(READ PART 1 above...this is part 2 of 2)
So, as I was saying...
We were in the Korbel garden walking up the path to the gazebo.
The original plan was to trick her into getting into the gazebo, get down on a knee, then hold out the ring and say, "Sarah you are everything to me. Will you marry me?"
What actually happened is close, but not quite as smooth. As we got near the gazebo, Sally, of Korbel, was telling us the names of every flower along the path for the "tour." I don't remember any of the flowers or trees she mentioned. I was starting to get really anxious when we finally got to the front of the gazebo.
I gave my camera to the garden guide, Sally, and grabbed Sarah's hand. I led her into the gazebo and said, "I brought you here for another reason." I led her back out to the stairs, then went down on both knees and said something about marrying me. I am not quite sure why I "collapsed" onto both knees instead of one. I also can't recall exactly what I said. Anyways, she said "yes" and we hugged.
So, as I was saying...
We were in the Korbel garden walking up the path to the gazebo.
The original plan was to trick her into getting into the gazebo, get down on a knee, then hold out the ring and say, "Sarah you are everything to me. Will you marry me?"
What actually happened is close, but not quite as smooth. As we got near the gazebo, Sally, of Korbel, was telling us the names of every flower along the path for the "tour." I don't remember any of the flowers or trees she mentioned. I was starting to get really anxious when we finally got to the front of the gazebo.
I gave my camera to the garden guide, Sally, and grabbed Sarah's hand. I led her into the gazebo and said, "I brought you here for another reason." I led her back out to the stairs, then went down on both knees and said something about marrying me. I am not quite sure why I "collapsed" onto both knees instead of one. I also can't recall exactly what I said. Anyways, she said "yes" and we hugged.
Part of the hospitality of Korbel was a bottle of champagne on ice and flutes to drink from. So...POP! goes the cork and we had some champagne to celebrate.
We talked for a while, then Sally asked us if we wanted to leave the garden or continue the tour. Sarah and I continued the wonderful garden tour.
Our guide took us back to the tasting room for some samples of the Korbel champagnes.
We sampled every one of their champagnes, some twice. Wow, we were feeling good by then! They gave us a bottle of their best, Le Premier, and the flutes we drank from. We were a bit tipsy, but we had reservations for horseback riding in the nearby redwood forest to get to.
We arrived at the Armstrong Woods Pack Station horse corral. We met with our guide, Laura, and another couple we would ride with. After learning that horses communicate in two ways, physical and spiritual, we rode into the redwoods. I rode on an old stubborn horse named Sidney and Sarah rode P.D., a younger horse. PD was speedy, but my horse was slow.
The path wound through the forest, up a small valley to a ridge. The view of the Russian River Valley was incredible.
We descended back down the trail to the corrals. The horses were on autopilot most of the time, so riding consisted of watching our for tree branches in our path.
After riding, we left the Russian River Valley for the upper Napa Valley, at Geyserville. We stayed at a nice B&B, the Hope-Merrill House. After the family breakfast, we drove to the Ferrari-Carano winery to start our wine tasting tour. My friend, Justin, said this was a must see, and he was right! The grounds were beautiful.
We got some pics, tasted some wine, then we headed south to the "main" wine country.
Near Calistoga, we stopped at Sterling Winery. Here there was a tram ride up the hill to the winery. At the entrance to the self-guided tour, we grabbed glasses of wine. This tour was like a wine scavenger hunt, giving us tastes of wine as we arrived in each area.
We could see a castle in the distance, so we headed to it next.
After the castle, we turned down roads looking for wineries. We found a nice one near St. Helena, Raymond Vineyards. They poured Sarah a lot of wine! They gave us some free tasting coupons and off we went.
We stopped at the Rutherford Grill which had grilled Ostrich on the menu.
Near the grill, we visited a tasting room for Elizabeth Spencer Wines
We visited a great little winery, Rutherford Grove. This was the only place we bought a bottle. We got an '04 Estate Sangiovese. We never had this grape before, but we liked it.
We then visited Mumm Napa and saw some cool champagne flutes.
Sarah and I stopped at the famous Mondovi Vineyard.
Finally, we briefly stopped at the beautiful Domaine Carneros in South Napa before heading home.
And that was the end of our perfect weekend!
Oh, and no, we have not set a date yet...
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