Daytrip to Bloomington w/Mom and Dad

On Monday, we got up and drove Zane to the airport, since he had to get back for his wine exam (tough life, huh?).  Then we kept heading south and took a little trip to the town of my alma mater, Indiana University.  I really only have one family of friends (the Shackey's) that still live in Bloomington, but I love them, so I try to make it down whenever I visit my parents.  First place we stopped was Oliver winery.  I was really pleased to see how well they are doing and how they have evolved.  When I used to go there during college, they had only about a dozen wines and specialized in semi-sweet, "picnic" wines.  Now they have many more varietals and even some reserve wines.  The quality of all of their wines have increased and I enjoyed this tasting more than any of the other times I've visited.  From there, we headed into town and met Eric for lunch at Upland Brewery's brewpub near the square.  Similarly to Oliver, their beer has evolved since I lived in B-town.   I remember their Wheat being good, but it is GREAT now.  And all the beers I tried were good, as was the food.  

After lunch, I gave a driving tour of the campus and some off-campus things that we part of my life when I lived there: apartments, parks, restaurants, etc.  We got out and walked around a little, too.  I wanted to show Addy the building where I spent the vast majority of my undergrad career, the Chemistry building.  It didn't have the effect on her that I somehow expected, but she reminded me that I am a big nerd and she didn't even have to take any chemistry courses in college.  We snapped a couple of photos, enjoyed the weather and then headed out to Amy and Eric's house to meet up with them.

It was great to be able to see them and hang out for a while.  It is great to see such good, nice people prospering and having such a good life.  I'm sure they are plagued with their own day to day struggles, but they are both healthy and have a beautiful boy that they are proud of and raising to be a good person.  We got pizza from my 2, that's right 2, favorite pizza places from college.  For those of you in the know, Pizza Express breadsticks are still amazing and they are still using Que Bueno.   But I have to say that Aver's is actually making better pizza's now.  The Cream and Crimson was WAY better than the supreme we got from Express.  But it was all good and exactly what I wanted to eat when I was visiting.  And of course, Amy had to make brownies for me.  If you haven't guessed already, I gained 10 lbs on this vacation, even with the 10K!