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All right, grab your wine passport. With over a dozen wineries participating, Winter and wine make the perfect pair. In this week's road trip close to home. News photojournalist Laurie Goliath makes a stop on the Connecticut Winter wine trail. Our wine is definitely our main focus here at Paradise. We try our best to make the absolute best wine that's possibly could be made here in Connecticut. This is Paradise Hills Vineyard and Winery in Longford, Connecticut. In 1997. Uh, we purchased this farm in Wallingford and, uh, we started planting our grapes here. We have a different wine for every type of pallet practically. Our wines array over 30 wines plus here at Paradise Hills. We have many, many award winning wines and, uh, our Note d'Amore and our sparkling Cayuga wine. It won double gold at the Big E and was deemed the best Connecticut wine. It's all 100% grown here right on our property. It's very clean and crisp, has a little slight um sweetness to it, but we do offer wine flights. The winery is family run, um, we're not tiny but we're not big either. So it's like it's a very homey relaxing place to be. We always burn the wood burning stove it gets nice and crispy in here and uh we have music every Friday and Sunday afternoon. A lot of vineyards are open year round and even 7 days a week like us. The Connecticut Winter Wine Trail is a collection of 14. Exquisite wineries that are farm wineries here in Connecticut that you can tour throughout the winter months from January to the end of March. There's a lot of fun things happening on the winter wine trail. We have a nice fun map in the back where you can organize your route and um you could plan out your day and have fun adventures sipping Connecticut grown products. It is such a fun experience. It's a great way to get lost in the state. And you can pick up a passport at any participating winery. Visit all 14 by the end of March to be eligible to win one of many prize packages. For more information on the Connecticut Winter wine trail, head to News Twelve.com.

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Morning, a bodega near Prospect Park is now a social media sensation adding a unique chopped cheese to their menu. Yeah, they added this chopped cheese, um, and it has everyone talking too, so Newsdwell's Nadia Galindo, she explains why. They garnered hundreds of thousands of views on social media. For their unique take on a New York City classic, the chopped cheese. Look at that. So now we're here to see what all the hype's about. Let's go inside. Welcome to Prospect Park Deli. What can we get for you today? This is Yazin Odey. He and his brother. Adam and his dad, who goes by Mike, run this quintessential Brooklyn bodega complete with the cats. He went a few times on Instagram. Now Prospect Park Deli, which is across the street from Prospect Park, is as busy as ever. We use Wagyu beef, which is a 100% American Wagyu. It's a big difference in the taste of meat, the way the meat crisps up. And also you can really make it any way you like, any way they like. We put it on noodles sometimes people come in with the pink bulldog noodles. We put it on the Doritos, bags of chips. A key element to their social media success, the customers they feature who showcase New York City culture. We have the aggressive people that walk in here. We have the kind people. Just as important is the quality of the Wagyu chopped cheese. I think it's delicious and super fresh. It draws people from near and far. 10 out of 10 delicious, the best chopped cheese I've ever had in New York. So I wanted to see what goes into making a chopped cheese. You're gonna chop it up today. All right. There you go. We then season the meat with a secret blend of spices. You can't even share the secret with me. Nobody could know. Next comes the cheddar jack cheese. As much as you like, can't forget the sauce or the veg, then we turn our attention to the main event. Just look at that. Try it and let me know what you think. All right, now for the taste test. Mm. That's delicious, definitely worth the trip. In Windsor Terrace. I'm Nadia Galindo, news to our Brooklyn.

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Ever wanted to just break out the spray paint and try a little graffiti art? Antoinette Bordi takes us to the Graf Lab studio in Syosset in this week's road trip close to home. On this road trip close to home, we're here at Graf Lab Studio in Syosit where you can become a graffiti artist for the day. So let's get started. I'm here with artist and founder of Graf Lab Studio Danny Cross. So what do we need to do first? All right, so first we're gonna grab a color in our stencil and I'll show you how to do a quick technique which is an easy fade. When you spray, you don't wanna go too close, you wanna come back a little bit, move really, really fast. I'm gonna grab my second color. And we're basically gonna fade this stencil. Just like that Graf Lab studio is a creative space where you could come make a cool t-shirt, a hoodie, street art based. We do a lot of birthday parties, team building, fundraisers, and we even have public workshops where you could bring one or two of your friends or family and create something really cool. So I'm gonna try my hand at this. Let's go with this eye thing. I'm gonna go really light. And then you get to spray it black, right. Oh, I like it. We want the experience to be super creative when you come here. Think outside the box, get your creative juices flowing at Graf Lab studio in Syosid on this road trip close to home, I'm Antoinette Bordi for News 12. Looks like a lot of fun

