Weekend Getaway in Napa

To celebrate our 4 year anniversary we decided to head up to Napa to stay at a B&B and do a little wine tasting. We had to drive in the pouring rain through the maze in Oakland which is not an experience I'd like to repeat anytime soon, but after making it out of there alive we were able to start relaxing.

We stayed at this beautiful place called Churchill Manor. It is a gorgeous mansion built in 1889 and was within walking distance to downtown Napa. We walked there the first night for dinner and just enjoyed walking around.

Here is the view from the front porch of the mansion.
We made sure to take an umbrella with us on Saturday in case it started raining again.
Our first winery stop was Sterling up in Castiloga (the northern most region of the Valley). We'd never been quite that far north before and we were excited to try out this winery.
We had to take a tram to get to where Sterling is actually located. It made for a gorgeous view both on the way up and at the top. Everything was so green from all the rain. We've only ever been up in the summer so it was a nice change from all the brown.
On the tram.
After grabbing some sandwiches from a deli, our next stop was not far from Sterling. We could actually see Castello de Amorosa from the top at Sterling. This castle was impressive to say the least. It was under construction for 14 years and has only been open for the last 2 or so. They imported stones from Spain and tried to make it as authentic as possible.

We didn't go on the guided tour so we missed out on the torture chamber (Kevin was bummed), but we were able to wander around the main level on our own.

Kevin making gun sounds out the window of the watch tower and getting strange looks from people down below.

4 years....doesn't time fly!
The scenery was amazing!

After leaving the castle we had to stop and get a picture with the grape vines and the landscape.

The next day we stopped at Rutherford Hill Winery to go on the cave tour before heading back home. We had such a wonderful time. We've been so busy that it is nice to get away just the two of us with no t.v., computers, etc to distract us. We were able to catch up on sleep and we left very relaxed. Maybe we'll go camping for our next getaway since the weather is starting to get nicer.

Phoenix!!

February was such a crazy month and I know I'm really behind on posts. Between working, fun stuff going on, and the Olympics I feel like I haven't really had a minute to breathe. It's been worth it though. Kevin and I are watching the USA vs Canada gold medal hockey game. We already know the outcome so I'm using this time to try and catch up a little bit.

A couple of weekends ago I made my way down to Phoenix to visit Amy and Dustin. I needed some quality girl time with Amy and it was Dustin's B-day weekend so we had something to celebrate while I was there.

I flew in on a Thursday night after I got off work and we didn't waste too much time the next day before getting busy. We headed to Camelback Mountain for a hike in the nice weather. It was a really steep 1.5 mile hike up and although I'm not in the best shape of my life the hike felt really good. It was a beautiful day and I loved the view.

Amy got ahead to take a picture to try and show how steep it is. This isn't the steepest part but still a fun photo.

We stopped about halfway up to take a few pictures. So beautiful out!
A view from the top. Ignore some of the smog on the right side of the photo.
That night we met up with Dustin to go out dancing to celebrate his birthday. We met at his loft all dressed up and ready to dance. It was wonderful being with my favorite high school buddies once again. I'm so grateful to still be close with them even after all these years. (10 next year....I can't believe it)
After a fun night out we met up to watch the KU basketball game. I know what you are thinking....KU? I was outnumber 2 to 1 and at least they were rooting for Kansas and not Arizona or some other state! Unfortunately the game wasn't being televised (at least in AZ) so we just spent the afternoon hanging out and catching up.
I brought the rain with me and it was raining . It's funny that out of the 350ish sunny days a year I show up for two of the rainy days. Oh well....at least we got a rainbow!

Amy and I spent the rest of the weekend shopping, hanging out, and I got to meet her boyfriend too. It was great to see her in person. We talk on the phone but it is never the same as some good old face to face chatting.
Kevin and I are headed down to Phoenix together in June for my B-day and I can't wait!