6th Anniversary Getaway!

This past weekend saw us celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary! Six whole years! To celebrate we were fortunate enough to pack up the car for a weekend out of the desert heat with Sonora in tow. We actually left after a 12 hour shift for Amanda, leaving around 9:00 pm to get a head start for the Central Coast of California. We spent the night in the Palm Springs area of California, which was comfortable and gave us the ability to get through LA the next day without having to deal with extensive traffic, although of course there was a little bit we encountered. I don't think you can ever completely avoid traffic in LA. Our destination for the weekend was Paso Robles, a wine country area roughly halfway between San Francisco and LA.

I (Rob) had found a 900 sq. ft. farmhouse for rent in the hills and meadows West of town. It was a renovated, historic little farmhouse on a working hay and cattle farm, and the house was surrounded by gardens, and enclosed so that we didn't have to worry about Sonora taking off through the pastures. It was beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing. It wasn't like living near or on a dairy with a persistent bad smell. In fact, I don't think we really smelled the cattle even when we were up close and checking them out. The smell of all the bales of hay was rejuvenating and refreshing for us coming from the city. The highlight of the house was the wraparound porch, and so we were able to spend mornings, evenings, and nights sitting outside enjoying the crisp, clean air. The screeches of red-tail hawks flying over the pasture were welcome, and watching them dive, play, and fight with each other was like watching a show on Discovery or something.

Photo of us outside the same winery 6 years apart!

 Over the weekend we were able to relax, eat some tasty food, and visit wineries (the reason for out destination). We were actually right in the middle of several vineyards at the farmhouse, and I was able to run through the woods, vineyards, orchards, and meadows on Saturday morning with Sonora...that was fun compared with Phoenix sidewalks!! There were some amazing wines and the scenery was truly spectacular. It was Amanda's favorite scenery if only there were a stream or river coming through it I think she would have stayed forever! We ate a remarkable meal at Thomas Hill Organics for our official anniversary dinner, which was pretty amazing food.

On Monday we heading back to Phoenix, going through the town of San Luis Obispo. We actually stopped by two wineries which were basically the first ones we ever visited, back when we were dating...keeping our reminiscing going! Luckily we were only heading to San Pedro in the LA metro area to spend the night with our good friends who just moved there from Seattle. We had a great dinner with Joe & Joanna Lacanlale and then crashed at their new home on Fort MacArthur in government housing as Joe recently joined the Coast and is stationed in Long Beach. It is a cool, historic, old officers quarters home with views of the port.

Tuesday, we made it home without incident. All in all, a very relaxing anniversary getaway (other than coming into LA on Monday) and some much needed time to clear our heads, connect with each other, reflect, and dream a bit. Now we are on to year 7!!