Trip to Temecula

Chris and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on July 6th. We decided it was time we got away for a weekend celebration, just the two of us, so this past weekend we headed down to Temecula for a little vacation. My parents offered to watch Ruby for the weekend and we were set. I forgot how easy it is to pack for a weekend away without a baby! It was our first time away together from Ruby since she was born and although we missed our baby girl we also REALLY enjoyed our time alone.

We had a really fun couple days in Temecula. Although I really wanted to sleep in while we were away, we decided to take an EARLY morning (5:00am) hot air balloon ride the first morning. Watching the sunrise above the fields of wine grapes was a pretty awesome experience. I was amazed at how smooth the ride was and how peaceful it was. Chris isn't a big fan of heights and doesn't enjoy carnival or amusement park rides so I was happy to see him enjoy the balloon ride. But he did have one concern and that was not scorching his head! Let me tell you, when they say "hot air" balloon they are NOT kidding. The force of the fire from the burner was SERIOUS and because of Chris' height it was firing about 2 inches above his head, NO JOKE. It was a little frightening. I am sure the picture doesn't do it justice, but here is a picture of what was happening right above Chris' head:

5:00 am - waiting for our balloon to fill up

We found this process quite interesting...

Ready for takeoff!

Our views from above were beautiful

Early morning mimosas to celebrate a successful balloon ride

After our balloon ride we headed back to the hotel for some rest before our wine shuttle picked us up for our wine tasting tour. Thank goodness the shuttle was cranking the a/c because it was a HOT one. We took the Grapeline Tour and if you are ever in Temecula I highly recommend their tour. Our guide was great and we learned quite a bit of wine trivia. We went to four wineries: Callaway, Bella Vista, Wilson Creek, and Ponte so needless to say by the end of the day we were feeling no pain. I unfortunately didn't get many pictures of us at the wineries because I was, well, too busy tasting wine! Here are a few:

The beautiful view at Callaway

We took a behind the scenes tour at Callaway and got to see the barrel room

This takes double fisting to a whole new level!

One of the best parts of the shuttle was they allowed us to bring wine on the bus! This made for a VERY fun ride.

Happy Anniversary Hun - Thanks for a great trip!
Next up - NAPA!