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Thanks John. Well, in the 19 seventies, there were no nesting bald eagles left in Connecticut. But thanks to intensive co conservation efforts, the bird has made a marvelous comeback this week's road trip. Close to home news, 12 photojournalist, Laurie Golias takes us on a wildlife cruise along the Connecticut River. This is a little bit of an adventure. This is River quest. We're doing winter wildlife cruises. This is an opportunity to get out on the water in the winter and look and see what sort of wildlife is here on the lower Connecticut River, in particular, we have our eyes out for eagles. Eagle's favorite food is fish. So they like to be in an area that has fish. So we have a number of resident eagles who kind of hang out here year round used to be, they would come down from Massachusetts because we would be ice free and they could fish where the water is clear and the fishing is fine. You are gonna be the only boat out on the water and that's a really unique and amazing thing. There's nothing better than being outside in the winter and exploring the Connecticut river. It's quiet, it's calm. The wildlife is really running the show, which is why it's such a great time to be out. It's a really great experience, especially for a novice bird watcher. If you know, if you're just getting into it, you're gonna have the eye cups gently twisted. We have binoculars on board. So, if you don't have any, it's ok. We'll give you a pair, we'll teach you how to use them and we'll make sure you don't miss a thing. I need a bumper sticker that says I break for eagles. But that's the idea. We're, we're here to experience the wild character of the river and whatever we can see out here. If there's a seal basking on a log. Yeah, I'm gonna slow down for that with no leaves on the trees. You can really see the contour of the land and you can see further in than you can any other time of the year. Some of the other wintering wildlife that we've seen in the past are other birds like uh common loons, red throated looms, another common megans are in flight. The Connecticut river is a pretty majestic place. The Connecticut, it's huge, has a vast watershed, has hundreds of tributaries. The majority of fresh water that goes into Long Island Sound comes from the Connecticut River. I think that the Connecticut River is a really rare uh jewel. If I can put it that way, we are trying to do in part is to develop the next generation of river stewards. And I think it's important that people understand that it's here, that it get preserved. And I hope that people will come with open eyes and open hearts, ready to experience the natural beauty of the Connecticut River. Really cool to see that. Tickets for the Connecticut River Eagle cruise also include admission into the Connecticut River Museum. For more information, head over to news twelve.com.

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In Union County, regardless of the season, activity comes with your visit at Warnaco Park. On this week's road trip close to home, News 12's Amanda Eustace takes us ice skating and shows us the endless activities at the park. People don't always think about going to the park in the winter, but right here in Union County at this park in Roselle, they offer year-round activities. Let's check out Warren Angle Park and SportsCenter. We are at Lanao skating rink, which is part of the Union County Park system. It has been here since 1961. It's, it's always been a really good gathering point for children and for families. Now I don't remember the last time I actually skated, but I do remember when I did it, I loved it, so we're gonna give it another try. Wish me luck. What if I, I, OK, oh. Oh, this makes it easier. It's a great place for people to get on the ice and if you're a little nervous and you need to stay close to the edge, that's OK. What Oh I need the wall. I made a. I think she's a pro. I think I'm a pro. The rink is open, uh, just about every day in the winter time and then in the summer when we we don't have an ice skating rink there's a turf out there and we offer soccer clinics, uh, football, baseball, so it's just an amazing place to be with friends, you know, and for the for the children. You want to see more? Watch this week's episode of Road Trip Close to Home airing tonight at 7 and 9:30 only on News 12.

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Here's a look at all the great spots to hit from this week's episode of Road Trip Close to Home.

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