4th Anniversary Getaway: Land's End Resort

Tiny bedroom

Tuesday night, C and I took off on a "staycation" for our 4th wedding anniversary. I had originally wanted to run up to Anchorage for 4 days, but C couldn't get the day off, and after my boss's injury, it's just as well. Since our anniversary fell on our weekend, we decided to keep it simple and stay close to home.

Looking to the door from the far wall

I have always wanted to stay at Land's End at the end of the Spit, and so we planned on it :) They run a Getaway Special every winter and that is what we booked: a room, dinner, continental breakfast, glasses of wine with dinner, as well as a couple other services that we didn't utilize.

The balcony!

I initially booked the cheapest room I could get - one overlooking the parking lot! WOO! Justification was that a view was around $40 more, we see the view every day, and it would likely be raining/snowing/foggy and we wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. I stuck to my decision, even though I had little wishes of dealing with it and paying more.

Back of the hotel, on the beach

We left Tuesday afternoon for our adventure on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, effectively wiping out my visions of cloudy skies. We arrived, and the front desk girl ended up upgrading our room for free, for a reason that I didn't catch!!!!!

Chilly beach walk!

We headed up the narrow stairs and to our room with a view!

I....was less than impressed with the room, to be honest. It was tiny, but all the space was used well, so that was fine. But the decor and paint and such just seemed so out of date, like it had not been updated since the 90s. I really didn't care, but I was surprised at how such an "elegant" resort had such unelegant quarters.

Looking at photos online of the better rooms makes me think they are nice looking, so who knows. The bathroom was very tiny and the lighting was terrible in there.

The wing with our room on it

But we had a balcony! And a view! We headed downstairs and outside for a beach walk in the sunshine. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the sunshine was welcome and good company made it nice.

We came back inside after a bit and went downstairs for dinner in the restaurant. We have both eaten there countless times before, but usually for Local's Night (for cheaper fare).

With dinner included in our room rate, I was happy to not inwardly wince at the prices. C decided on a "petite tender steak" - "bacon wrapped steak with a port demi glaze". I chose chicken gnocchi - "grilled chicken with potato pasta, spinach and mushrooms in a blue cheese cream sauce with spiced pecans".

C's steak, potatoes and veggies

We were less enthused about the wine included...we both hate the taste of alcohol. We both were curious to try something new though, so we asked the waiter for some recommendations. I chose an Alaskan Chardonnay from the local Bear Creek Winery and C got a glass of Marietta Old Vine.

My chicken gnocchi

The food was excellent. C's steak was incredibly tender (like a steak is meant to be!) and the mashed potatoes it came with were just divine. They were both of our favorite parts of the meal! My gnocchi was wonderful as well. The wine....was ok. We didn't drink nearly enough of it (so I'm glad we weren't paying for it outright!) I'm sure it was wonderful to others, but I just can't stand that alcoholic flavor :( It was definitely more bearable with food though!

C at the top of the stairs, overlooking the Bay

We ended dinner stuffed to the max and went back up to our room. We watched our yearly dose of TV (we don't have TV at home) and decided it was bed time after a while. I spent a few minutes taking some night photos from the balcony. I was still in the midst of my awful cold and I ended up coughing so much that I kept both of us up for a long while :( We finally fell asleep, but it wasn't too restful (I hate that about being away from home!)

Us on the balcony outside the room

The next morning, we got up at 8 for the continental breakfast downstairs. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was located in the restaurant, and was a decent spread. When we arrived, there was a group of young men there, laughing a bit loudly, but they were the only others in the entire restaurant, and they quickly departed.

The empty restaurant for breakfast

Muffins, bagels, waffles, instant oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, and scrambled eggs were the main foods available (maybe more?) and so we were satisfied. We ate leisurely, with a few more people wandering in as the morning went on, and then we went back upstairs to get ready to check out.

One side of the continental breakfast

All in all, we had a nice stay. I don't know that we will ever stay there again (on our money at least) but it was a nice experience and I'm glad I can recommend it to others. The food was probably the best part :P

Other side of the breakfast

I will say how happy I was with a view room....I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would...though I really should have known it would be important to me since I was constantly gazing outside for wildlife, and watching the sunset and such.

Land's End

It was great to get away and celebrate our relationship, and I'm glad we did it! I'll post another post hopefully tomorrow of more nature photos I took on our getaway, and not just photos of the hotel!

Anniversary Walk

Notable occasions automatically equal photo shoots in my book. C has learned to accept, if not embrace this fact. After our breakfast, we went for a quick walk.

