In addition to this trip being her first weekend without mommy and daddy, it was our first long-distance car trip with Callie, her first full weekend away from her own crib. I was really nervous she wouldn't sleep well with all the change in scenery, but coincidentally, she was also getting sick and may have been teething (we haven't seen any teeth pop down yet, so jury is still out on that one)... so yeah, she didn't sleep very well the first few nights. I even bought an extra little mattress pad for her pack n' play crib, but the first two nights were really rough. Bryann had been gone all week and I had been having a hard time with her before we even left for the trip, so we didn't exactly set ourselves up for success here. But we had hotel reservations and play tickets, and PTO requests in, so we weren't about to cancel!
We left Portland at 8:30pm on Thursday (Bryann had driven down from Tacoma that afternoon, so we couldn't leave any sooner) and Callie slept pretty well in the car on the way down. We stopped in Chemult and I nursed her, and then she slept until Klamath. We thought we could just change her, feed her and put her back down... Boy, were we wrong! Enter several hours of screaming and crying and several rounds of whose-turn-is-it-to-comfort-the-baby between Bryann, me, and Gma, and we got maybe 3 hours of sleep that night. Who knows what was going on, whether she was stuffy and not feeling well, the altitude change, the crib change, the different smells, different room, but she also wouldn't nap without being in someone's arms the next day, and Friday night was equally painful to get her to sleep in her crib. Thankfully I have the best mother in the world who stayed up with Callie until 1:30 in the morning and finally got her to sleep in her crib. Bryann and I passed out around 10 thinking she'd be in her crib soon and slept blissfully unaware until 7am. (Thank you, mom!!)
On Saturday morning, we headed over to Ashland via 66 (gorgeous views of the valley) and started the weekend off with AMAZING brunch at Morning Glory (complete with mimosas to celebrate our freedom!) and checked into our hotel early. We stayed at the Columbia Hotel right in downtown Ashland. It's the oldest and longest operating hotel, and we found it to be perfect for our needs. Small, queen room, shared bathrooms, free coffee, friendly and accommodating staff (they let me use their fridge to store my pumped breast milk) and 2 blocks from the theater and park.
One of our reasons for wanting to visit Ashland was to check out all the areas wineries. They have a warmer, dryer climate than the Willamette Valley, so I was really looking forward to all of the yummy darker reds! We decided to follow the blue winery signs and started our wine-tasting itinerary at family-owned Weisinger's where we spent a good hour and a half sipping the wine samples on the sunny deck, listening to some music, and reconnecting. We even got a private cellar tour from the owner and operator, Eric Weisinger! And in true Kristi & Bryann fashion, we hadn't planned out any itinerary, so we asked the pourer and some of the locals tasting that day where else we should go, and which restaurants we should try. We visited Dana Campbell (great views, good wines, delicious pulled-pork sliders), Grizzly Peak (Bryann really liked their Syrah), and Eliana (we relaxed in the adirondak chairs, and really liked the 2010 Bordeaux Blend).
We got dinner recommendations for Cucina Biazzi, but we couldn't stay to enjoy the recommended full 4-course dining experience because we were cutting it close to the play time, so we didn't like the restaurant as much as we might have otherwise. Needless to say we were exhausted by that point and not at all looking forward to a 3 hour play. When we got to will-call to pick up tickets, the cashier handed them over and said "Ok, 2 tickets for tomorrow night. Enjoy!" and we both exclaimed a sigh of relief. We called it an early night and enjoyed NOT having to stay awake for a play.
On Sunday, we scheduled a nap for the middle of the day so we wouldn't be so exhausted. We had breakfast at Greenleaf, took a stroll through Lithia park, and left for the wineries around 11:30. We started at Trium (tasty Viogneir and Cuvees), then to Paschal (our favorite of the trip - we loved everything on the tasting menu, and enjoyed the tree swings after the tastings), and ended at Pebblestone (probably our least favorite place - all the wines were a bit bubbly which means they bottled them to soon). We went back into town and had lunch at Standing Stone Brewing Co, and then took a nap and had some down time to relax a bit. That evening, we had dinner at Loft (dungeness Crab Macaroni and cheese... HelloooooO!!!!) and then saw Cocoanuts that night.
We didn't have time to check out ALL of the wineries, or ALL of the restaurants we would have liked, but luckily, Ashland is an easy weekend trip for us and so close to Klamath that I'm sure we'll be back again. I started to miss Callie by Monday morning and was glad to go back to see her again. I wasn't sure how I'd feel all weekend without my sweet baby girl, but I surprised myself. I called my mom to check in on them around breakfast and dinner, and I didn't worry about them at all. I knew my mom had everything under control. I think I felt so comfortable because Callie has already spent a lot of time with Gma Lainey, and she does great being away from me at daycare. I think every mom/dad/parent has a teensy tiny voice in the back of their head saying "if something happens when I'm away, I'll never forgive myself", but whatareyagonnado? We had a great weekend away together, and had some much MUCH needed time to reconnect.
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