Michael's parents came up for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary and also Michael's dad's birthday (October 19). We went to Polo Grill Saturday evening and had an amazing meal. During dinner we experienced a life-changing moment--Michael announced he is now a fan of red wine. I almost jumped out of my chair to hug him. Instead, we celebrated by going to a liquor store right after dinner and buying a bottle of the glorious substance. I've never been so proud.
Sunday morning we took off for Eureka Springs around 9:30. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive, complete with fall foliage and windy roads. As soon as we arrived we went to the Mud Street Cafe for lunch and then checked out downtown Eureka. I remember going there years ago when the peasant skirts and tops were in style and thinking I'd hit a gold mine. Little did I know it was a huge coincidence that they carried what was in fashion. Fast forward three years later--still an assortment of peasant skirts, tops, and an uninterested Merd. We did find a lot of neat things for the house that you can't find anywhere else.
We were able to check into our hotel (New Orleans Hotel and Spa) around 3 and it was beautiful! It was built in 1892 and completely re-done about 5 years ago. The room and the bathroom were both HUGE and I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief (no one I'd talked to had heard of it--I was quite nervous but still wanted to give it a try). That evening we went to Ermilio's for dinner. It's a great Italian restaurant in an old home.
Monday was the big anniversary so I took Michael to Thorncrown Chapel in honor of the special day. It's a gorgeous glass chapel in the middle of the woods. Unfortunately for us, there was a geriatric convention going on inside. I peeked in, saw a ton of blue hairs, and felt resigned (not to be confused with "retired," which all of these people happened to be). Most of you know we memorized our vows for our wedding so we said them again to each other as we walked on the path towards our car. I changed "...in front of God and these witnesses" to "in front of God and no other witnesses." I definitely wasn't as nervous saying them this time around, but they were just as special. :)
On our way back to the hotel I saw a sign that said you could climb 100 feet for an incredible view. I pulled the car over and told Michael to wake up (small joke from last post). As we got near the tower, I noticed a small sign that said wasps were prevalent this time of year and if you didn't care for wasps you might want to reconsider. I remembered my experience with the bees and got a little nervous but decided it was time to conquer my fear. And then I looked up. They. Were. Everywhere. I've never seen so many wasps in my life. I would say there were 1,000 but I really think there were more than that. Needless to say, we got back in the car and drove away from the wasp wonderland.
We also visited the Crescent Hotel and it was there that things got a little weird. The first isn't so weird as it is neat--there was a beautiful bouquet of tulips (my favorite flower) and red/orange/yellow calla lilies (the flowers we carried at our wedding) at the front entrance. So that put a smile on my face. We turned the corner and saw a picture on the wall of the past hotel cat (poor little guy died a few years ago). I mumbled something about missing Thumbs and then heard Michael clear his throat. I turned around and saw the new hotel cat--an overweight calico! I immediately started petting the cat while saying, "I know you look like Thumbs but you don't have her (reaches for her paws)...." What!? She was a polydactyl cat too!! It was insane. I looked at Michael who was clearly not as impressed as I was, but we both thought it was neat.
Afterwards we did some more shopping and then had a glass of wine on our balcony and people-watched before dinner. Unfortunately for us, most of the crowd had already disappeared so we only had a few subjects to monitor. We had dinner at DeVito's and had a beautiful view of the trees. There were only a few other couples in the dining room with us. Most were whispering quietly but there was one elderly couple who obviously hadn't turned their hearing aids up and were yelling like they were 100 feet away from one another. We found out that they had known each other for 68 years and were best of friends. Just as I started to say, "Aww Michael, how sweet.." I overheard the old geezer say, "Well she wasn't very well-endowed... Not like the other strippers." I did everything I could not to burst out laughing. Way to go old man!! During the dinner Michael asked if I recognized his shirt. I smiled as I remembered it was the one he wore to dinner the last night of our honeymoon. I looked down at my shirt and sheepishly said, "Yea... mine is brand new." He smiled back and said, "Yes. I know." :)
We slept in on Tuesday, had a late breakfast and then drove back to the real world and our overweight daughter. Only one of the two we missed.
2 comments:
Your curly hair looks super cute! Boo for old folks convention but yay for sweet vows on a pretty walk!
Thumbs is way cuter than that imposter!
Post a Comment