Brian and I are excited about being married. So excited, in fact, that we ended up taking our one-year anniversary vacation this past week - the week of the 4th of July. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I mean, we are excited about being married. That much is true. The timing of our trip, however, was not really our choice. Our one-year anniversary is September 8th, but since my sister’s baby is due September 10th (yep, she’s having a baby boy!), and since my gymnasts’ season dominates the months of August through November, and since my gym was closed for the week of 4th of July, we decided to make the most of me not getting paid all last week, and took our anniversary vacation a little early.
Three nights in Yosemite. Two nights in Arroyo Grande (located in the San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach area, about 150 miles north of LA up the 101). We loved every minute of it. Since it would be too overwhelming to try and write a whole post about the entire week, I’m going to try to post one blog for each day, with one to a few pictures and videos to characterize some of the highlights of that day. Here we go…
Day 1 - Monday, June 30, 2008
After seven hours of driving, we arrived at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park (located in Northern California, for those of you who have never experienced the glory of Yosemite). The other two times we have been to Yosemite together, we have done the hard-core camping/hiking combination, so to arrive at a quaint-looking hotel in anticipation of a few days of relaxation was amazing in and of itself.
Once we checked in, we were informed that we would be staying in Moore Cottage, a small, square building of about fifteen rooms or so, located behind the main building.
As soon as we walked in, I noticed something odd. Located on top of the antique-looking desk near the entrance to our room in the cottage, there stood two keepsake champagne glasses, a chilled bottle of champagne, and a cute basket of succulent strawberries.
“Wait a minute, I didn’t think that came with our room!” I exclaimed.
“It didn’t,” my husband stated, casually. “I upgraded to the Romance Package after you walked away from the computer when we were booking our trip.”
All I could muster was a sentimental, awwwwww. I was so impressed. He looked at me with his googliest eyes and told me how much he loved me.
As dusk disintegrated into darkness, we joined a group of fellow Wawonians to take part in the star gazing tour for the night. While shivering and snuggling while lying on moisture-protective tarps, our guide shared with us the urban legends of the formation of the constellations that lit up the clear black mountain sky. As the night came to a close, we practiced using each constellation as a reference point for finding another, and I was simply blown away by the beauty of the Creator.
A fantastically sentimental and beautiful start to our long week of adventure, romance, and relaxation.
