Road Trippin'

If you don't know who Tool is then the beginning of this story won't make sense.

Maynard James Keenan has decided to try his hand at winemaking. If his dedication to his winemaking craft is anything like his dedication to his musical craft, we're in for some interesting wine.


He's dubbed his winery Caduceus, after the ancient symbol of the same name. The wine can only be purchased online, and is produced in very small batches which sell out quickly.

Well, god damnit, we wanted to try it. Caduceus is produced at a place called Page Springs Cellars in Cornville, Arizona, which is basically the middle of nowhere.

I smell road trip.

Lisa, Casey and I loaded a bunch of crap in the car and took off. I think we literally had the idea on thursday and left on friday. At least the winery wasn't in Maryland or something. Still, this wine better be good.

Caine has left out a few of the finer moments of the Journey, so Lisa, in Green, will fill in occasionally. The evening began as one that teetered between rush and deliberate slowness... we knew that if we left too early, we'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere for hours. Friday was the first day of the Long Beach Grand Prix, so once we left downtown, we would not be able to return. This was a good portion of the reason we decided to skip town.

We enjoyed a leisurely meal of Lemon Chicken (a recipe of Casey's invention), fooled around in the grocery store stocking up on road-munchies, and meticulously cleaned the windows of the car while we gassed it up at a lowly $3.19 a gallon. At last, Redbulls and Monsters in hand, we were off.
We left at about 8:30 pm. En route, just over the California border and right around 2:30 am I think, we stopped at a Dennys in Goodyear, where some drunken gay cowboys almost got in a fight with some tiny drunken mexicans while being heckled by some larger drunken mexicans. Everyone was very loud. I don't recommend Goodyear, Arizona.

I think this warrants further explanation, though I'm pretty sure you had to be there. I've been to many Denny's at many a different hour, and to arrive at a Denny's any time shortly after they kick everyone out of bars is never a good idea. Oops. So we knew better. The entire staff, with the exception of the night manager, had to have been exactly or nearly 18 years old. You know what? Nevermind... you had to have been there. Maybe Casey can give the story a try...
Don't go to Goodyear, Arizona.

We arrived on a semi-paved road in the middle of nowhere at about 5:30 am. The winery doesn't start tasting until 11, and we couldn't check in to our "hotel" until noon.
This is the "stuck" we were afraid of.
So we slept on the motel lawn.
But before that, well before that, we parked and waited for a spectacular desert sunrise ('cause goddamnit, Lisa, you need to take some goddamn pictures!). But we started too early.
This is what happened right before the beautiful desert sunrise, which I was too cold and tired to photograph.
See how tired and cold I was?

Having nothing else to do, we decided to locate our motel and kill some time with some breakfast (anywhere but Denny's). We found the road to Cottonwood, Arizona and drove down the one main street, and found the one open business in town. When we walked into the Diner, we faced a room of about a dozen old locals, guys in their 70's in trucker hats - no joke. After a leisurely breakfast, we were dismayed to learn that it was only about 7:15am, so we asked our waitress what there was to do in town to kill a few hours. She responded, "Oh, y'all aren't from Cottonwood?" She and the other waitresses conferred briefly and directed us to Montezuma Castle National Monument, which is a 1000 year old cliff dwelling. Casey and I were interested, so we left the ailing Caine in the car while we ventured out. They wanted five bucks to get in! Five bucks! Okay, it's not a lot, and it's for a good cause, but we had limited cash (and even less energy), so we decided not to go in. The park ranger saw us turn to leave, and told us to visit Montezuma Well. What luck!
When we arrived, we were the only people within earshot. The parking lot was empty. Woo hoo! It was still probably only about 9:30am at this point, so again, with Caine napping in the car, Casey and I headed out on our 1/3 mile circuit along the path.

