Here I am trying to simplify and get things off my plate without taking on more, and it just doesn't seem to work! Well, I'm finally at a point where I have time to post blogs again. So before this year ends, let me catch up.
Here's what happened in November:
Bob applied to be a snowboarding instructor at Sundance, and after multiple interviews, they invited him to take part in a skills test, after which they would let him know if he got the job or not. We were both really pumped for it. I want him to finally get a job he loves. So the skills test was coming up and we were informed that it would take place at Brighton on the Saturday before our anniversary. We decided to make a big holiday out of everything, so here's what we did.
Saturday, November 20th. Bob made breakfast (and if you don't know, my husband makes the absolute BEST breakfasts), then he took off for his skills test. I tidied up and got our stuff ready to leave, then went out and hit the slopes for some sweet, sweet snowboarding.
It was snowing the whole time, making every one of my rides down incredible from all the fresh powder. Then it started to turn into a blizzard with tons of wind while the temperature dropped. By noon I was pretty shot! I finally met up with Bob, exhausted and frozen. But we wanted to get at least one run in together, so we squeezed it in before I we had to be out of our cabin.
Then we left, hastily loaded up the car, changed, and drove over to Elko, Nevada where we had dinner with my wonderful friend Monica. We stopped and bought tire chains before driving further, thinking we'd need them while in the Sierras. It started snowing on us the closer we got to the California border, and right at the state line the interstate was closed, CDOT claiming there was zero visibility. So we turned around and drove about 20 miles back to Reno and stayed in a Motel 6 for the night. It was a fun adventure. (Really, it was something like 3am by this point and I had a terrible cold, felt drained and miserable, and was beyond ready to sleep in a bed, and there are no hotels anywhere around there but all the way back in Reno. So I got a little frustrated and whiny.)
Sunday, November 21st. We've been married for one year!! It really doesn't feel like it at all. It's weird to me how completely normal being married to Bob feels. It feels like our wedding was only a couple of weeks ago, and at the same time I can't remember what it was like not to be married to him, making it feel like it's been years and years.
Anyway, the roads had finally opened again, so we drove on to North Lake Tahoe, California. What a breath-taking drive it was! The snow was just stunning. I could definitely get used to living somewhere like that, even if that means shoveling our driveway every day. We visited Bob's Uncle Jim, who lives in a cabin in the woods (really, the whole neighborhood is in the woods, so it feels like your're more alone there than you actually are). It was small and rustic, and Bob and I got to stay in the tiny loft upstairs. When we arrived, Uncle Jim was supposed to be at work, but had gotten snowed in, so he was shoveling his driveway instead.
Monday, November 22nd. We woke up and shoveled the driveway again, because it had snowed during the entire day before and all through the night.
Then we took off and drove around Tahoe to visit Bob's Uncle Joe in South Lake Tahoe. Afterward we took a very long and very beautiful drive through the snowy Sierras. We passed the Kirkwood resort, where a gas station had unleaded for $4.36 a gallon. Ridiculous. But the drive was incredible!
We made it to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sue's for the night in Clovis, CA, right outside of Fresno. We had fun there--we ate dinner and then sat around telling stories and joking around, mostly laughing. My cousins Eric and Kimmy were constantly making references to funny books and movies, and Bob joined right in because he knew everything they were talking about. He fit right in, and I think everyone was pleasantly surprised by it, except me--I expected it. We got to take a look at Uncle Jeff's shops, look at his airplane he's been building for years now, and even a newer project he's taken on--restoring a late 40s Indian motorcycle. We had a great time, and wished we could have stayed longer.
Tuesday, November 23rd. We drove to San Luis Obispo, CA to visit Bob's Grandma Mary Alice. We made it around lunch time while she was working at the Family History Center. So Bob's Aunt Leslie (Uncle Jim's wife, who's in SLO for now taking care of her aging mother) took us out to lunch at a great little Mexican place in downtown SLO. We timed it just right and ended up having Bob's cousins Cody and Eric (who are brothers) and Eric's girlfriend Karen come to lunch with us.
Wednesday, November 24th. Bob turned 26!!!! We left SLO and finally made it to San Diego. We got new tires for our car (thanks to Bob's parents!), and while waiting for those we went thrift store shopping and landed some awesome buys! Bob found some nice Volcom khakis for $4and I got a pretty green dress for $3. Sweet!
Then that evening we had a birthday dinner and one of Bob's best friends Eric and his wife Lora came over for dinner. There was birthday pie and presents and everything. Bob's friend Christina also stopped by that night to visit and to wish him happy birthday.We spent the rest of the week there in San Diego. Every day brought gorgeous weather and relaxing afternoons.
Thursday we had a fantastic Thanksgiving feast.
Friday we went to a birthday party for Bob with lots of food and even more friends.
The rest of our time there was great. We saw a matinée showing of a movie one day, another day we went to a drive in movie, and we made sure to sleep-in every day.
Bob's other best friend, Stanly, was in Hawaii for the holiday. He has lots of pets though, so Bob's mom got to take care of his parrot, Farley while he was gone, so we got to take Farley on adventures in the back yard while we were there. It was fun!
Monday, November 29th. We finally left to drive back up to Utah. We stopped and visited Grandma Tweedie in the evening and stayed the night with her. We had a nice visit and wished we could have stayed longer. Hopefully next time we'll have more time and be able to afford a longer stay!
Tuesday, November 30th. We left and began the very last part of our trip. We stopped in Cedar City to have lunch with Aunt Judith, and she took us to Cafe Rio. We visited for a few hours and just talked, then had to be on our way. We finally made it back home in the early evening.
There were a few things that I learned from this trip.
1. Bob and I are happy and have a fantastic relationship. All of Bob's relatives said something about it. Every aunt and uncle and even some of his cousins brought it up at some point, and commented on how lucky we are. It sure feels great to know that other people notice it, even if we don't.
2. I'm really glad we cleaned the house really well before we left. I enjoyed coming home to clean house. It made me want to keep it clean, so I put away everything I brought home from the trip right away (except my clothes... I'm still working on that...).
3. A well planned vacation, no matter how far you drive, when spent with as much family as possible can make it seem twice as long while also being way more fun and relaxing. We needed a break, and this road trip was the perfect therapy for feeling overworked, overstressed, and under-rested.
I can't wait to take another road trip with my best friend and husband!
There's something special about road trips to us.
After all, that is how and why we met in the first place.
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