3rd anni getaway trip

Col surprised me once more this year with our anni getaway.  He hates that I "always know everything" and guess his surprises, so this year he made sure that I wouldn't find out.  I had no clues whatsoever except a PowerPoint rhyme spoken by him about what to pack.  He did let it slip that the location was out of state when we were discussing what we would do should we have been picked for our last profiling opportunity, but that's all I knew.  We left Sunday morning, and I navigated with directions that had destinations blacked out on them (which were hidden underneath my seat in the car).

We entered Pennsylvania, and stopped at a shopping center.  Our first stop was Scranton to take a picture with the sign that's in The Office.  They moved it to a mall a couple years ago because so many people were taking their pictures with it that it was dangerous (being on the side of a highway and all).

Afterwards, we drove for another hour and pulled into a cute little town which I immediately loved.  I noticed an inn and stated how cool it looked, and Col parked in front of it.  We were in Jim Thorpe, PA and we had arrived!  It is an old mining town which had a lot of Irish heritage.  There were lots of little shops, pubs, and a lot of the buildings were old, like the row houses that many still live in.  We stayed in the original inn (the one I saw) from the 1800's.  

Sunday we explored a little but wanted to keep most of it to Monday.  The weather was finally warm and sunny which was perfect because we walked around most of the time.  We had a mid-afternoon lunch at a little cafe, gathered some information and figured out our plan of action for Monday (unfortunately all of the tours - for the jail, mine, mansion, etc. - did not open until Memorial Day weekend, so we'll have to go back someday!), spent time on the inn balcony, got pizza slices for dinner, took a walk, and watched the Amazing Race and HGTV (our cable fix).

Monday we had breakfast at the inn outside, and then walked the length of the town, exploring all the little shops.  We met a very nice older woman in the toy store who loved showing us all the toys she had and was so sweet when our answer to, "Do you have kids?" was that we were in the process of adopting.  We had homemade ice cream for lunch (I, chocolate covered strawberry, and Col, milky way), read the ghost stories that took place at our inn, checked out the local mansions from when the town was first built, and then decided to walk the half an hour to see the Jim Thorpe memorial.  The town used to be named Mauch Chunk (which I find so amusing), but I guess when it was struggling at some point in the 1900's, they re-named it after the famous Olympian Jim Thorpe.  He later ended up being buried there even though he had no affiliation with them previously.  So we figured that we might as well go see it even though we had never heard of him.  Well, unfortunately Google maps does not give you terrain with it's walking time, and we found ourselves hiking up a hill most of the way.  It was warm out so we were pretty spent by the time we got there.  All for some guy we had never heard of ;) The walk back was much more pleasant going downhill.

That evening we ate at the local pub and the burgers were delicious!  We got a piece of triple chocolate cheesecake to go, and settled onto the balcony for the evening.  It was fun to relax and watch the town, while a musician played down on the sidewalk (we called him the town troubadour, like in Gilmore Girls).  We took once last walk through the town before bed.  And that night when I couldn't sleep, I swear I heard something in our room, all because Col had to read about the haunting at the inn!

(The best part?  Those doors opened automatically when you got close.  It felt so fancy and like the old days, except the doormen were invisible!)

Tuesday we once again enjoyed breakfast at the inn but had to sit inside because it was pouring.  We drove to a huge country store, and it was massive, walked through it, ogled at the animals, and headed home in intense rain which became snow (boo).  It was the perfect little getaway, relaxing, fun, and together.  Major kudos to my hubby whose plan was great!

(This monstrosity was for sale, and his hand was a little seat.)

2nd anni getaway trip

Col surprised me with a weekend getaway trip for our anniversary after our initial plans fell through.  Saturday morning after we dropped Mendon off at Col's parents, we headed East on the "scenic route," and I still had no idea where we were going.  I wasn't even allowed to help navigate, so I got to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

When we got really close, I had an idea of where we would end up, only because I had thought of the same place since it was on our list of places to go together.  Sure enough, we drove onto the main strip of Saratoga Springs and Col announced we had arrived.

We hunted for a parking spot for the day, then found an awesome coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, with huge bagels for breakfast/lunch, and mapped out our plan for the day.  We went to the park, visitor center, and then walked up one side and down the other of the main strip of shops, stopping down side streets to go into interesting places.  It was fun to browse in all the stores, especially a used bookstore which wound through rooms and rooms of an old bank and was full of dusty, old books.  I LOVE libraries and old bookstores, and Col was patient while I searched around and read handwritten names in books printed in the early 1900's. 

Nothing was planned until 6:45pm (and no, Col wouldn't tell me what it was), so after making our way through everything we sat down to figure out a place to eat dinner.  We first went to a small hometown sports bar, but after not being acknowledged and sitting at a table for 10 minutes without a word, menu, or visit from an employee, we left and made our way to an Irish/English pub, called The Local.  I'm so glad we did because the food was delicious!  I had a chicken sandwich on flat bread with sweet potato fries and Col enjoyed a burger.  After dinner we went to the next part of the surprise, the mystery event at 6:45.  It was...

