Skip to main content

a day away

I hope everyone is as lucky as I am to have a lifelong friend like A. She and I have known each other since grade school, kindled a friendship through middle school, lost touch completely through high school, college, and early adulthood, then found each other again after we'd both established our marriages and our families. Over the past two years our friendship has deepened during our early morning Tuesday/Thursday walks together.

Last year we decided to plan an overnight getaway biannually, once for A's birthday and once for mine. In 2006 we escaped twice, overnighting in the spring at a rental condo in the Catalina foothills, then in the fall at The Shady Dell in Bisbee. This year we missed our spring getaway but this past weekend we spent the night at Whisper's Ranch Bed & Breakfast outside of Canelo, AZ.


That little three-story house on the prairie? That's Whisper's Ranch.


Whisper's Ranch is part of the owners' larger endeavor: Whisper's Sanctuary, a place for animals to live when nobody wants them anymore. We spent a little time with some of the animals, but I guess they found us a bit *yawn* boring.


The highlight of our getaway was the food. We shared dinner at
Canela Bistro in Sonoita, where A had the quail and I had the pork chop and we finished dinner with pots du creme and Ibarra Mexican hot chocolate. Positively sinful, exquisitely delicious. I couldn't say enough good things about this restaurant and its proprietors. If you find yourself in Sonoita, Elgin, or Sierra Vista, get yourself to Canela.



We had a lovely overnight and came home feeling recharged but not as reconnected as we've felt on previous overnights. Part of it was the setting: there just wasn't much to do where we were... honestly, we slept a lot! And part of it was the timing: we wanted to get away before 2007 slipped away entirely, so we chose a weekend that really wasn't as open as we had thought and our downtime became rushed. Still, I'm glad we went, I've already started thinking about our spring getaway, and I'm thankful everyday for a friend like A.

Comments

sulu-design said…
Sadly, I'm always a week behind on my blog reading nowadays. But I was so happy this morning to find a whole week of super fun posts to read here:
I love that you and your friend have reconnected and that you do two getaways a year with one another. What a fabulous idea.
Your Halloween costume was amazing. Amazing.
The sweet little story about the bus mishap got me a little choked up - my own mother references The Runaway Bunny each time I make a move, like my last cross-country one.
And you did it! Congratulations on the race. I am so impressed, and maybe a bit inspired to sign up for such a race myself. Maybe.
Have a great week... I'll be around in seven days or so!
CRUSTY MOM-E said…
what a great place it looks like!!How far from south arizona? is it an expensive place?

Always,
Crusty~

Popular posts from this blog

wedding gift

On Saturday Dave's cousin Traci is getting married. At the last minute we decided to fly to Ames for the wedding and to see everyone who will be in attendance there. At the last minute, I decided to crochet a throw as a wedding gift. I just finished. The colors in this first picture are true; the other two pictures were taken with flash so the colors look brighter than they really are. I started last Monday night with 7 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick in Periwinkle. It's 72 single crochet in the back loop only for as many rows as you want. Then single crochet around in a contrasting color. I chose Wine. I bought the yarn at Big Lots for half the retail price. It's long and skinny but very texturally appealing. Though all skeins were of the same dye lot, you can see that the top and bottom skein are definitely different, not so much in color as in texture. It's pure dumb luck that they ended up at the top and bottom. It's not perfect, but neither is mar

memory

in which I get knocked down

Sickness saps my energy, both physical and mental. It's surprising, really, how seldom I get sick, since I work in a petri dish. When I do get sick it lays me low and happenings that I might normally take in stride just completely knock me down. Last week I was diagnosed with an embarrassing viral infection, the symptoms of which on their own couldn't possibly have dragged me this deep down: sores in my mouth and throat that blistered and peeled and made every mouthful feel and taste like shredded pennies; an itchy rash around my mouth and nose and on my chest. Compounding that: knees that felt packed in hot wax, the backs of my eyeballs aflame. No fever, so no H1N1. Negative strep. Malaise. But I soldiered (martyred?) through most of the week at work, because I could, and some of the other teachers had to stay at home with their diverticulitis and kidney stones. On Thursday night my laptop died. On Friday night I felt I could deal with my weekend obligations. DH went out of t