The vignoble du clos Baillie

The beau and I recently visited a vineyard that I stumbled upon while perusing the Outaouais tourism website looking for fun and interesting things for a citycountry bumpkin to do. 

The clos Baillie is one of two vineyards owned by Raymond Huneault, the second being in Montebello. Located at 490 Baillie in Aylmer, the vineyard didn’t disappoint and was a super fun and romantic thing to do on a rainy afternoon.

When we first got to the vineyard they were in the beginning stages of making apple cider, getting the apples ready for the press. We were able to taste some of the pure juice that came out of the freshly pressed apples. Frosty pink and icy cold, it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tried.

We were also treated to a complimentary tour of the vineyard and an incredible wine tasting. Trying everything from white wine to red ice wine, we settled on a few bottles of our favourites and are planning on returning in November for the oysters and wine night.

Held November 17^th and with the proceeds going to The Arthritis Society, the evening, with oysters supplied by the Capital Fish Markets, promises to be another must-write-about happening.

Can’t hardly wait.

Hog town hold'em

Apparently poker and motorcycles go together like peanut butter and jelly, or so I learned at the annual poker run held by a friend of my beau's. A poker run is an event where participants, using motorcycles, boats or even horses, visit a series of checkpoints (and by checkpoints I mean bars) drawing a card at each one. The object (or one of the objects) is to have the best poker hand at the end of the run.

I participated in my first ever poker run this past weekend, starting at the Harley Davidson store in Shawinigan and ending at a méchoui in La Tuque. It was my fifth time on a bike but the first time I had ever been on (the back of) one for more than an hour.

Like six hours.

But the experience was amazing. And even more than that it was nostalgic because the route we took to get to Trois-Rivières, where we met up with two other couples, was the same route we used to take to get to my family's cottage near Montebello. Riding through Thurso, Papineauville and Fassett I imagined myself coming in the opposite direction, as a little girl in the back seat of my grandfather or father's car, and couldn't help but smile at the serendipity of it all.

Life, I mean.

But riding a Harley, or hog, isn't all about metaphysical musings. During a poker run, it's also about community, a healthy dose of competition, good times and good friends. For me, it was mostly about experiencing something that I never could have imagined possible. Me, on the back of a bike, in a big group of bikers, playing hog town hold'em.