Yearly Archives: 2008

Wine Juice Boxes – not such a good idea

Musings, ,

On one our stops at a Target store while on our college road trip, I wanted to pick up some small bottles of wine — in case I wanted a glass of wine when we were settled in for the night (those of you who know me, know that OF COURSE I’D WANT A GLASS OF WINE WHEN WE WERE SETTLED IN FOR THE NIGHT). In the wine aisle at the Batavia, Illinois Target I saw some individual boxes of wine. I thought it was just a box of wine, but then noticed it was 4 single serving boxes — very reminiscent of juice boxes. I had to buy it because it looked so cute and unique. Was there a straw for each box, I wondered?

Even the check out clerk was confused — being under 21, she was not allowed to handle the wine purchase, but thought it was “organic juice boxes”.

The wine inside is Ok. Not great, but not bad for wine in a juice box. No straw, alas…

I am concerned, however — both my kids were much more intrigued by the small wine boxes than they are of wine in bottles. I see potential underage drinking trouble with these boxes. They are small. They don’t look like traditional wine containers. They could easily be overlooked by a parent or adult who might think the small boxes were fancy juice boxes.

Day 10 — A final tour and then home!

Travel, ,

We arrived at Allegheny College a little after 10 am. We walked into an empty admissions office, but were soon greeted warmly by the receptionist who took Clare’s information and then got a tour guide for us.  While we waited another woman walked in and welcomed us to the campus.

Our tour guide, Dan — an elementary school major and Dylan fan, was friendly and knowledgeable (except for the fact he didn’t know about Dan Bern). Clare liked the campus — it has a lot of trees and, while not Gothic, the architecture is attractive. The school contains a building that is considered the second best example of Federalist Architecture (after Constitution Hall in Philadelphia).

After our tour, we headed home. Clare was hungry, but said she could wait a while because I wasn’t. Bad idea. We ended up having to wait a couple of hours because:

  1. I got lost
  2. The PA turnpike doesn’t have very many service plazas
  3. I was in the wrong lane for the first service plaza
  4. I didn’t want to get off the turnpike in case I got lost again

We eventually stopped at the Somerset Plaza and ate at Pizzeria Unos.

After being refreshed by food (albeit fast, salty, greasy, bad-for-you food) we pointed our GPS to home. Everything went well until Breezewood, where I should have turned off the GPS because I neglected to look at signs and ended up back on the turnpike after just having exited it. We traveled another 18 miles towards Harrisburg and got off the Turnpike, only to be taken on winding, hilly roads that the locals thought were racetracks. The trouble with the roads were that I’d be going up a hill and not know if it wound around to the right or left until I was at the top. I didn’t want to go the 60 mph that the locals seemed wanted to, so I had a couple of angry drivers on my tail for several miles.

One road took us way up a mountain and back down. At that point we decided we were glad we made a wrong turn because the views were spectacular.

The GPS eventually got us back on the main roads, and we arrived home around 6:30 pm to a delicious meal of baked salmon, salad and mashed potatoes, cooked by Dean and Andrew.

It is great being home, but I would not have missed this experience for anything. It was wonderful spending so much time with my daughter. She’s a delight. She’s compassionate, gracious, talented and smart. Any college would be lucky to have her as a student.