A Dozen Surprises

1. Having GR walk through the door at 5:30pm on a Wednesday ... totally unheard of and on any other day of the week we're lucky if we see him by 6:30 or 7, especially over the last month+ and telling me to pack for a four day anniversary trip, "your parents left a hour ago, they'll be here by 8:30pm." Hallelujah! ... hours later I was able to pry out of him two clues, we're driving, and the weather, low 40s - high 60s.
2. Actually having more than one conversation with my husband in a week a day.  He drove the entire trip and let me sleep whenever I wanted to, what bliss! 
3. Arriving in Breckenridge, CO at a beautiful, beautiful bed and breakfast. 
4. Having dinner at an amazing little place in downtown Breckenridge called Hearthstone, where I had New Zealand Elk with a blackberry demi-glaze, baby carrots and mashed potatoes.  GR had Idaho trout stuffed with crab, asparagus and mashed potatoes.   Hands down our best meal of the weekend. 
5. Finding out what was in the Eddie Bauer box that arrived weeks ago and had to come on the trip ... apparently they are needed for Thursday mornings surprise.  

Thursday morning, signing my name 2 dozen times on a three page release form so I could participate in our next surprise adventure, that unfortunately didn't come with a granny speed or with a granny course ... but did come with a 2 hour climb through the mountains, covering about 20 miles and 2000 some feet in elevation, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery!  Man did we have a blast!  And I only, nearly hit a tree once ...  


6. Riding through beautiful old mining camps straight from a book I started the day before we left.

7. Driving through Independence Pass and stopping when ever we wanted to take pictures of anything and everything.  

8. Having lunch in Aspen ... walked past stores that were way too rich for me to even walk in front of. 
9. Watching a fox look both ways and cross the main street in downtown Breck, as we drove home after dinner.
10. Having our early Saturday morning surprise adventure rain out and loving the alternative just as much ... walking in the rain, window shopping, having lunch in Keystone on the top of the mountain (thanks to a great gondola ride), chilling in our room watching a redbox movie, ordering Pizza at the best place in town (based on the recommendation of the guy @ Mary's Mountain Cookies - we brought 2 dozen home for the kids) and having enough left over it will last us a week (we tried to offer a couple pieces to the guy in the cookie shop, but he just started P90X and turned us down ... but gave us the local's price on our two sandwich cookies we bought for dessert!)
11. Waking up Sunday morning to beautiful, huge, white snowflakes falling outside our window and 5 inches of snow on the car.  Then stunning thunderstorms across central Kansas. 

Thank you, my Love, for an planning every detail for an perfect weekend together.  
Thank you for always making our getaways a total surprise. 
Thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone so I can experience new and exciting things I would never consider doing if it were left up to just me. 
Thank you for loving me for my strengths and my failings. 
Thank you for taking care of me, for being my man, while still letting me and expecting me to be independent. 
Thank you for making the last twelve years a good solid foundation for the next twelve years, and the twelve after that.  They've been filled with one surprise after another, and I know the future will bring much of the same. I wouldn't want to experience it with anyone else.