When Mike and I returned from our honeymoon, late last June, I began planning for a Mediterranean cruise I wanted us to take for our one-year anniversary. I thought a year was plenty of time to save the THOUSANDS of dollars any type of Mediterranean cruise would cost. Mike looked at me—somewhat lovingly, somewhat afraid he had vowed to be with a woman for the rest of his life who had so clearly LOST HER MIND—and said, as I searched my way through the entire Internet, "Baby, we won't be able to afford that trip. Please stop practicing your Spanish."
I finally roped myself in a little bit and realized that, no, the Mediterranean would not be in our first-anniversary plans. I then promptly began tossing around the idea of traveling to Chicago or Boston, and because I had already been to Chicago, I began leaning heavily towards Boston. I even bought The Lonely Planet: Boston and began looking for Red Sox tickets. But—sigh—soon enough it dawned on me that with BlogHer and a fall trip to Toronto paired with one too many visits to Old Navy, we just couldn't afford any extra plane tickets.
The part of me that is an idealistic traveler is always the hardest to reconcile with my reality—even harder than the earnest napper with the full-time job holder. I am constantly itching to travel. If Texas weren't so aggravatingly big, and didn't take DAYS UPON DAYS to get out of, I'd probably leave it more often. (And if our neighboring states were just a hair more exciting. No offense to Oklahoma, but when I'm racking up the miles on my Saturn and forking over an obscene amount of money for gas, I'd like to be in any state other than Oklahoma. OK, so slight offense.) It's frustrating to want to go somewhere and be forced instead to sit idly in your house, watching ANOTHER Jon & Kate Plus Eight marathon. (It's rather sad when you are envious of a mother of EIGHT screaming, thrashing children because she's sitting on a Southwest airplane—one that isn't even moving but has the potential to take her somewhere other than her home.)
So, all this whining is to say that, no, we aren't hopping on a plane to celebrate one year of marriage, but we are packing a bag (or two) and getting out of town. We're going to Hot Springs, Arkansas this coming weekend for a couple of days—one day being our actual anniversary. I've never been to Arkansas, but Mike has a handful of times—always on the back of a motorcycle—and he swears it's one of the most beautiful states he's ever been to. If that's true (and I suppose I'll know soon enough), the state of Arkansas really should step up and do something about how often Arkansas residents are featured on Wildest Police Chases and—truly—how often they hurl themselves out of moving vehicles to escape the law. (Quite often, in fact! Mike and I used to watch this show far more often than is respectable, and more than once—MORE THAN TWICE—Arkansas residents, when faced with being apprehended by the law or JUMPING from their moving [stolen] vehicle, chose jumping. When is jumping from a fast-moving car EVER Plan B unless the car is suddenly and inexplicably filled with bees or clowns or Republicans?)
Anyway, part of our weekend "package" with the Bed and Breakfast we're staying at is a massage and a complimentary dinner on a river boat. And a free bottle of champagne.
I know what you're thinking: the free champagne is worth the trip alone. To that I say: I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK. In fact, when the B&B called me last night to confirm our stay and to give us the option of champagne or wine, I may have yelled, "CHAMPAGNE! EVEN IF IT'S CHEAP! AND DON'T TELL MY HUSBAND THERE WAS EVEN A CHOICE!"
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If you've been to Hot Springs, do you recommend anything in particular? I'm forcing Mike to go horseback riding with me—one of my favorite things to do. And he's forcing me to go two straight days without mentioning that as charming and quaint as Hot Springs may be—and as nice as it is to spend time with my husband of ONE WHOLE SOLID YEAR—Arkansas isn't exactly the Mediterranean. AND WHY CAN'T YOU JUST WIN THE LOTTERY ALREADY. GOD!
The champagne will help with my end of the bargain.