Pictures and Our Anniversary

The day dawned dark and gloomy for our anniversary today – it didn’t look good. We awoke before 8am – unheard of for us on a Sunday but Brian wanted to get a long ride in before our day of fun. So – around 9am, he pushed off after a quick breakfast and I had the whole house to myself. Did I sit around and enjoy my alone-ness – hell no!

I wanted to do something nice for him for our anniversary so I set to work over the next 3 hours doing all of the housework for the day, by myself. I cleaned both bathrooms, vacummed the carpet, changed the sheets on the bed, did laundry, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, hand washed the pots and pans, went outside and cut some sunflowers for a vase inside – the list goes on and on. Oh yeah, and got myself beautiful. And thank God, not 30 minutes after he left for his ride, the skies cleared and it was completely beautiful outside.

He got home around 12:30, cleaned himself up and we got ready to go. We exchanged cards – his are always so sweet and we took our annual anniversary picture:

I think it turned out pretty damn good this year.

And then, off we went.

Our first stop was Domaine Berrien and they had tastings for 5 different wines for free. I tried the Vioginier, the Cab Franc, Pinot Noir, Crown of Cab and the Syrah. We both agreed the Crown of Cab was by far, our favorite so we bought a bottle of that and a recommended bottle of the Grandma’s Red for his mom for Christmas. Brian was a little disappointed because we tried a fabulous Pinot at the Weko Beach Wine Festival in June but they were out of that year and had just released their next year, the 2006 which was not near as good.

I loved the atmosphere of this place – the ride up the drive had vines on either side, so close to the car, you could almost touch the grapes and the tasting building was so beautiful, with a nice little deck off the back for relaxing and enjoying a glass of wine and cheese.

Next, we headed to Lemon Creek Winery, right down the street. This place was packed – they also sell fresh fruit and veggies but we got a place at the tasting bar pretty easily.

I tried the 05 Chardonney, the 04 Merlot, the Cab Sav, Pinot Noir and the 04 Shiraz. They all were so good but I really loved the Merlot – it is really hard to find a good one, at least that is what I have found. We couldn’t help ourselves and paid $5 for a taste of their Cab Sav Ice Wine – this stuff is just amazing, totally a dessert wine but it tastes so wonderful, it was totally worth it.

We walked out with a bottle of the Merlot and the Chardonney, both on sale that day, as luck would have it and we headed to our final destination.

Our last stop was Free Run Cellars. This place was packed as well – it was nice to see this small, local places doing so well but it really is a gorgeous day today – blue skies, puffy clouds, 73 degrees, just perfect.

I tried the Muscat Ottonel, the Pinot Rose, the Cab Franc, Syrah and the Balaton Cherry. Again, this place had an ice wine too that cost extra but it too was worth the money. The cherry was also very unique – a tart cherry and not too sweet like Tabor Hill’s Cherry Wine. I loved all of them – it was really hard to choose what to get so I let Brian decide between the Cab Franc and the Syrah and he choose the Cab.

By then, we were starving so we headed to Tabor Hill, one of the only wineries that actually has a restaurant. We had their sampler appetizer and got two glasses of there Pinot Rose – a big mistake because we both were getting pretty buzzed, this was our last stop and their glasses were HUGE pours – usually they give you about a half glass of wine but she filled these both to the tippy, tippy top. I am ashamed to say I only finished about half my glass but unless I wanted to be completely incoherent, I had to stop right there.

Here is the view from our table at Tabor Hill of their vineyards:

Then, we headed home, where we are right now, camped out on the couch and Brian nursing a wine headache. We sat outside on the deck for a while and I got these fabulous pictures of a hummingbird at the feeder, right by our heads:

*sigh* So, there ends our anniversary. It was definitely one of our better ones and after I cap off my small hot fudge sundae we got from Dairy Queen, I would eventually like to see if I can entice Brian into the bedroom and finish our celebration. Hope those Advil kick in for him soon! *grin*

I love you, friend, with all my heart. Thanks for another wonderful year together!