Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

Wedding photo credited to Carden's Photography

 We celebrated our first wedding anniversary on October 29th.  Much like our honeymoon, my DH surprised me with our trip location and plans.  For our honeymoon, I didn't find out where we were headed until the end of our reception.  For our first anniversary, I didn't find out until about 20 minutes into our car ride there!

Since we were unable to go with our original plan of Amsterdam/Belgium because of less available vacation time for my husband, he wanted to plan a weekend fairly close by involving some of our favorite things:  hiking, good food and wine (to be fair, DH prefers whiskey haha).  He chose New Paltz, NY for its proximity to good hiking, as well as a picturesque location and good food, beer and wine.

Celebrating our anniversary at Lombardi's with champagne compliments of the B&B owners!

Downtown New Paltz at dusk

Enjoying the amazing beer selection at Bacchus

Tasty beer and a fun time at the Gilded Otter

We stayed at a bed and breakfast, Mountain Meadows, which was delightful.  Although our room wasn't fancy, it was very comfortable (and quite large).  The homemade breakfast every day was incredible (baked spinach eggs, homemade applesauce with fresh cinnamon whipped creme, homemade muffins, etc.) and the owners were extremely friendly.  We really enjoyed the fireplace, hot tub and genuine advice about where to go and what to do in the area. 

Mountain Meadows B&B

View of the Shawangunk Mountains from near the B&B

We went hiking in the Shawangunk Mountains, completing a hike between 8-9 miles around Mohonk Preserve.  It was GORGEOUS!  Highly recommended for hikers and well-known for excellent rock climbing.

Starting our hike

Lake Mohonk

One year!

I LOVE Fall!!!

Amazing rock formations

We made it all the way to Lake Awosting!

We also visited some tasty restaurants as well as two wineries on the Shawangunk Wine Trail--Robibero Family Winery and Whitecliff Vineyards.  We had a great time at both wineries and enjoyed wine at both places.  Whitecliff has been in business for a longer time and I personally enjoyed their wine the most.  Tasting at both wineries was very personalized and we got a lot of individual attention--we were really the only visitors at either winery with Hurricane Sandy expected to hit the next day (which, unfortunately, it did).  From Robibero we brought home 87 South and 87 North and from Whitecliff we brought home Red Trail and Traminette (especially tasty!).

Robibero Winery

Whitecliff Vineyard

We had snow on our wedding day (unusual here in October) and our actual 1st wedding anniversary was the day Hurricane Sandy hit so we left early that morning in order to beat the storm.  The weather on both days has served as a reminder of how blessed we are as a couple.  We had a beautiful wedding and despite losing power for a week during Hurricane Sandy, we fared much better than many of our east-coast neighbors, some of whom are still without a place to call home.  (Please consider donating to the Red Cross to help those still in desperate need of assistance!)  Marriage is an adventure, and we consider ourselves pretty lucky!  Here's to many more adventures!