Anniversary Trip Post 3

  TUESDAY, 8/4/15  

Our 8th anniversary!!! We had a VERY full, wonderful day!

Chris told me that we had plans at 9:00 am, and that we needed to make a stop on the way...hmmm! So we headed out, and our first stop was to Java Ranch -- frappachinos, a scone, and a few kolaches. Then we headed to our destination, which ended up being an Art Gallery on Main Street!

Chris had been conversing back and forth with the owner, via email, for weeks! He had arranged for us to arrive at the gallery before it opened, and to eat our breakfast on their back patio in the courtyard! It was so fun to have the gallery all to ourselves! We enjoyed our breakfast, and then moved inside to browse through the beautiful artwork. The traditional gifts for the 8th anniversary are pottery, bronze, and tourmaline (a pink gem)...so we were here to find us some amazing pottery!!! We had so much fun looking at everything and deciding what to purchase...we are very happy with our choices!!! What a fun morning, getting the VIP treatment at an art gallery! A very creative gift from my hubby, as always!

The art gallery on Main Street

The patio where we had our breakfast

A beautiful prayer tower -- we love this! We can put a tea light inside
and it will light up through the windows too...so cool!

We bought this gorgeous flat bowl to place on our ottoman in the
living room -- the colors match our custom painting perfectly!

A cute heart trinket to put on our shelf in our bedroom

I really love this one! We found it right at the end; I had another bowl picked out
but this one I just had to have! Love the colors and the design. Also matches our painting.

Chris and I on the patio, enjoying our breakfast in the cool morning shade

We packed up our goodies and got on the road, headed to a little town nearby called Hye. We started there at a winery called William Chris. They are a cute establishment, with a nice deck overlooking a beautiful view. We enjoyed a glass of wine here, and took in the peace and quiet.

The tasting room at William Chris

Chris with the William Chris view behind him...

From here, we headed across the street to Hye Market -- we had never been there before, but had heard good things. It is a tiny, historic post office (still in operation), but it has also been converted into a small restaurant and tasting room for exotic beers and wines. Fun! We had a delicious lunch there, and Chris did a tasting. The owner was very outgoing and spent a lot of time with us during the tasting, which made the experience very nice. We greatly enjoyed our time here!

The Hye Market and historic Post Office

Loved these growlers...we bought two small ones. One filled with
jalapeno beer, and one with a crisp cider that I actually liked!

The historic post office

#8 for our anniversary!

On our way back into town, we stopped at another new-to-us winery called Woodrose Winery. We were the only visitors there, and we received some one-on-one service during the tasting there. The wines here were just ok...but it was fun to try something new! The tasting was fun and different, we sat at a table and she served us there (most tastings take place standing, at the wine bar).

The Woodrose Winery tasting room

We enjoyed meeting their winery dog, Cork! He was very sweet!

Another stop was a new winery to town, called Fat Ass Ranch & Winery! Donkeys, hello! We had to stop!! We shopped their shop, tasted some wines (a very good, sweet peach wine), and she gave us a wine shot to celebrate our anniversary too! Fun place! We got a glass and sat on their patio to enjoy it, and then I discovered that a little ways out, they had a donkey in a pen!!! Yippie!

What a fun place!

This is Frito! He wasn't too social really -- he let
us pet him, but wasn't interested in us at all. Boo.

I found this fun souvenier! :)

Enjoying our peach wine shots!

When we got back to our hotel, we decided that we needed to have a swim to cool down! So hot out there whew!! We enjoyed our time in the pool and then we went inside to get ready for our anniversary dinner at August E's!!!

But first, we opened gifts!

This was kind of a selfish gift on my part, because I love
these and really wanted Chris to have some!! :) He may or may not
wear them, so I may send them back...but it was worth a try ha ha!!!

In the spirit of the BRONZE gift theme, I found these awesome cuff links for Chris!!
They have little maps of Fredericksburg TX under glass domes, within a bronze casing.
Perfect, since Fredericksburg is the place where we married!

Chris presented me with this beautiful pair of tourmaline earrings!!
They are such a gorgeous color, I love them!!!

I gave Chris one additional gift as well -- a winery tour on a bus for the following day! A chauffeur, a few other couples, five wineries...just a nice, relaxing day together. We were looking forward to it!

So...dinner! August E's is a swanky place, and we love going there for our anniversary! They have the most amazing, fresh sushi there! Chris made the reservations online, and he requested that they put gerber daisies (my fave) on the table!!! This was so thoughtful, and we love that the restaurant actually did it! Every other table in the restaurant had the same boring single flower arrangement, except for our table! Loved this!

We shared a bottle of Mumm's champagne, and had a lovely toast to 8 years!

Us (with the gerber daisies) after a very delicious meal!! And after 8 wonderful years!

We ate ourselves silly! We had cream cheese eggrolls and a fried crab appetizer, three different sushi rolls, and delicious 5 cheese mac and cheese. We could barely move when we got done!! It was such a lovely evening of celebration! Here's to us!!