And then we discovered that the pathway we were walking on squirted up water if jumped on....Out of focus, yes, but you can still see it.

This began lots of laughter.

I said, "Stand by the tree!" And he hid instead, so I tried to play along.....yea, I'm not good at hiding.

I really like this one!

Wouldn't be a complete post if I didn't provide proof of me making a fool of myself!

Anniversary Breakfast

Two days after our 3rd anniversary, we finally got a chance to celebrate it! We went out for breakfast at a local bakery.

It was wonderful. More to come!

Wispy Clouds

Nice day for a beach walk :)

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Today I have been married for 3 years! So crazy that 3 years have gone by, but they have been wonderful :)

2nd Anniversary

C and I had our second wedding anniversary this past Sunday! We went on a lovely trip to celebrate!

Sunday, April 4

C has to work on Sundays, but his work was closed for Easter, so he was able to attend the church breakfast and service with me! After church was finished, we chatted with friends a bit, and then hit the road to the big city! The weather was a bit gloomy, with some blue patches of sky here and there. After an hour and a half, we stopped for a gas and bathroom break, got some lunch, and loaded up on candy!

About 3 hours into the drive, it started snowing. It started to accumulate onto the road, but once we were through the mountains, it was fine. I drove the entire way, as I love to drive for road trips. C read to me from a book. It was kinda dull (a fantasy series, written in the 70s) but we laughed over how confused we were over it!

We made it to the big city at about 6pm, and quickly found our Marriott hotel. We checked in, and then ran to the nearby Applebee's for an anniversary dinner. We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed back before it got dark.

Monday, April 5

We got up earlyish for our free continental breakfast at the hotel. We were planning on hitting a movie at 11:30, so we had time to kill. We made a run to the mall for a quick trip through Walmart. This was a run for just the toiletries, but it still was close to $100! We went to our favorite thrift store where C got some nice black dress shoes priced at $20 for $0.99! I love daily tag specials :) Made a Bed, Bath & Beyond stop, then to a game store to get some Wii games used. By this point, we were running out of time rapidly. We raced north to the theater that we didn't know how to find.

We were 5 minutes late, but it was just fine. We went to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It was great! I've never actually been to a 3D movie before, so it was definitely an experience! I would love to purchase the movie when it is released.

After the movie, we called up some friends who we hadn't seen in a while. They had a baby last fall and we had not met her yet! We spent around 2 hours there, where they fed us pizza :) It was fun to hang out and catch up.

We went to the mall again, after that. Looked at buying a keyboard for C, as he has been itching to play some music. He didn't find exactly what he was looking for, though, so we came home without one. We ate a DQ ice cream sundae afterwards :) Next, it was back to Walmart to finish out our necessity shopping. Our bulging and extremely heavy cart later, we left. (EVERYTHING is cheaper at Walmart in the big city. I wait to buy all kinds of things if I know we are going, and then we stock up) C's brother contacted us to let us know he would buy us dinner at Outback.

We timed it well, since he was just getting off of work, and we settled down for a delicious dinner. I got the best potato soup I have ever eaten. We had a good time with him, and then we headed back to the hotel.

Tuesday, April 6

Woke up to snow, but it was not so bad. Unfortunately, it sounded like it got worse after we left and there were many accidents that evening. But! We had more free breakfast! We headed for the mall again and this time was to buy C some work shoes. We headed back north to go try out a new chocolate shop my boss told me about. Some expensive truffles later, I walked out with a bag of yumminess. We were meeting C's brother again, this time at Moose's Tooth! Oh my word. That was incredible food! I got a sandwich made from their custom pizza dough. The turkey and cheese was baked right into it! C and I were pretty impressed. BIL departed at this point and we went in search of the Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, by the time we found it, it was closed! We'll have to go in the summer when everything is green and blooming.

We had nothing else to accomplish in the big city, so we headed out of town to our next destination: the Alyeska Resort. I stopped along the way to take photos of the mountains of Cook Inlet. We arrived immediately at check in time on the dot. The hotel was incredibly large and ritzy. We went to our room with a king size bed (way too large for us, a tiny couple with a double bed at home!) and discovered it had not been cleaned yet! The bed was a mess, there were towels on the bathroom floor, etc. We called room service, waited for their arrival, then disappeared to explore the premises.

