The Calm before the Storm

In the wise words of Boyz II Men, it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday. Well, this weekend was a bit of a farewell for us. It was one last get-away before our daughter comes to change our lives forever. And just as B2M said, it was hard to say good-bye...

The site of our get-away was the Fairmont Sonoma. In truth, if we were looking for an authentic way to say goodbye to our days as a twosome, we shouldn't have stayed in such a nice place. After all, our cross-country trip of 2006 was a tour of Super 8s. When we went to Big Sur shortly before we got engaged in 2007, we stayed at Econo Lodge. The Fairmont took us up several notches. There was a beautiful Spa, bowls of fruit for us everywhere, fluffy robes, etc.

On Saturday morning, Elizabeth got a massage. This was a pretty big deal since neither of us ever get massages. She'd been looking forward to it like a kid dreaming of Christmas - especially if the kid starts dreaming of Christmas 3 or 4 months early. Fortunately, she informed me later, the massage lived up to expectations. While she was getting a massage, I hit the road with my bike. I had found what looked to be good ride online, and took off from Sonoma, east toward Napa. I then proceeded north on Dry Creek Road, which winds through the countryside next to a very dry creek (sadly, no irony). A pleasant, easy ride turned nasty quickly. Over 1500 of the roughly 3000 feet of climbing came in a 2-3 mile stretch that was some of the steepest climbing I'd ever done. On the downward descent (12% grade), my hands got so tired from braking I could barely hang on.

We spent the afternoon kicking back by the pool and reading books about how to change diapers or what to do when your baby won't sleep. The reading material was quite a change from my normal nerdy business-type reading, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a nice change. I have recently realized that I'm only 7 weeks away from being a dad, and I should probably learn something about it!

On Sunday, we took a short drive through Sonoma, north past some vineyards (as per picture at left, tasting was sadly not an option). The weekend was a bit nostalgic for me, as I realized that the Californial wine country has been the site of several important events for Elizabeth and I. We first visited the area with several business school friends in 2006, on a trip organized by our good friends Billy and Zack. We've since visited the area with both sets of parents. When we got engaged in 2007, we took a hot air balloon ride in Napa. So, it seemed fitting that we'd close the chapter on our days as non-parents walking through Chateau St. Jean, the winery that produced the wine that was served at our wedding. There have been two of us for five wonderful years. I can't wait to see what the future holds for three of us!