This past week was February school vacation for Massachusetts. This means that its obli-cation time for the Mudpie family. A blizzard kept us from making our annual holiday sojourn to the South this year. We were delighted to have a cozy holiday at home, but our parents missed their grandchildren and vice-versa. So, this past week, we loaded the car and set off on our 750 mile trip (one way) to the Virginia mountains.

750 miles in a car with 2 kids translates to, best case scenario, 12 hours of road time. Enter 50 mph wind gusts and and overturned semi closing down the interstate, it’s more like 14 hours. Needless to say, Mudhoney and myself really could have used a little something to unwind from the road.

But alas, my parents’ house is a dry one. A rule that we respect because of their religious preferences. In contrast, my father-in-law, once a driver for NASCAR, learned to drive a race car outrunning the cops through the windy mountain roads to deliver moonshine. We would have to wait 3 days until we got to Mudhoney’s folks to imbibe in the open.

On the way to my in-laws, we stopped off at a local wine shop. We got a late start that day, so there was no time for perusing. I promised my husband who was waiting in the car with the kids that I would grab something quickly and be right back. I went straight to the California section. I was unwilling to risk an unfamiliar bottle so I settled on the Cline Cashmere. I remembered enjoying this wine the last time I had it and at under $20, the price was right. I began to look forward to later that evening when I could relax and enjoy my well deserved beverage.

I completely took for granted that my in-laws would have a corkscrew, but come to think of it, I have never seen either of them with a glass of wine. After our searches of the kitchen drawers yielded nothing, I remembered this video:

I thought about trying it, but, A) I didn’t want to risk breaking the bottle, and, B) I was afraid that I may cause concern for my drinking habits. As I was quietly contemplating how to get into my bottle of wine without anyone being concerned about my fitness as a parent, my mother-in-law remembered that she had a bottle of Prosecco that she had been given for Christmas. She assured me that she would never drink it and I was welcome to it. It’s not the same as a cozy glass of red wine but you don’t need a cork screw to get into it.

After my last experience without a corkscrew, which incidentally involved skinnydipping and getting stranded because of a broken car key, I vowed never to be without one again. I apparently didn’t learn my lesson all those years ago. I plan on keeping an extra corkscrew on hand for the future, but this link has some helpful ideas if you ever find yourself without one:

http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Wine-Bottle-Without-a-Corkscrew