10 Year Anniversary Trip

Marcus and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on October 22nd, 2015.  We headed out West to Wine Country to enjoy the sights of Sonoma County.  Our dear friends, the Greens,
just so happen to have the exact same anniversary, so we figured it would be perfect to take a trip & celebrate together!  It had been years since Marcus and I were out in Sonoma & Napa.  Marcus has made so many contacts and connections throughout the years with his job, that it was a perfect time to take advantage!

Marcus' parents came up to watch the girls so we could leave on Thursday morning to fly out to San Fransisco. THANK YOU Sarah & Terry!  =)  You can imagine how difficult it was to schedule a trip with other friends, 5 kiddos total, childcare, etc.  It took a lot of work, but once we were on that plane, we could finally relax, breathe and enjoy ourselves

Happy 10 year anniversary & goodbye Chicago!

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge

The guys navigating their way through rush hour

VACATION

We stayed with our friends, Clay & Carrie Mauritson, of Mauritson Wines  .
They had a charming guest cottage that we stayed in which was simply perfect.  They have a beautiful family and it was real cool to get a sneak peek into their life at the winery.  Boy, is suburbia different than life on a vineyard! 

After a quick change on Thursday night, we headed out to downtown Healdsburg to have our anniversary dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen. 

It was a lovely anniversary dinner! 

Love this girl!

Every morning we enjoyed walks around the town square on Healdsburg, grabbing pastries and coffee.  We had great coffee at Flying Goat and the French pastries were so yummy at Costeaux French Bakery.

We started out Friday morning at Mauritson Winery for a private tasting and a tour.

We got to drink straight out of the oak barrel!

Learning all about the science of making wine

There's nothing quite like eating grapes right off of the vine!

Thank you, Clay, for your wonderful hospitality!

Next stop: Lunch at Rutherford Grill, and then a tasting at one of our favorite boutique wineries:  Elizabeth Spencer

After a wonderful tasting at ES, we went to another one of my favorites: Chimney Rock for a tasting and to check out the beautiful vineyards.

 

HA!

Friday night we met my college roommate and best friend, Erin, and her husband Todd for dinner in downtown Healdsburg at Scopa and had the best spaghetti of my life!! I was told it would be to die for and it certainly was!  It was so fun catching up with Erin and spending time together.

 The next morning after a walk downtown and a little shopping for the girls, we picked up delicious sandwiches from Oakville Grocery and drove to Napa for our big day ahead at Chappellet.

Had to get a quick picture by something that said "Sonoma" to show Sonoma.

After an extremely long, and difficult drive to the top of the mountains, we arrived (very nauseous!)  to Chappellet.  Words cannot describe the day we had! BIG shout out to Marcus for arranging such a lovely private picnic on the top of the mountains overlooking the vineyard.  We took a safari type truck to the most serene, peaceful place and enjoyed a picnic and a bottle of wine, just the four of us.  It was one of the most gorgeous days ever and I will never forget that!

Thank you, Cyril Chappellet for the fantastic bottle of wine - Cab Franc

Celebrating 10 years of Sunfish22

Cyril thought it would be real funny if I fell in the bucket of grapes and got my blonde hair all purple!  Um, no!

The top of the winery building looks like their label.

Getting ready for our tasting

Overlooking Lake Hennessey

For our last dinner out we were told we had to try Diavola in Geyserville for the "Dictator Pizza" which had Korean BBQ & Kimche. Oh my goodness, it was AMAZING. 

Hanging out at a local winery in downtown Geyserville  before dinner

Last dinner

Overall, it was SUCH an incredible anniversary trip with the best company!   We had a blast traveling with Matt and Sarah, the time of the year was absolutely beautiful, all of the special tastings Marcus planned were so nice, and we simply had FUN!  I would love to go back again in October.  Cheers to 10 years!