...harness racing!!  Who knew that it's free to go to these races (for non-bidders like us)?!  Some of you might not know, but growing up I rode horses once a week with my dad, and basically a lot of things revolved around horses for me.  I had (still have at my parents' house) a bunch of Breyer horse figurines/toys, my favorite book series was Thoroughbred by Joanna Campbell (the main character's name was Ashleigh - which is how my name would be spelled if my dad had his way), horse movies were (and still are) a favorite (hello Horse Whisperer, Seabiscuit, Dreamer, Flicka, etc.), one of my favorite costumes to dress in is a cowgirl outfit, and I have my share of other horse paraphernalia.  So as you can see, I've always wanted to go to a race.  Col knew this, and so this part of the surprise was amazing!  We stayed to watch 4 or 5 races and it was such an awesome experience.  Even Col, not a horse fanatic like me, enjoyed it.  We would both like to go to a big race someday, but the chance to do this for free was unbeatable!

After the races, we stopped at Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream (which we got two for the cost of one somehow...), and headed out to our hotel for the evening.  It was outside of Saratoga Springs and the people were very nice there.  We enjoyed our king bed and HGTV :)

Sunday morning we slept in which was awesome (sorry Mendon, but it was nice to have a break from waking up early with your tongue in my face) and then headed out to stop #2, the Adirondack outlets!  We shopped (I made out with some awesome deals on footwear), and then I found out that there was another place we were going.  We drove a little ways more to Lake George, which I had never been to.  First stop: lunch at Pizza Jerks.  Col said his family went there once at their Vermont location and it was so good, but then closed down so they didn't get to go again.  We ordered a small CBR (chicken, bacon, ranch) to split, and got blessed with a medium which they said they made by accident!  It was delicious, and I'm kind of ashamed to say that we were able to finish the whole thing (don't judge...). 

We then walked through the town of Lake George and went into the stores/boutiques that were open.  Many were still closed or getting ready for the summer season, but it was kind of nice to be there while it was quiet.  We walked down to the water and also drove around the lake to get a few more views.

In the later afternoon, we headed out, but stopped for a snack for the drive home.  I saw this place while we were driving to Lake George and have always wanted to go to one of these!  Guess this trip is giving you a glimpse into getting to know me a little bit more, but I love the 50's.  I have often daydreamed about what it would be like to grow up then, and so, this fit right in!  You park and they get your order and bring your food right to the car!  We got some curly fries and chocolate milkshakes (sooo 50's!).

We had a pleasant drive back home and were greeted very enthusiastically by our pup who had a blast with Col's rents (we saw pics of her passed out in front of the fire and with her toys from her daily 2 mile walks).  Major kudos to my hubby for planning and surprising me with it all!  What a fun way to celebrate our 2 year anniversary!

anni surprise

Our 2nd anniversary is next week and so we planned to celebrate with a little getaway this weekend.  Unfortunately, our plans to use a free 2-night hotel stay that we had was denied as their terms and conditions had changed.  We planned to go somewhere within driving distance and just enjoy some time somewhere else together.  I was super bummed and worried we wouldn't be able to do anything due to this last minute notice that we got, but when I asked Col what we would do, he said it was all taken care of.  He asked if I wanted to know or have it be a surprise, so I thought, why not be surprised!? 

I wasn't sure if he really had something up his sleeve until I started receiving clues from "Mysterious Blog Reader" on my blog post from last year for our 1 year anniversary.  I got three in all this past week, and I am sooo excited to find out where we are going!!

on 4/5:

Here is an anniversary clue or two
But I'm only doing this to get YOU through
The first one I have is a time of the day
It comes in a month just before May
It will be a bit after you don't see a moon
But it will be sometime well before noon
This will start to get you on your way
But for now that's all I am going to say...

on 4/8:
So now you know when we leave
The next clue you are about to receive
We will begin our fun
When the work week is done
It will last for two days
Which will then end our phase
It will begin when the calendar hits three
But please add a one in the front so you see
You have just one more clue to go
It will happen before the big show
But for now all you'll have to do is wait
Don't worry the next one won't come too late!
 

on 4/10:

Now what to pack
Is what you're wanting to ask
The weather will be fair
But you may need more in your care
So predict to be wet, cold or hot
I know, it sounds like a lot
But prepare for the worst
I'll tell you this first
You may want a suit
But it depends on our route
Wear comfy shoes
You have nothing to lose
And bring something nice
As we may roll the dice
No worries, I'm not telling where we'll go
Once we arrive there, then you'll know
This concludes the clues given to you
Now you will wait for you know who!

 

{how awesome are these poem clues?!}

 

So far I've figured out that we leave in the morning on Saturday!  Woohoo! :)