São Roque

A Sunday trip to the city of São Roque, a city a little over an hour from our house, did not disappoint! 

Our first stop was to meet friends at the Mountain Ski Park, located on the top of a mountain. Full of many fun and interesting things to do, the boys were not bored. We posed for a few photos over looking the town before taking the shuttle from the parking lot to the park. 

Upon entering the park, there were people in chipmunk costumes, restaurants and this giant snowman with water coming out of his hat. 

We headed to the kids area and the boys opted to jump on the trampolines and do the bumper boats. 

We headed over to the archery area where Joyce, Claudio and I showed off some skills! And left with some bruises!!

Then, it was time for the giant slide. Greg and Alden went together, then shortly after, Joyce and Zane. Claudio and I remained at the top, with our feet on solid ground. 

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 They all took a ski lift back up to the top. 

Zane wanted to go inside the snowman. Can you see him up in the nose??

After all that fun, and a little sunburn on my poor head, we headed into town to eat lunch. We stopped at a restaurant called Rancho Arizona. 

We enjoyed a lunch of fish, beans, rice, potatoes and sushi. 

We ventured on after our wonderful lunch and decided to drive along the 'Roteiro do Vinho', The Wine Road. 

Winery after Winery. Vineyard after Vineyard. 

 First stop, Quinta Moraes.  Very knowledgeable and interactive staff and good wines. Brasil makes a lot of wine, but typically they are too sweet for us. They also really like green wines. Green wines, or Vinho Verde, is not a grape type, but refers to the origin of the wine.  Vinho Verde originated in Portugal in the northern province. The name actually translates to mean 'young wine' and it can come in a variety of colors. The important aspect of this wine is that it is consumed shortly after bottling. The old way of bottling had a wine fault that produced some fermentation. Today, wine makers add in artificial carbonation, giving it a sparkling wine texture.
  We purchased two wines from here. A Carménère and a Tannat, both very full and flavorful.

Our second stop, Alden was getting a little tired at this point. 

This winery had beautiful landscaping. There were restaurants, a lake full of fish ready to be fed, Christmas decorations, and play areas. 

We saw a sign that said chocolate so we walked up the hill to see what was there. 

We were not disappointed!!

The boys picked out some chocolates and so did we. Ours were full of liquor!!

 

 The view from the top of the hill, overlooking the vineyards. You can see that it started to get cloudy, the weather changed very quickly on us and we actually became a little chilly.

  

It seems that most of my posts end with sleepy boys!