The Coast

Jake and I headed to the coast for our "weekend."  We were only there for one night, but we had a wonderful time visiting with his dad and step mom who were also there for vacation.

We visited a winery while we were there.  It was right on the coast and very beautiful.  They also had the cutest puppy wandering around.

I love the ocean.  It just boggles my mind to be standing on the edge of the continent and know that there's nothing but water for thousands of miles.

Healdsburg Sip N Cycle

 A few months ago I received an email from Groupon for half off a Sip N Cycle tour.  Jake and I had been wanting to do one for a while, but we never seriously looked into it.  The Groupon was for HALF off the tour though and I could not pass it up.  I was one of the first few to purchase the deal and anxiously waited for the remaining coupons to be sold so that the deal would go into effect.  Luckily, the minimum number of tours were purchased.  We happened to purchase the deal in the middle of summer when it was hot and biking and wine tasting didn't seem so appealing in 100 degree heat.  Well the temps finally cooled and we went on our tour yesterday!

The tour was put on by Adventure Getaways and although I was pleased with the experience, I would never pay full price for this tour or any of the other ones that they offer.  We had the option to do the Sip N Cycle in Napa, Calistoga, or Healdsburg.  We chose Healdsburg because we like to pretend we live there.   

The tour began at around 10 am (with 2 other couples) and was supposed to go until 3:30, but ours ended up going until 5:30!  We went to 4 different wineries and they served us a really nice lunch outside at one of the tasting rooms.  

The weather was gorgeous, the tour guide was fun, and the wine was obviously a plus.  I was a little disappointed though because I felt like we did much more cycling than sipping.  Next time we might just take our own bikes and do a self guided winery tour ;)  

Are you Megan's husband? AKA my moment of fame

FYI: Lake County is small.  Really small. And most people I meet in the community know of Jake, or at least someone in his family.  This has both positive and negative aspects.  The positive is that Jake has a pretty good reputation.  He didn't break the hearts of too many girls in high school and he's never been one to have any enemies.  So when people learn that I'm his wife, I always feel so proud to be associated with someone that is loved by so many people.

And now for the negative....(okay it's not so much a negative as it is a funny story).  The other day someone came into work and when they learned my last name they said "So Celia is your sister in law?"  Ummm...no.  Celia is Jake's step mom and my mother in law.  NOT sister in law.  I mean, she looks great for her age and all, but I still thought it was a bit odd.  And apparently it's time to buy some wrinkle cream.

So back to the real story I meant to tell....

I was at work the day before the big cycling event and there were several people that came to do some wine tasting that had travelled from out of town for the race.  One couple was really excited to talk about the race.  We chatted for a while about how I was doing the short course and Jake was doing the long one.  They ended up signing up for the wine club and in return, got a copy of our quarterly newsletter.  This particular newsletter contained my intro to the winery.  It explained where I'm from and how I got here (Jake).  It also mentioned where I went to school.  I might have even discussed these details with the couple in person, but I can't really remember because I basically tell the same story each time when someone asks if I'm originally from Lake County.

So fast forward to the next day.  Jake was wearing his OSU cycling jersey and at one of the rest stops, someone said "Are you Megan's husband?"  It was the newest wine club member!

I'm pretty sure that this is the first time ever that he's been asked if he's related to me as opposed to the many many times that people have asked if I'm related to him or one of his family members.  I felt famous.

Two Days In Tahoe

We headed out to Tahoe a couple of weeks ago to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.  We went in the middle of the week since I work weekends and I've decided that we should do all of our trips during the middle of the week.  It was so quiet and not crowded.  Also, rooms are really cheap during the middle of the week.

We arrived late on Tuesday night and went straight to bed.  We slept in the next day, went to breakfast, and then drove to Tahoe City to go on a bike ride.  This actually turned out to be a not so great experience.  I recently got new bike pedals and shoes for my bike and I'd only used them a few times before.  I hadn't had too many problems, but on this particular day I wore a new pair of socks that were much thinner than the ones I typically wear.  This caused me to have a lot of extra room in my shoes.  And this caused a lot of problems when I would try to unclip from the pedals.  I fell twice.  And after the second fall I was just done for the day.  I think we only biked about 14 miles, but it took us around an hour and a half due to all the problems.  I was ready to swear off cycling for good.  We vowed to rent bikes the next time we go to Tahoe.  We saw so many people on fun, recreational type bikes that they were just cruising around on.  I was jealous that they all looked like they were having so much fun and I was definitely not.

We took a leisurely drive back to the hotel from Tahoe City and stopped along the way to get a few more pictures of the beautiful scenery.

We left the next day, but were able to squeeze in a good hike the morning before we headed out.   

 This is the state line for California and Nevada.

 This picture was taken because my sister recently found this picture of my dad:

This was my first time to visit Tahoe and I can't wait to go back.  Maybe I'll even give some winter activities a try.

Zulu Update

First off, I can't believe she's going to have her first b-day so soon!  Maybe her TX grandma will send her some birthday cookies ;)  We'll probably take her to her CA grandma's house for a party with her two puppy friends so they'll need some cookies too.  

She's been going to CA grandma's house a lot lately.  We love it.  She comes home at the end of the day and she's exhausted from running and playing.  Unfortunately, the rainy season is starting up and she won't be able to play outside very much.  She has soooo much energy and even one day of being at home causes her to be super annoying.  This is mostly our own fault though because we definitely haven't given her proper training yet.  We should probably work on that....

We took Zu to be groomed a month or so ago and I can't say I was pleased with the results.  She came home pretty much completely bald with the exception of her tail being left super furry.  I understood that they had to shave her because her fur had a bunch of knots and stickers stuck in it.  I'm a little confused about why her tail was left so furry though.

I pretty much had a heart attack when she walked through the door though.  She looked so "poodle" and it freaked me out.

It really came at a perfect time though.  It was the middle of the summer and her coat was just too much for her in the summer heat.  It's starting to grow back now and she's getting cuter and cuter every day.

 She loves her baby hippo so much!  When I wake her up in the morning to go potty she always takes her hippo with her.  It's so adorable.  I often find her asleep with her arms wrapped around her baby too.  I have to wash it often.  Her light pink fur gets pretty dirty.  

We're currently contemplating halloween costumes for Zu.   I doubt that whatever we choose will last very long, but we've never dressed her up before and I'm dying to see her wear something cute.

Sonoma County Fair

The fair was actually a couple of months ago.  Please excuse the much delayed recap.

This was my first time to attend the Sonoma County Fair.  I was pretty impressed.  First off, they have horse races!  So classy!  Neither of us had ever attended a horse race before and we totally lucked out on free tickets.  As we were walking up to the ticket booth to purchase general admission, a lady stopped us and asked if we wanted her extra tickets.  Her tickets included the fair AND the races!  We used our savings to purchase extra food.

So here are the pictures.  Not much to commentate on seeing as how it's pretty much just a typical fair...