I need a slice of heaven....

It has been a while since my lovely wife and I have gotten the chance to depart the land that time forgot and once again travel to the land of milk and honey (or wine and more wine as the case may be).

The last time that we got to go out to Napa Valley was in 2006, but we were smart (or it may just have been the wine talking) we signed up for a number of clubs that praise be, would ship wine to us on a regular basis. Now that sounds like a pretty good deal for everyone involved; the wineries got to sell wine, UPS got to ship it to me, the state got tax money for doing pretty much nothing and I got wine. Happy people all around.

Alas however the state saw that everyone was was happy and decided to intervene to protect everyone involved from ourselves. Somehow it was decided that we could not have wine shipped to us by the big bad wineries of California, but instead we should support the indigenous wineries of my home state.

Now I think that I forgot to mention that I live in the Midwest, Ohio to be exact and I know that there are wineries in the state, but I choose not to drink their wine. Okay, call me a snob, but really, it is my money, shouldn't I be able to spend it the way that I see fit? The last time that I looked, prohibition had been repealed, so drinking is legal. It's not like I am ordering coke from Columbia or anything. I just want to have a glass of wine that I like.

This situation made me do something that I really don't like to do because of the inherent futility of the act....write my congressman. Actually I went to www.freethegrapes.org and sent my representatives a form letter. Did it do any good? Well I did get some nice letters back from a couple of them saying that they were aware that this was an issue, but, sorry for my luck, there wasn't anything that they could do. Big surprise there!

If you find yourself in the same predicament that I am in, go to the web site above and let your congressmen and senators know what you think. It may not do any good, but it may make you feel better...or not.

To Brighten you day and show you what you are missing, I will leave you with some pictures from our last trip...enjoy!