain in the Americas at 22,000 feet. My Dad had seen the peak from the Chile side, so we zoomed in for a closer view of the 300 meter glacier. Trev and I are still deciding if we have the time and energy to climb this beast. After our last experience
An afternoon rap session
on the patio with pisco sours, olives and wine in Ecuador, we may wait to climb what they call our ¨pequeña¨ (small) mountains in Colorado.
Our other exciting day trip was to the Wal-Mart outside of town. My Dad is a big fan of the old super center, and wanted to see what treasures we could discover. It was odd to see the sweet, elderly greeter say ¨Buen Dia¨ and we were surprised to see that even the Latin Wal-Mart has a ¨Latin¨ cd section. My Dad treated us to a cart-full of Argentinian goodies, including more vino (of course), dulce de leche Oreos, meat and ham-flavored chips, and books in español. A good time had by all.
We spent the rest of our days exploring the city streets and the park, where my Dad was able to name many of the 500 species of trees. We spent our evenings on the terrace drinking wine or in parillas (grill restaurants) tasting steaks and drinking more wine. We were even treated to an extra dessert and endless shots of lemonccello, thanks to an energetic owner of the Italian restaurant named Trevi.
We had a lot to toast to, and had a wonderful time together. Gracias again for
Our ride to the vineyards
Everyone looks happy because this is our first stop. everything, Dad. You´re welcome on our honeymoon any time. Here´s to you and... to the future too!
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Great-grandpa and Grandma Seelye
non-member comment
Sounds like you're still having fun. That wine must really be sometning! Imagine your dad pulling a house trailer all over Argentina! I know you will have a culture shock on your return in February, but return you must. We miss you. Love Gand G