It was kind of pointless for us to go to Alyeska when neither C nor I ski or snowboard. But it was an experience. The sky was not clear for most of our stay, and instead snowed a bit. I was hoping to get some amazing views, but it was disappointing.

Our room package included $50 credit that could be used anywhere in the resort. We found a gift shop that had expensive ice cream bars. I got a Haagen Dazs. I never buy those, because they are so expensive! But, this one was already paid for, so it was a treat. C went for a short swim in the pool and I played a game on my ipod :P We explored up and down the hotel and when it was closer to dinner time, went in search of the only restaurant open at the time. We had a nice margherita pizza and breadsticks for dinner, then stayed downstairs to check up on what was happening in the world with the wifi.

Wednesday, April 7

Woke up a bit later this time, but we went back to the same restaurant for breakfast. Decided to go all out and ordered orange juice with our credit (we are cheap and don't buy drinks at restaurants...water only) and got a massive omelet that we could pick the ingredients of + toast and potatoes. C wanted to try reindeer sausage in it, since he had never eaten it before. The omelet was alright; I've definitely had better. But it was all tasty!

Once breakfast was over, we were ready to be on our way. The pull of home at the end of a trip is amazing to me. No matter how good a trip has been, or how long or short, I am always ready to go and be home. We took off down the highway, and were blessed with a bit of sunshine, and clear roads. Apparently part of it had had several inches on Monday, so I was happy we missed the mess! I stopped often for photo ops, and got some nice shots. We arrived home to nice blue skies, and were so happy to be back!

It was a good trip. I'd like to go back to Alyeska in the summer, or especially in the fall sometime. We shall see!

4 years!

(cross posted on my photography blog, to be posted later this week)
Friday will be C and I's date of being together for 4 years! On Tuesday, we went out to the Spit to celebrate. We ended up getting pizza from our favorite pizza place, but took photos while we waited for it to cook!

This is in the harbor. Making use of my new tripod!

Down at the beach where we got engaged!

Anniversary Photos

Saturday, I wanted to take some photos of us. (Wait, this is different?!) So I put on a dress that I've never worn before (t'was a hand me down) and likely never will.

C became sleepy after we started, as we were in front of the windows, and so I took tons of photos of him and he hardly took any of me (yet again, is this different?)

It was fun, but not as exciting as I had hoped. Ah well, next year! ;)

Round 2 of Ash

Well, we're settling in again for ash. We checked the volcano this morning, and saw that we were under advisement, and then promptly forgot until C walked out the door. Ash is everywhere again, and the sky is dark. I took a photo, which I will upload later, with the flash on, and there is definitely ash in the air. C is here until further notice from his work. They are temporarily closed. I am waiting another hour or so before calling my boss to see which way to jump. Last week, when we had ash, my work only made $50...so...not sure.

This complicates things...today's our 1st wedding anniversary!! We were planning on going out to eat at least tonight...not sure what will happen now. :( Happy anniversary!

Monitor and Anniversary

I think I posted about buying a new monitor with wedding money. Well, it came yesterday. It is huge! We went with a 19" View Sonic flat screen. It is going to be awesome to edit pictures on! I'm pretty excited about it and I can't wait till my desktop arrives as well. Oh and the best part about the monitor is that it can be pushed back against the wall on the desk giving me tons of room to do schoolwork on this desk, which I have never been able to do comfortably anywhere. YAY!

Yesterday was our Friday and also 4 months since our wedding. So we went out to dinner at Boardwalk Fish and Chips. We hadn't been there in 2 years. The food was ok, not really spectacular or anything. It was more the celebration which was fun. I had been wanting to walk on the beach afterwards, but it rained the whole time. The Spit looked pretty cool shrouded in fog, though.

Caleb's sister lent us Juno last week and we might finally watch it tonight. I've been cleaning around the place this morning to make it look more presentable again. I also want to scrapbook today. We'll see how it all goes!

I kind of got a cold this weekend. Saturday I had a sore throat and by the time it was 6pm, I had a weird headache that hurt my neck and stuff. I came home from work just exhausted. I didn't go to church cause I wanted to make sure that I could go to work for my boss's sake. I went to work and felt better. Then yesterday, I had no appetite for breakfast or lunch, but was queasy cause I hadn't eaten much. It was a frustrating cycle. Today I feel better and I have more of a cough than anything else. I took some medicine several times and I think I wiped out a lot of the cold before it really got started, but my voice is funny and my throat hurts some and I couch. Oh and I have no taste, apparently. Caleb just made brownies and I couldn't even tell they tasted like them :(