In between Slope Day and graduation, I had a couple finals, a presentation, and Senior Days. Some schools have commencement the day after the last final, but Cornell leaves half a week between the last scheduled final and graduation. During those days, there are events ranging from whitewater rafting and laser tag to wine tasting and fancy lunches. From the title of this post, you may have been able to surmise that I went rafting and to the wine tasting.
I usually kayak flatwater a few times during the summer when I’m home, but I had never been whitewater boating of any kind. To find appropriate river conditions, we were bussed a couple hours away from Ithaca. Having recently completed the last round of finals and presentations of our undergrad careers, many of us spent the trip over sleeping, watching the cornfields roll past the windows, or staring blankly into space.
When we arrived at the boating company, we were outfitted with oars, helmets, rubber boots, water-resistant jackets, and life vests, loaded back onto the bus, and driven to the launching point. Before touching the water, we were given the safety spiel and paddle commands. We helped to haul our raft into the river, practiced paddling in calm water, then floated off on our way down the river. There were about half a dozen rapids on our journey, a portage in the middle to get past a dam, and a portage at the end to get back to the bus.
The rapids were class III and IV, which meant that we saw some large-ish waves, eddies, and a couple decent drops. I never felt like I was going to fall out of the raft – we had our feet wedged in – and I didn’t even get too wet. It was definitely different paddling to maneuver through rocks or get into position for a drop rather than primarily as a means of propelling the boat like on flatwater. Overall, we had a really nice sunny day, and I had a lot of fun trying something new. The wine tasting a couple days later was a different kind of fun.
The tasting was held in the Statler, and featured appetizer-like food and wines from six countries, a red wine and a white wine from each country. Especially at the beginning, the room was extremely crowded and there weren’t enough places for people to get out of the way of the food/wine lines, but I think it was the first time holding the event or the first time in Statler, so I’ll cut the event organizers some slack. Plus the buffalo chicken dip was delicious. Buffalo chicken dip can totally be a meal by itself, right? I’ve picked my meal for next week, but there’s the week after that. . . .
Besides the dip, I also had a couple really good wines, a couple average wines, and a couple not so great wines. My least favorite wine of the day was a Malbec from Argentina, which was also the only red wine I tried. I keep trying red wines in the hope that I’ll find the magic red wine that doesn’t taste like tar or metal or make my tongue feel like tannins. Hasn’t happened yet. The average wines included the white wines from the United States (I actually don’t remember the varietal, but it was probably a Chardonnay. It tasted very white wine-ish.) and France. My favorite wines of the afternoon were a Pinot Grigio from Italy and an Australian Moscato. I don’t have tasting notes but I believe the Pinot Grigio was a well-balanced wine that wasn’t too sweet or acidic and had enough fruit-ness and body to not taste like grape water. The Moscato was sweet. And good.
And now I want wine. But I wouldn’t drink a bottle fast enough to finish it before the wine oxidized, so I might have to settle for hard cider. A friend recommended cinnamon hard cider. Time for a special trip to the grocery store.
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