Harpsichordian: #32: Spend my 30th someplace warm

When I originally wrote this goal, it was October and I was dreaming of Hawaii. When I checked my bank account in January, I thought maybe I could find a hot spring and call it good. Never in a million years did I think that spending my birthday in the northwest would actually be warm.

But it was.

The early morning drive from Spokane to Walla Walla on Saturday was blindingly sunny. When we got out of the car, I took off my sweater and exposed my long-lost shoulders. Joel got a sunburn.

The Tour of Walla Walla while we ate our lunch

There was so much to love about this weekend. The random bike race and sidewalk cafes and French pastries that reminded us of Paris, the quaint wineries with dogs and cats and record collections, the rolling green hills with occasional patches of burnt orange, the bar in tiny Waitsburg, Wash. where we tasted a wormwood leaf, the thoughtful amenities of the hotel room (complete with a Spanish guitar cd). In many ways, it felt like we were much further away. And certainly, the sunshine made everything that much more magical.