Anniversary Getaway

Matt and I were blessed to be able to leave town for a couple of days to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary.  We left Grace in charge of the kids, loaded the baby into the car and took off.  It was the first time we have left the kids overnight by themselves (except for when I gave birth to Joseph and then we were just across town).  I left half a dozen phone numbers of friends and family on the fridge, just in case.  Of course Matt and I also had our cell phones, though I worried we'd be too far away to do much good in the case of emergency.  Matt assured me it would all be o.k.

We decided on Hood River for our destination.  That decision came about when I found a Groupon deal on one of the coupon blogs I read for a price break on a hotel there.  We purchased the Groupon and made our reservations about a month before our anniversary.

When we arrived at the hotel (after a long drive, I might add), Matt went inside to the the front desk while I waited in the car with the baby. He showed the woman the Groupon and she said, "Sorry, this Groupon is actually for a different hotel.  You're not the first person to make the same mistake."  Matt got back into the car and explained the situation to me.  He said the deal was actually for a hotel in Government Camp, approximately sixty miles up the road.  Who would name a town that?  My two favorite words in all the English language.  And this was supposed to be a romantic getaway.

I fought back tears.  I was beyond exhausted, I didn't want to drive anymore and I was worried about the babies we'd left behind.  I really just wanted to bag the whole thing and go home, but I kept myself from saying so to Matt. We decided to make the best of it.  Matt said it would be "an adventure."  Yay. My third favorite word.

Before we left town, we crossed the river and ate at the Solstice Wood Fire Cafe (thanks for the recommend John & Cathy!).  I had roasted beets for an appetizer--delish.  We ordered the best pizza in Washington State, according to the Food Network.  It was just the sort of low key anniversary dinner I needed after a terribly long day.

We loaded back into the car and felt fortified to take on the hour long drive to the most aptly named town I've ever come across.  Once we arrived at Government Camp, we unloaded our things at the hotel and I fed Joseph.  We had hoped to purchase some Ben & Jerry's for our anniversary dessert ("surely there's plenty of places to get ice cream up there," Matt had said), but the only store in town was already closed for the night.  Like I said, aptly named.

The next morning, we ate the hotel breakfast and headed down the mountain to see some of the farm stands which comprise the Fruit Loop.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, which we were told is a rarity in those parts.   Mt. Hood was gorgeous.  While we drove, we listened to a couple of the lectures we missed from the homeschool conference we attended back in the spring.

Once we got to Hood River, we ate lunch and wandered around looking at all the shops.  Too expensive for our blood, but we enjoyed a leisurely time of looking, with no real schedule to follow.

That night, Matt insisted we go back up the mountain to eat at Timberline Lodge, which was built by the government and dedicated by FDR in 1937 (see history here).  I'm so glad Matt did insist on our eating there.  It was snowy and the views from the dining room were spectacular.  We both agreed it was the best meal we've eaten in many years.  Joseph was the best baby during dinner.  In fact, two different couples came up to us and commented on how good he was.  The dessert, a pumpkin creme brulee, was on the house, in honor of our anniversary.

 

So in the end, the Lord worked it all out.  What started out to be an incredibly disappointing trip, turned out to be an adventure, just like Matt said.  After all these years, we still enjoy each others company the most.  We had a lovely time.

When we arrived back home, the kids had the entire house picked up and Grace had made calzones for dinner.  The kids had set up a card table with a table cloth and flowers in our bedroom.  Our wedding album was on the table.  Lydia and Joel were dressed up, ready to serve us a romantic dinner.  We had caramel brownies that Liz had made for dessert.

An hour and a half after our arrival, my Uncle Keith called and invited all of us to his neck of the woods for the weekend.  So the kids and I woke up the next morning and got the van packed with sleeping bags, food and church clothes.  We were nearly ready by the time Matt came home from his Saturday morning meeting.  We were on the road by 10 a.m., which is pretty good considering that you can't move an air craft carrier on a dime.

As usual, Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna spoiled us rotten.  We attended an outdoor country charity auction, where Uncle Keith treated our whole clan to lunch, we got to see the "goings on" at the farm and we had a nice time attending church on Sunday and the potluck meal afterward.

We got home late Sunday afternoon, ate a quick dinner and then headed out of town again to go to the monthly homeschool family worship.  It was held at the farm of one of the members.  We enjoyed a bonfire, a time of fellowship and prayer, snacks and a trip through the corn maze.

It took me a week to recover from all of that excitement and I still feel like I'm behind.  We had a great time, though.  Sometimes you gotta just throw the schedule out the window and do the Hokey Pokey.