Chateau Ste. Michelle...

It's no big secret that I enjoy a nice glass of wind on occasion. I'm a red wine guy; primarily a nice Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon. And, when that glass of wine is poured on the property of the winery that made it, all the better.

My daughter and I made the 45 minute drive from Seattle to Woodinville to visit the vineyards of Chateau Ste. Michelle. I've had their wines here in Florida but, like I said, there's something special about enjoying a glass on the grounds of the vineyard which made it:

Chateau Ste. Michelle was built on the 1912 estate of Seattle lumber baron Frederick Stimson, and dates back to the repeal of prohibition. A more modern French chateau was added in 1976:

 

We decided to do their wine tasting and, at $25 per person, it's not a bad deal at all. The thing I enjoyed most about it was that the wines we'd be tasting were wines that were available nowhere else. As much wine as this winery ships throughout the country, these were to be featured and sold only here.

 

I know I said I'm a red wine guy, but this Chardonnay was really good...

The winery also features a concert venue, and the estate itself is quite expansive. We took the time to explore the grounds for  little while, but before too long decided to hit the road and move on to other things.

One of the things I like to do when I travel is cruise Craig's List. I look mainly for camera gear (it's easy to carry home) and, every so often, I get lucky. This trip would prove to be somewhat fruitful.

I found a camera that I was interested in, and we arranged to meet at the seller's house that afternoon. For $60 I was able to procure a Canon FP SLR from 1964, in very nice condition:

It seems to work perfectly, but unfortunately the one roll I've put through it wasn't fed onto the take-up reel properly, so nothing was exposed. I'll have to try again with some of the film I bought that day. One of the nice things about it is that, since it doesn't have a light meter (I can use an iPhone app for that), it doesn't require a battery.

When I get a roll of film through it successfully I'll send it to my daughter who'll process it for me, and then I'll be able to get some pictures from it posted.

The next day we opted, once again, to veg out in the apartment and relax. My daughter is self-employed, so she needed to do some things on that front and, quite frankly, I don;t mind getting some extra rest!