The countdown has ended: it’s Crested Butte or Bust.  Mandy and I will be trading in daily highs of 90 degrees here in Lodi for sunny 70 degree mountain temps.  I don’t think anyone at the winery is feeling bad for us.

We have a great friend, Aaron Combs, who is going to play host to us while in Crested Butte.  Aaron is a retired orthopedic surgeon out of Texas who Mom and Dad spent time with during their trip to Austin last month.  Along with his niece, Cari Guittard, Aaron has become one of our biggest wine ambassadors – opening doors and making contacts, all in an effort to spread the word about our wines.  We couldn’t appreciate his help more!

It will be a packed schedule for us in Crested Butte, pouring at the wine shows, meeting restaurateurs and wine shops, mountain biking…I mean it can’t be all work, right?

I’m most excited about the Festival’s Winemaker Trails on Sunday, which pairs me up with a group of mountain bikers to ride a great trail in the morning and taste some amazing food paired with our wines in the afternoon.  What a great combo.  This festival already rocks!

We’ll see if the ten or so rides I’ve done the past couple of weeks pay off when I get to Crested Butte.  If the group leaves me in the dust on Sunday, I’ll still have the elevation to blame, right?  (Lodi: 51ft, Crested Butte: 8,885ft)

Keep up with Mandy and me this weekend on our Facebook page – I’ll be posting updates, pics, even videos.  Maybe you’ll all get lucky and be able to watch me take a digger on the trail on video!

Adios!