Cowboy Take Me Away

Next Friday, Brandon and I will have been married for 10 years. Instead of celebrating on our actual anniversary weekend, we had to do it this past weekend instead.  Brandon’s certification course begins next Saturday.

A while back, I bought a Groupon for a horseback riding and wine tasting package with Wine Country Trails by Horseback at Wilson Creek Winery. Now that Brandon is learning to enjoy wine, we thought we’d make a weekend in Temecula out of it. Besides, with my current employment situation, we can’t quite get ourselves to Hawaii like we wanted to do originally.

We spent one night out there at the Temecula Creek Inn, getting in on their date night package. The dinner at Temet Grill was superb. The room was nice and roomy, and had the most comfy bed which was incredible after a day of wine tasting and an hour of horseback riding.

The next morning we went into Old Town Temecula for breakfast at the Swing Inn at the recommendation of the cashier at Wilson Creek. Then we hit just one more winery, Masia de Yabar, which came highly recommended by Annette, and headed home.

We didn’t need much to be perfectly happy with this weekend getaway. Actually, we never really need much of anything.  The weekend was perfect.

Now, back to the horses.

While Brandon has ridden horses growing up, this was my first time actually riding a horse.  I had no idea what I was doing whatsoever, but I did look the part with a real cowboy hat on my head. (Thanks to Brandon’s dad for that lovely gift the second time I went out to New Mexico.)  They paired me with this lovely painted horse named Carter who was a total sweetheart.  He just wanted to be close to any horse that would let him.  He was perfect for me because he just followed anyone near by so I didn’t really have to give him much encouragement to move forward.

Our group trotted through the vineyards. The grapes are all dormant at this time of year, but it’s still a sight to see. Hills and hills of the dried vines contrasting with the lush green orange and lemon groves in the background.  We rode through the groves too and it took all my strength not to grab any of the hanging fruits.

Somewhere in the middle of the grove, for a moment, I let myself believe that this could be my life.

Me, riding a horse through an orange grove, heading back to the country house with a large front porch.

I was just telling Brandon as we drove down the I-15 earlier that I could imagine myself being a country girl. To some of you, being in suburbia now is pretty much “country”.  And I’m sure you’re thinking that this former little princess couldn’t fare a year out on a farm. And you’d be right.  I don’t think I’d even last a weekend on a working dude ranch!

But I do believe I can totally live away from a city and be perfectly happy about it.

The point is that while some people want a big house, fancy car, and a glamorous life; all I ever want is a quiet country cottage…with high speed internet, a dining room that will fit 8 people, a kitchen with an island, a couple of cats running around, and a vegetable patch out back. Maybe with a lemon tree. Maybe even with a dog.

Brandon also wants that simple life.

Some of my newer friends have this quizzical look on their faces when I show up to an outing by myself, or that my choice in movie, television, and music is pretty much opposite of Brandon’s.  They wondered how on earth these two seemingly opposite people managed to stay married for 10 years.

Well, that was it. At the very core, we both want the quiet, simple life.  That was the foundation upon which we built our relationship.

I didn’t get to test drive the vision of us riding side by side through “our” orchard since Brandon’s horse wasn’t letting mine anywhere near him, let alone tell him of my daydream of the Prairie OakMonster. It was the first thing I shared with thime when we got back to the winery.

Brandon hugged me.

“We can certainly have that,” he said.  He kissed the top of my head.

“But at this rate, one of us will have to win the lottery to get there.”

The man’s also funny. That’s another reason why I love my husband so much. 🙂

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Cheers to us! (Thanks David for the pic from last year’s Renaissance Faire!)

2 Comments

  1. kellypea   •  

    You two are gorgeous! And happy 10th Anniversary! You know that description of the cottage…with high speed internet, etc…Exactly. I’m all over that and at almost 25 years for us next December, we’ve begun to talk about forever houses (I never have really liked all these palm trees and sunshine). See? It’s never too late. So keep that image alive.

  2. Olaina   •  

    cute and lovey dovey! 🙂 Happy anniversary! (in case the actual day slips by me…)

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