Karen's Bachelorette Party (round 2)

On Sunday was Karen's hometown bachelorette party, complete with brunch and wine tasting. Brunch was held at Cafe Piroutte, a very good crepes place. After brunch a party bus whisked us away to Woodinville (lol, whisked is the very opposite of what the driver actually did) where most of us tasted the fine wines of Woodinville. There were 8 of us and almost all the girls had never been wine tasting. Karen had a great time. Wished the weather was a little nicer, (mist/rain most of the trip) but we still had a great time! Not too many pictures were taken, all of us forgot our cameras (I did manage to take a few with a 'borrowed' camera)

Ellie, Carly, Colleen, Katie, Karen, Kimberly, Annie Rose, Kelley

At Columbia Winery

Our Weekend Away!

This Memorial Day weekend, I was off work so Brandon and I decided to get away. We tried leaving right after I finished working Friday morning but Brandon wasn't quite finished with one of his important nursing papers. We still managed to get out of town early enough to not hit too much traffic!! Instead of taking 2 1/2 hours, it took about an hour extra. Brandon and I have been so busy working in addition to Brandon attending school that we thought a weekend alone would be great. Friday night we BBQ'd ribs and made a southwest salad. We did hang out in the evening with some friends that own neighboring condos. I hadn't slept since finishing work Friday morning, so Saturday Brandon let me sleep in until noon before he finally said, 'Kim?, you wanna get up?'. The weather Saturday was sunny, not too hot but definitely not rainy like in Seattle. We spent the afternoon with 3 friends soaking up the sun and drifting up the river on a boat. Very relaxing! Two of my nursing friends were over at their condo too. That night I drove up for a couple hours to say hello and catch up with Dawn and Dana! They are really great and I enjoyed catching up with them! The best part of the weekend? Our cell phones do not work. I truly enjoy not being interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing, especially Brandon's. It might sound weird, but I really enjoying not being in contact with the outside world for just a weekend!! LOVE IT! It was nice having him all to myself!!! I even forgot to take pictures of the weekend. Oh well.
Sunday mid-morning we left Crescent Bar and drove down to the Hood River area to meet Brandon's family at Bonneville Hot Springs on the Washington border. We had entered on the GPS we wanted the fastest route to the hot springs. I have to say the drive was gorgeous. The US-97 route had beautiful views of mountains, ravines, rivers. We even traversed the side of this hill on US-97 that looked like a one way street (without line markings) but it really was a 2 way high way. Luckily, it doesn't get much traffic. We were racing the clock because we were due to be in North Bonneville at 3pm for a wine tour that Brandon's sister was surprising her husband for for their 12th wedding anniversary. Our last leg of the trip was WA-14/Lewis and Clark Hwy, but all of the sudden we crossed the bridge into Hood River, Oregon (paying a toll to cross). Brandon and I were so confused, why if the hot springs are in Washington are we crossing into Oregon? We later found out the hwy on the Oregon border (I-84) is much faster than the Washington 1 lane each way hwy 14. Finally we crossed another toll bridge, The Bridge of the Gods, back into Washington and arrived at the hot springs resort at 3pm, checked into our room, changed, and were outside for the wine tour at 3:15pm. We went to 4 wineries, all in Oregon so they didn't have tax!!
Thanks Alicia for planning a great time!

At the Columbia Gorge Vineyard, Viento

At Marchesi Winery, an Italian native whose true passion is making fabulous wines.

Family photo!

Monday morning I was treated to a mineral hot springs bath, wrap and facial. The hot springs mineral water leaves your skin feeling so soft. Brandon received a massage and a pedicure. Thanks Tom and Nancy for our Christmas present!!!

Around 2 pm, we had lunch at this authentic Tex-Mex restaurant in Stevenson called Joe's El Rio, before heading home. We were lucky we didn't hit any traffic like we were thinking we would, all smooth sailing.