We came. We saw. We drank wine. It was not exactly the Catalina Wine Mixer*, but Vintage Spokane still proved to be a fun time with great drinks and tasty food.
Taking place at the Spokane Convention Center for the second time (and this year being held in the Centennial Ballroom), Vintage boasted over 50 wineries and nearly a dozen eateries in attendance. I sampled Riesling from Purple Star Wines, a Carmenere from Reininger Winery, Cruel Summer Rose from The Walls, Pinot Noir from V du V Wines, a Rose from Kestrel Vintners, and an SBS from Cadaretta. I learned that Pinot Noir is a type of grape, while Rose refers to what is done with the grape. That Carmenere is from a grape thought to be extinct, and Cranberry wine (from Hoodsport Winery) tastes more like cranberry juice than any wine I’ve ever had.
I also ate enough tiny tri-tip tacos with Chipotle Syrah sauce (from Castle Event Catering) to equal at least four normal size tacos. I chowed down on multiple beef brisket tacos from Table 13, blondies dipped in decadent chocolate from The Melting Pot, surprisingly good cheddar cheese thumbprint cookies with apricot pepper jelly from The Fresh Plate Market & Bistro Box Catering, smoked pulled pork sliders from Post Street Ale House, spicy Moorish pork with Harissa and not so spicy goat cheese and bacon jam crostini bites from Nectar Catering and Events.
When Vintage names itself a “wine and food affair” they are not kidding around. Even the specialty jerky from Krave was delicious (I particularly liked the black cherry barbecue). I’d like to believe I maintained a little self control when it came to trying all the tasty food offerings, but I’m probably deluding myself.
Oh well.
Anyhoo.
While Vintage Spokane was the event that wrapped up my weekend, it was far from the only exciting fun time I had. Saturday dawned bright and sunny and mild and I packed myself up in the car with my sister and niece to head off to Silverwood for the day. We made it there from Spokane in good time (though our impulsive stop for breakfast sandwiches from McDonald’s took slightly longer than expected) and arrived at the park within about 15 minutes of it opening.
It was already pretty crowded. I guess summer + nice day + weekend = everyone in the area going to Silverwood at the same time. So it was crowded, but not terrible. We waited in line for our first ride – Thunder Canyon – for maybe around 45 minutes, and that was our longest wait of the day. And I’d say it was worth it, as I love the rapids rides. I got soaked right off the bat and spent the rest of the day in soggy shorts, but it was still fun.
We stuck mainly to the less intense rides, as my niece is only three and not quite 48 inches yet, so all of the big roller coasters and super fast rides were out of her reach. She was not impressed with that, by the way. She dreams of the day she can go on a real roller coaster for a change. She liked the little ones okay, though. Especially the spinning coaster and the flying air planes and the thing that is like a Ferris Wheel but turns at an angle so it kind of different. From the faces she made on the really slow rides that just go round and round, she was less than impressed with them.
We hit up Boulder Beach in the late afternoon, but our experience there was less fun than we thought it would be. We couldn’t do the big slides because my niece isn’t big enough for them yet. So we aimed for the toddler splash pad area, wave pools, and the other kid friendly area. The toddler one was kind of boring, the waves in the wave pool made my niece uncomfortable, and the other kid area was just too chaotic. Children were pushing each other on the slides and running over each other on their way down and shooting people in the face with water cannons and running in the pool area and knocking into each other. Unfortunately my niece is too little for that kind of rough-housing, and I’m too old to put up with it.
We wrapped up our trip to the park shortly after leaving Boulder Beach. It had been a long day and we were pretty wiped out. We were also starving, so we met up with friends at Azteca in the Valley Mall for some dinner. I had the polla a la crema (one of my fave dishes) along with a blood orange margarita that was incredibly tasty. We also shared a bowl of their queso dip, which has got to be some of my favorite restaurant queso EVER. We were too tired to linger long over dinner and drinks, but we managed to have a good (and filling) meal before we stumbled home to fall asleep (embarrassingly early).
And that’s where I’m gonna wrap up this installment of Adventures in Spokane. I’m still trying to recover from the weekend and need to rest my brain for a bit. I’ll be back next week (hopefully) to talk about animated Batman, convention volunteering, sushi fish, and Ghostbusting. If you want to pass the time until I return you can head out for some adventures of your own. You might even see me bouncing around town while you’re out there (and if you find me and introduce yourself I’ll give you a prize!).
This week’s Adventures in Spokane brought to you by:
Vintage Spokane
The Spokane Convention Center
Silverwood Theme Park/Boulder Beach Water Park
Azteca Mexican Restaurant
*random Step Brothers reference