The path led us up a slow rise with enough height that you could see for miles. It was loverly, in spite of the uphill part.
THEN we slept on the motel lawn. I slept while Casey and Caine sat around and got sunburned. Check in was at Noon, we arrived on the motel lawn at about 10:15.
After showers and naps (and more Redbulls!) we were ready to head to Page Springs. Carol, who was running the tasting, informed us that, unfortunately, none of the Caduceus blends were available for tasting, nor could they be pre-ordered at the winery, only online. So instead we sat down to some of Pages Springs endeavors. Carol was awesome, and though it was crowded and she was the only person working, she managed to keep everything running smoothly and be friendly and conversational with everyone at the same time. We picked up the Vino de Barrio and the Knight's Valley.
Page Springs was more than perfect. After hours and hours of sleep deprivation and extreme boredom, we were treated to a shaded, breezy patio and a sunny day that felt about 75 degrees. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was perfect. We sipped some unusual but delightful wines, and felt at last relaxed to have finally reached our destination. Finally, no more waiting, no more rushing. It was wonderful.

There were actually a couple of other wineries very close by, so we stopped in there as well.

Stay away from Oak Creek Vineyards. Everything we tried was terrible. The blush was cloudy, and everything tasted syrupy but othwerwise completely boring. We really probably should've guessed by the five wines for $5 deal, but here we were, so we kind of had to. The wine was downright gross... not in a two buck chuck sort of way, either.

Javelina Leap, on the other hand, was quite good. We ended up picking up a bottle of petite syrah from them. We met some beer enthusiasts at this place, too, which only enhanced our impression.

While we were wrapping things up at Page Springs, I had asked Carol if she could direct us towards a good place to eat. She sent us about 10 miles west to the mountain-town of Jerome, whose Jerome Grand Hotel boasts a restaurant called The Asylum.

First of all, Jerome is a little hippie town 1 mile up the side of a mountain. It used to be a mining town, but then part of it caught fire and slid down the mountain. When I say the side of a mountain, I mean it. The roads are narrow, and the switch-backs are constant. Needless to say, it could be a bit unnerving. The view from the hotel/restaurant, however, is well worth it. You can easily see 70-100 miles, all the way across the Verde Valley. The Asylum is phenomenal. There wasn't a single double take when we walked in, we were seated immediately, and our server was awesome. The atmosphere is extremely relaxed and quiet, though they seem to market it as a place where it's ok to get a little rowdy. Relaxed and quiet, yes, but definately a fine dining establishment. I myself had the filet mignon, and even through the cold I came down with starting Friday, it was delicious. It could have been rarer, but that was completely my fault. Rare means something entirely different to me than it does to the rest of the world. The snap peas were perfect. Casey had a shrimp scampi over spinach pasta that I almost wish I had gone for, and Lisa had spinach pasta with vegetables that had to have been locally grown. We had a bottle of Page Springs Vino de la Familia with dinner, and it complemented everything. Many thanks to Carol over at Page Springs for the recommendation, and if anyone is ever in the area, you should most definitely eat there.
We then went back to the hotel and passed out. I think it was 7:30 or something. The next morning we got up early and headed toward Tucson to see an old friend of mine from college. We hung out with him for a while and then started the long journey homeward, with a convenient stop, after miles of nothingness on the 8, in Carlsbad to check out Pizza Port Brewing, one of the labels we've taken a shine to here at Bread and Water. Turns out, their pizza's pretty good too.No, no, no, first, we JOURNEYed through hundreds of miles of desert and saw many sights. There were hills, dust storms, an overturned recreational vehicle, SAND DUNES! Enjoy the rest of the photos at Lisa's photo-blog, The Business of Expression. Then we ventured to O'Brien's Pub,where the on-tap beer selection is unmatched. Upon our 7:30pm arrival we learned that they close at 5 on Sundays. Crap!!! So another half-hour later, we got to Pizza Port in Carlsbad. They just happened to be out of the beer that we went there specifically to try, and to top it off, 2/3 of their taps were out of commission because of construction. But our spirits were undampened. It turns out that if you have serious sleep deprivation and about three pints of great, supper hopped beer, it really doesn't matter anymore.

We tried a good number of wines over the weekend. Here are the one's that caught our collective eye:

Caines notes:
2005 RSL Syrah: nose showed plums and cherries. there is a definite alcohol burn in the nostrils. This tended to mellow as it opened.

2005 ECIPS: This was a light, dry wine, with a candied-fruit smell on the nose.

2005 Vino Del Barrio: This had a very straightforward, fruity nose. I got hints of cherries and very light chocolate.

2004 Knights Valley Lawer Vineyard Syrah: This was by far my favorite. I smelled plums and dark chocolate. This was almost portish in a way, though it's most definitely a strong syrah.