Original plans were to find a bed and breakfast, maybe somewhere on the river, peaceful and quiet. Oddly enough, most bed and breakfasts we found were...not quite our style. Heavily antiqued, flowered wallpaper, no fireplaces or hot tubs--shared bathrooms. Shudder. Other nice places were either booked for the weekend already or geared toward summer vacations.
Eli took the reigns and booked a place, where I didn't even know right away. (Of course I squeezed it out of him.) Grandmas agreed to take boys for a night. Novices in this free weekend thing, we didn't even know what to do for a whole day besides dinner and a movie.
We left before lunch on Sunday morning, dropped boys off, and headed a mere 45 minutes south.
Our first stop was Scratch Cupcakes (for later, of course). I knew our hotel room had a fireplace and I'd had a vision.
We spied Whiskey Road across the street from the cupcake shop, and voted to stop for lunch while we were there.
We decided on the Buffalo Chicken dip and chips for an appetizer. Eli ordered the patty melt, and I the "build your own burger" option, both with hand-cut fries. Eli ordered a pint of Slingshot (in an actual pint jar) and I had a lemonade.
After lunch we headed to the hotel to check in. First time ever staying in a Hilton.
Everything was garden themed, even down to the carpet and light fixtures, and so nice.
Our "room" was actually a four room suite, with two bathrooms, a sitting room, and bedroom. Of course it had a double-sided fireplace, and a hot tub.
Once we checked in we did a little shopping. Well...a bit more than a little. We got things for the boys' Easter baskets, new hats (winter clearance!), I got a couple new skirts, a sweater and new top, a book (and talked myself into putting a half-dozen others back), and of course a bunch of boring stuff we were out of. Nothing like running errands on date weekend! We must be getting old.
We went to watch our movie next. My choice was Risen (the story of the Risen Christ from the perspective of an unbeliever), but it was playing at the most inopportune times. We watched The Revenant instead, "the movie that finally won Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar". It's the story of a fur tradesman in the 1820's who is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. It was disturbing, though probably pretty accurate in its gruesomeness for the time period. I cried, and had to look away during other parts. I was also unprepared for a 2 hour and 36 minute movie. Too long for a theater. A few couples left during the slow (travelling) parts, and Eli fell asleep for a while. It's a movie I would never choose to see again.
By the time we got out of the theater it was past 9 pm. We had planned to grab supper from the hotel "grille", but were too tired to socialize with other adults. (Age again?) We grabbed Hardees drive-thru (keep it classy, folks) and hit it for home sweet Hilton.
I scooted a chair (lined with pillows from the bed) and ottoman close to the firplace and cozied up with my new book and junk food.
This was the vision I had before we got to the hotel.
Eli tried out the hot tub, overheated, and went to bed. The whole suite got overheated, actually, with the fireplace on. I turned on the AC to avoid a heat stroke. Couldn't turn the fireplace off, though...we paid handsomely for that amenity. So we dozed off to (not crackling) cozy flames and nice cool bursts of air.
The next morning, child-free, no schedule to keep, we both woke at 5:30 am and lay there staring at each other. "I can't sleep anymore." "Neither can I." "Welp, I'm up."
I made coffee...first time ever using a Keurig. It was so easy, I loved it...and to think Eli almost bought me one for my birthday! I talked him out of it, feeling it was too wasteful, too expensive.
I had a peaceful morning drinking my coffee by the fire while Eli caught up on his favorite cable shows in the other room.
We grabbed breakfast on the way home. Back to real-life: from Hilton to gas station food. Breakfast of champions. Now we're off to sell some extra organs to cover this weekend.
It was great getting away, but so nice getting back home. Thank you to our wonderful mothers, father, and step-father who made it possible for us to get away this weekend, and for taking such good care of the boys. An essential part of the relaxing process is knowing they're in good hands. Thanks also to our friend and neighbor for taking good care of Mojo!
Back to the books tomorrow, literally.
Eli took the reigns and booked a place, where I didn't even know right away. (Of course I squeezed it out of him.) Grandmas agreed to take boys for a night. Novices in this free weekend thing, we didn't even know what to do for a whole day besides dinner and a movie.
We left before lunch on Sunday morning, dropped boys off, and headed a mere 45 minutes south.
Our first stop was Scratch Cupcakes (for later, of course). I knew our hotel room had a fireplace and I'd had a vision.
We spied Whiskey Road across the street from the cupcake shop, and voted to stop for lunch while we were there.
We decided on the Buffalo Chicken dip and chips for an appetizer. Eli ordered the patty melt, and I the "build your own burger" option, both with hand-cut fries. Eli ordered a pint of Slingshot (in an actual pint jar) and I had a lemonade.
After lunch we headed to the hotel to check in. First time ever staying in a Hilton.
Everything was garden themed, even down to the carpet and light fixtures, and so nice.
Our "room" was actually a four room suite, with two bathrooms, a sitting room, and bedroom. Of course it had a double-sided fireplace, and a hot tub.
Once we checked in we did a little shopping. Well...a bit more than a little. We got things for the boys' Easter baskets, new hats (winter clearance!), I got a couple new skirts, a sweater and new top, a book (and talked myself into putting a half-dozen others back), and of course a bunch of boring stuff we were out of. Nothing like running errands on date weekend! We must be getting old.
We went to watch our movie next. My choice was Risen (the story of the Risen Christ from the perspective of an unbeliever), but it was playing at the most inopportune times. We watched The Revenant instead, "the movie that finally won Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar". It's the story of a fur tradesman in the 1820's who is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions. It was disturbing, though probably pretty accurate in its gruesomeness for the time period. I cried, and had to look away during other parts. I was also unprepared for a 2 hour and 36 minute movie. Too long for a theater. A few couples left during the slow (travelling) parts, and Eli fell asleep for a while. It's a movie I would never choose to see again.
By the time we got out of the theater it was past 9 pm. We had planned to grab supper from the hotel "grille", but were too tired to socialize with other adults. (Age again?) We grabbed Hardees drive-thru (keep it classy, folks) and hit it for home sweet Hilton.
I scooted a chair (lined with pillows from the bed) and ottoman close to the firplace and cozied up with my new book and junk food.
This was the vision I had before we got to the hotel.
Eli tried out the hot tub, overheated, and went to bed. The whole suite got overheated, actually, with the fireplace on. I turned on the AC to avoid a heat stroke. Couldn't turn the fireplace off, though...we paid handsomely for that amenity. So we dozed off to (not crackling) cozy flames and nice cool bursts of air.
The next morning, child-free, no schedule to keep, we both woke at 5:30 am and lay there staring at each other. "I can't sleep anymore." "Neither can I." "Welp, I'm up."
I made coffee...first time ever using a Keurig. It was so easy, I loved it...and to think Eli almost bought me one for my birthday! I talked him out of it, feeling it was too wasteful, too expensive.
I had a peaceful morning drinking my coffee by the fire while Eli caught up on his favorite cable shows in the other room.
We grabbed breakfast on the way home. Back to real-life: from Hilton to gas station food. Breakfast of champions. Now we're off to sell some extra organs to cover this weekend.
It was great getting away, but so nice getting back home. Thank you to our wonderful mothers, father, and step-father who made it possible for us to get away this weekend, and for taking such good care of the boys. An essential part of the relaxing process is knowing they're in good hands. Thanks also to our friend and neighbor for taking good care of Mojo!
Back to the books tomorrow, literally.
