CAPE TOWN GRAPE TOWN

Heaven...at least for Liz and her new best friend Alison, at the House of J.C. Le Roux. 

On the road, you sometimes meet people you enjoy talking to. Perhaps it's over a drink at a bar or on a long ride on a local bus. You talk of travel, of life, of things seen and places explored. 

Occasionally, if things go really well (or it's happy hour), you might exchange contact information. Maybe you even go so far as to invite your new "friends" to visit you back home, knowing full well the chances of such a visit are slim at best.  

Keith, Alison, Liz and Kip, mid-winery tour. Very happy.

When we met Alison and Keith for 15 minutes in the middle of a torrential rainstorm in rural Madagascar, we figured they were just throwing out a polite invitation when they invited us to stay at their place in South Africa. Little did they know, we always take full advantage of such invitations.

A month later, we arrived at their house in Cape Town at 1:00 AM on a Saturday morning...and they let us in the house. We were slightly shocked...and very relieved.

They gave us a room where we had some of the best sleep in months, they cooked us homemade meals, and they drove us on a well-guided tour of their stunning city. They were two of the nicest people we've met...ever. Come visit us in DC anytime, guys...we mean it!

Pretending to know his sparkling wines.

To top it all off, the day after we arrived, these two superhosts informed us about these incredible places just minutes from their beautiful home that were known as "wine farms." We soon figured out they meant "vineyards," and within an hour we were headed into South Africa's famous wine country.  

WINE TOUR
Our tour began with a breakfast stop (why not?) at The House of J.C. Le Roux, where we were overwhelmed with the choices of sparkling wine, an excellent choice for ten o'clock in the morning.  

That, and the fact that they do a pairing of nougat and marshmallow with their tasting. Kip was sure he'd heard wrong, but there are, in fact, five different kinds of nougat. We tried them all. 

Two cheetahs enjoy the views at the Graff Estate.

Following our bubbly and nougat, we headed to the Stellenbosch region, to the Delaire Graff Estate. This place was beautiful, as were their wines. We may have tried one or two...or three.  

Liz makes some new furry friends at the Fairview petting zoo.

The last vineyard, Fairview, was by far our favorite. Liz practically had to be dragged away when we left.  Folks in the U.S. may be familiar with their brand "Goats Do Roam."

Feeding THE goat of "Goats do Roam"

Not only does this vineyard have wine tastings, but they also have a goat petting zoo. For those who don't recall the many Everest trek delays, Liz loves animals...almost as much as she loves wine.  And to make this place even better, it has a cheese tasting bar, which we took full advantage of.   

All in all, we got a great education on the wines of South Africa.  We may even get crazy and try them again someday. If Liz ever gets off that motorcycle.

This is how Liz acts when she's all hopped up on cheese.