Girls Weekend - Rock County
I have 3,000 photos in my phone with no personal record attached besides the memories I hold associated with each. I fear that one day I won’t remember the stories to tell my family, and I will have broken pieces of the times I have spent with friends. I have decided to start keeping a personal written record of times spent and captured moments right here on this page. I thought there was no better way than to start it out with a little bit of wine, a whole lot of laughter and a good good friend.
Tiffany became my first college friend during our first week of freshman orientation. Our friendship only grew from there. We supported one another through major life changes, lived together our junior year, watched one another graduate, congratulated each other with every new job and visited each other in each location we have lived since our friendship began. I am thankful to have a lasting friendship with a friend who is so true.
It has been 9 months since we last saw one another in person, so we filled weekends worth of food, drinks and laughter all into one that I want to share here with you. Tiffany arrived on Saturday afternoon, it was beautiful weather to spend some time outside with a little bit of sunshine and just enough heat to keep you comfortable. We headed over to The Looking Glass (https://www.stayglassyjanesville.com/) for a bite to eat out on the patio. It is a small bar located on Main Street in Janesville. We enjoyed cold glasses of CiderBoys Peach County Hard Cider as we caught up on work, relationships and living. I ate the Pesto Chicken Wrap, while she had the Veggie Grilled Cheese. It was a perfect location to have privacy to catch up, while still being able to enjoy the outdoors in a social environment.
In true friendship fashion, we headed out to some local wineries. We took a scenic tour out to Fermenting Cellars Winery (http://www.fermentingcellarswinery.com/), a small family run winery with a variety of sweet wines. We did a sampling before heading over to a tried and true, Northleaf Winery (https://northleafwinery.com/) in the town of Milton. It is our tradition to opt for the two tastings each resulting in eight samples of the wine offerings. As we go through the glasses we rank each wine on a scale of 1-10. I am dedicated to self-torture every time by ordering the Bright Spirits Cranberry, which is incredible but the most tart beverage you will ever taste. It truly does bring joy to my life, and I love sharing this one with friends who come to visit. We had the best time touring wineries, laughing over the commentary of our tastings, and catching up on all the life we had missed while being apart that we were worn out and ready to head home.
We arrived home tuckered out and a bit dehydrated. After a couple of hours pumping our systems of water and resting we spent the evening in the kitchen. Tiffany doesn’t find as much joy as I do cooking in the kitchen but she didn’t hesitate to jump right in. It was a first for both of us cooking with a cast iron skillet and making steak. Our evening ended with a delicious meal and some shows before bed.
Sunday morning we woke up and headed out for breakfast at Bessie’s Diner (https://www.bessiesdiner.com/) located at the Janesville Airport. We celebrated the morning with flavored mimosas, pineapple mango and blood orange. I am dedicated to ordering the Monte Cristo each time I visit, while Tiffany took a leap and ordered the Sweet and Spicy Hash.
We spontaneously decided to head out to Skelly’s Farm Market (https://www.skellysfarmmarket.com/) to tour the sunflower fields. Together we decided to tour the field and each take home a bouquet of 6 sunflowers, with the experience costing us each $15. It should be noted that the sunflower field is adequately sized and a map is provided, but needless to say we both still had the ability to get ourselves lost as we continued to snap away taking photo memories. After much time spent locating our sunflower for our bouquet we headed into the building to claim our donuts right as the rain started.
As we departed I was determined to obtain a hydrating beverage which took us to the Flying Pig (https://www.flyingpigtreatshop.com/) in downtown Beloit. It is a menu worth viewing before you arrive as the extensive options can be quite overwhelming. The Flying Pig menu consists of ice cream, shaved ice, smoothies, shakes, bubble tea, popcorn and the location has an entire candy sprinkle wall. Tiffany and I were delightfully surprised with our selections of iced coffee boba drinks that we enjoyed resting at home. I was so excited for my boba that I didn’t even take a picture til we were on the road again.
In the late afternoon we decided to explore one more location heading to Rock County Brewing (https://www.rockcountybrewingco.com/) in the heart of downtown Janesville. Tiffany enjoyed an Amber Ale, and I stuck to my bohemian roots with the Bohemian Dunkel. I was delightfully surprised with my selection and will most certainly come back to order it in the future. It was great to sit outside after a fun filled weekend to catch up on what’s ahead in our careers and lives.
I most certainly look forward to adding memories to our years of friendship, with hopes that our next visit isn’t another several months down the road. Let’s not forget to make time for the friendships that we value in our lives.
