Proposal: The Setup

A few weeks ago, I started the planing stages of proposing marriage to Sarah. This is Part 1 of the story:

A few weeks ago I purchased a ring and started the wheels turning on how and when I would do it. I thought of some interesting ideas...

--Take Sarah fishing, tie the ring on the line, cast it out, then tell her she has a fish
--Take Sarah horseback riding and when we stop on the trail, dismount, then propose while she is on the horse
--Bake her a cake with the ring in it, etc. etc.

All these ideas had problems such as, a fish thinking the ring is a lure, the horse kicking me in the head, and Sarah swallowing the ring saying, "What ring?"

One day it hit me, a winery would be a nice, romantic place, but where? I realized that the Korbel Champagne Cellars would be perfect. I contacted Korbel and they said they would be happy to help me out. They said to ask for a man named Sam and ask for the "Private garden tour" when I arrived on Saturday July 7th.

Sarah's Dad had lost control of his cell phone one day and it accidentally called me, then hung up. I returned his call to see what he wanted. he said that his phone was on the fritz, that's all, and so I took the opportunity to ask him if I could marry his daughter, Sarah. Surprising him seemed to work well, as he gave me his blessing.

So, now the major parts were in place. I told Sarah that when she visited we would go to the Pacific coast and on the way we could sample some wines, etc.

Some how she found a bed and breakfast to stay at right next door to Korbel, the very place I was going to propose to her.

Sonoma Orchid B&B in Russian River Valley:



I thought that someone had told her. She said she wanted to go horseback riding, so I made a reservation to ride horses in Armstrong Redwood Park, just north of Guerneville, CA, planned for two hours after the proposal at Korbel.



Sarah flew our from Houston to vist a few days before we would leave to the wine country of California. Friday came and we left for the Russian River Valley, just west of the Napa Valley. We arrived at the bed and breakfast, checked in, then ate at a nice pizza place in Guerneville.

I had a hard time sleeping with the ring hiding under the back seat of the car.

The next day we woke up for the nine o'clock breakfast.



While Sarah was showering, I took the opportunity to get the ring out of the car and slip it into my left front pants pocket, knowing that in three hours I would need it. We sat down for a family style breakfast with the other visitors to the inn. After breakfast, I needed to stall about an hour before going to Korbel, so sarah and I went to a small winery on a hill nearbye, called Gary Farrell.



As it approached noon, I was getting anxious. We left the Farrell winery and I drove Sarah to Korbel.

( Sarah at Korbel )



She was very excited to be there, as I was. We went to the information booth and inquired about tours. I had other things on my mind. I needed to find a man named Sam. I made up some reason to leave and went to find Sam. I found him in the tasting room. He told me they were ready for us and Sally would be our "guide" through the garden. She explained to me what would happen. I went and got sarah who was trying to tell me we were going to miss a tour. I told her we had our own private tour.

Sally took us into the garden and explained every plant as we went through the famous Korbel garden.



My heart was pounding as we wound our way through the garden towards the gazebo.....


to be continued