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!
