...and she said YES!

We were headed to Livermore for the weekend to visit with family...so I thought. Our quick stop in Santa Barbara wine country to pick-up some wine, didn't turn out to be so quick.

I needed to use the restroom, so we stopped at a public restroom in the town of Solvang. I was waiting for Robert outside the men's room when a town car pulled up with Robert in the backseat! I wasn't sure what to make of it all, so I just went with it and got in the car. Behind my back, Robert had arranged the transportation for wine tasting and an entire weekend in Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, I truly believed that we were going to Livermore for the weekend. Trickery!

So, Friday, August 3, 2007 we spent all day wine tasting. We started at Sunstone, which has just an amazing view and produces sustainable delicious wine.

Then we headed to Lincourt Winery, our sentimental favorite. We discovered Lincourt wine at Hoppe's Bistro in Cayucos, CA while we were surviving our long distance dating situation. One weekend back in 2005(I think), we met halfway between LA and San Francisco in Cayucos (central CA coast) for a weekend of wine tasting. Ever since then, we've wanted to go Lincourt Winery. We tasted wine in the cute Lincourt yellow house and then we had a picnic on Lincourt's beautiful lawn overlooking the vineyard.

After Lincourt we headed to several other wineries including Roblar, Bridlewood and Rusack.

Day 2: August 4, 2007

We drove to a few more wineries Foxen, Rancho Sisquoc, Fess Parker and Lincourt again. I thought we stopped at Lincourt again, because we didn't get enough of it the day before. I was wrong. We stopped there again, so Robert could propose. He picked Lincourt, because he figured when we are 80+ it would be easier for us to enjoy a picnic at Lincourt as opposed to a backpack adventure to my favorite backcountry lake.

Our favorite wineries of the weekend:
Lincourt
Sunstone
Bridlewood
Rusack

Our Wine Picks for the Weekend:
~ Lincourt Chardonnay
~ Lincourt Cabernet (Pinot from this winery has been outstanding in the past)
~ Bridlewood Port
~ Bridlewood Six Gun Syrah
~ Sunstone Fred's Red (good for the price)
~ Rusack Chardonnay
~ Rusack Pinot Noir

Our favorite restaurants:
Bulldog Cafe
Cafe Angelica
Panino (outrageous sandwiches...Robert would eat there everyday)

Backpacking - Lake Ediza/Mammoth Lakes, CA

This year we returned to Mammoth Lakes, CA for our annual backpacking trip. We drove up to Mammoth early on July 26, which gave us enough time to apply for our backpacking permit, take a short hike to Devil's Postpile and set-up camp at Agnew Meadow for the evening. We hiked into the backcountry via the River/Shadow Lake trail on Friday, July 27. After taking the route around the southwest side of Ediza, we settled on pitching our tent at our favorite north side location! At this spot, our tent is well hidden, but there is a nice flat spot with a view of the lake where we can kickback and enjoy the view in our "lazy"creek backcountry chairs. Last year, we got to this spot by boulder hopping along the northern side of the lake. We decided that's the best approach and headed out of the backcountry that way this year.

Our three days and two nights in the wilderness were filled with lots of fun which included a late night visit from the local bear to our camp. The bear really wanted nothing to do with us, but we were shaking in our shoes for a good ten minutes. The bear didn't bother our food either since it was secured in a bear canister, but the folks on the otherside of the lake that decided to hang their food were not as lucky. After sleeping off and on all night, we got up on day two ate some yummy backcountry chocolate chip pancakes and headed out on our favorite day hike to a glacier at base of Ritter Peak where we made snow angles! Along this trail is an amazing meadow and waterfall (my favorite spot on the planet).

Not sure when we'll get back to Lake Ediza or my favorite waterfall again, because we need to go explore some new territory. Hopefully, we'll be there again sooner than later!

As always, the beauty of the Sierra Wilderness did not disappoint!