Llamas, and Whiskey, and Beers, Oh My!

We had THE MOST fun day yesterday!  Vacation started with a surprise from Steve.  On Friday, he stumbled upon Carlson's Llovable Llamas and he knew I would love it, but he didn't tell me what we were doing.  I was so excited once I knew!!  This was so much fun!  We basically had a llama experience.  First we learned the differences between a llama and an alpaca, then we played with baby llamas and their mamas.  Then we got to take a llama for a walk, brush a llama, feed them treats, and learn about the shearing process.  The highlight of the experience was when our guide, Kaylie, caught one of the babies for me to hold!  She was a surprisingly light baby llama given her size, and she was super soft!  I was begging Steve to let it be my therapy llama so I could take it home on the plane with us.  We took Gracie and Holly Cow for a walk around the grounds which was fun except Gracie didn't like the other llama behind us that was following too close.  Gracie spit at that one!  Gracie cut me off towards the end of our walk to grab some grass too.  Apparently she was starving, haha!

Baby llama!!!

Gracie (left) & me

Baby llama's mama - Coco

So freaking cute!!!

Steve holding baby llama (they don't name the baby llamas until the end of their summer season - the 4H kids name them).

Different Mama and baby - this one was the youngest baby (only a few weeks old)

Llama kisses (technically an alpaca though)

Llama kisses for Steve

We went over to Schram Winery & Brewery where our intention was to have lunch but the food truck wasn't set up with enough time for us to do that.  So we enjoyed a wine and beer tasting instead.  Both were really good.  The Maple Brown was one of the best beers I've ever had - it tasted like ice cream!

Schram's beer sampler

Yesterday was National Rose Day, so of course we tried a glass of their semi-sparkling rose!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we met up with Tyler and his wife, Britta, at their house to ride over to J. Carver Distillery.  Tyler used to work for a company called Vertafore.  The company I work for uses Vertafore products and Tyler was my go-to person when I needed something.  Sadly, he left Vertafore a few months ago, but we have maintained a friendship.  He knew I liked whiskey and one time when he came to Maryland he brought us some of J. Carver's Hunt Club, which is a fantastic beverage.  We went on the tour of the distillery and of course enjoyed a few samples!  We also stopped by Waconia Brewing to grab a quick sampler.

J. Carver Distillery Tour 

Barrel room - I need a Yankee Candle for the smell of this room.  It was heavenly!!

Our samples after the tour

Waconia Brewing sampler

We ended the day with some delicious pulled pork at Tyler and Britta's house followed by an extremely fun game of Oh Hell (card game), it was extremely fun because I won!  Then we taught everyone how to play 99 - another card game.  Sadly, neither Steve or I were victorious in that game.

Intense game of 99!

Tyler & Britta - thank you so much for everything yesterday; we had an absolute blast!  We can't wait for your visit in October!  ;-)  Seriously, make it happen!