It's that time of year again..Time to reflect back and realize that my wife and I have been married 9 years!! That seems just amazing to me!! Boy, how time flies! This weekend it was really easy to reflect upon this fact as I was surprised by the announcement of our anniversary trip, something I was not expecting. To catch up on how we do our whole anniversary trip tradition, refer back to this post from last year. But this year, it was my wife's turn to plan, scheme, plot, and lie.. my turn to be surprised.
The adventure began Friday morning.. what I thought would be a regular day. I got up with the knowledge that, while it was indeed Friday, it was the Friday before one of our biggest shows of the year. This meant that the day would be filled with lots of last minute odds and ends to get ready, lots of e-mails and phone calls, and an overall zooey day. To drive this point home to me, my boss (in on the whole surprise) had been warning me all week about how important Friday would be to getting things done for the show. And so I got ready for work with the full intention of facing craziness at the office and it wasn't until I climbed into my car in the driveway that my phone rang with my wife announcing that I wouldn't really be going in.
SURPRISE DAY OFF! Cool! And even better knowing that I wasn't really missing anything, thanks to both my wife and bosses lies. But as my wife soon discovered, even the best laid plans can hit bumps. She got a call from our regular baby sitter, scheduled to watch Little Calvin overnight. Sadly, her adult son had been hospitalized that morning and was in the ICU for some unknown medical illness. In a panic and a rush of calls, she was able to put together plan B fairly quickly still giving Little Cal a great weekend. And then we were off to unknown destinations.
The day began with a nice driving trip up the McKenzie River into the mountains. What makes this a real treat is up in the hills... there are no hay fields.. which means I got a nice break from the height of allergy season... I could walk outside... and breathe! A miracle! We ended up at a resort called the Holiday Farm, a series of river front cabins just east of Blue River. There, we relaxed for the afternoon before going to dinner at the resort's restaurant. During our dinner out on the restaurant's large porch, a blues concert played on the other side of the resort enabling us to enjoy the music, while not losing out on the sounds of nature and the river at the same time. Just a perfect blend.
After dinner, it was off for a quick soak at Belknap Hot Springs, a nice, hot pool fed by a natural hot spring. As a fan of hot water, I was able to find that perfect spot where the hot water flows into the pool, and it becomes almost too hot to stand.. just awesome!
While the focus of Friday was relaxing and calm... Saturday was a bit hectic. (but also fun!). My wife surprised me with the announcement that we were booked on a river rafting trip down the McKenzie River. It has been since I was a junior in high school that I have been river rafting and I eagerly went along for the ride. And the McKenzie gave us quite a fun ride.
In all, we rafted over 12 miles of river with our guide and 5 others. The river got a bit wild in places with a few Category 3 rapids to experience. Luckily we all stayed in the boat, but boy did we get wet!!! Early in the ride I got blasted with a few tidal waves of water, as we hit the rapids in just the perfect place to cause me to get hit. But such is the fun of river rafting. And it's not like we weren't prepared in our wetsuits to make the 42 degree water bearable. I was actually quite toasty all afternoon.
Eventually we got to the end of the ride, and had just enough time to shower, grab some food and make the drive back to Eugene. There, I got another surprise. My wife took us to the Hult Center, Eugene's performing arts center, where from the size of the crowds, it was obvious that something was going on.. My wife just wouldn't say what. And she kept me away from any promotion posters for the event.
We walked into the theater, and to our seats only a few rows from the stage to find a simple setup: 4 bar stools and some musical equipment. I had no idea what this was. I finally concluded it was some kind of comedy show, but it wasn't until the cast hit the stage that I realized what I was in for. It turns out, one of my old favorite TV shows, Whose Line Is It Anyway, was on tour with "the whole TV show cast except for the Rich guy, the black guy and the bald guy". Any fans of the show will know who that refers to.
And so for the next 2 hours we were entertained by the world's best Improv comedy stars: Greg Proops, Chip Esten (he's in "The Office"!), Jefff Davis, and our favorite, Ryan Stiles. The show was outrageously funny as the group could sing, dance, and act out just about anything suggested. For instance, in their opening skit, they needed a profession to act out... they pointed to a guy in the audience and said "what's your job?" He replied "I fix chain saws bars." Needless to say, they had never gotten that one before, but did fine none the less. Then it was a song all about a lady on the front row who was a landscaper (and whose husband also happened to by the county's DA). And boy, Chip Esten can 80's dance, giving Wham a run for their money!!! In all the group was fantastic and seeing them all that up close and personal, was a great treat!
And so concluded the 2007 anniversary trip with a bang, a weekend that was a lot of fun, very restful and deeply exhausting all at the same time. Now the planning switches back over to me and I have a year or so to figure out next year's trip, a creative challenge that I thrive on. hmmmm. what to do.. what to do
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