4th Anniversary

For our fourth wedding anniversary (June 20th) this summer we "ran away" to a little cabin in the woods. Actually, it was in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We drove for 10 hours down the Blue Ridge Parkway (wouldn't taken only 6 on the interstate, but that's no fun!). The cabin was very close to the place where North Carolina meets Virginia and Tennessee. It was a little cabin called the Mountain Top Cabin (http://www.rugbycreekcabins.com/). It was pretty cabin-y with the funny mismatched dishes, but there was a spectacular view, no one around, a double jacuzzi tub and a really big stone fireplace. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we were able to spend 4 days (Joel surprised me with the 4th day since it was my birthday).

I'm not sure exactly what the highlight was, besides the obvious sweet solitude with the one I love. Maybe next was the gourmet menu that we planned and packed all the food in so we didn't have to leave the cabin (farm raised steak with king crab legs, mimosas, farm fresh eggs and bacon with homemade sticky buns in the morning, grilled Salmon with veggie kebabs, etc... makes me hungry thinking about it!). Or maybe it was the closeness cultivated by listening to a marriage CD on our long drive to the cabin, and talking about our marriage so openly all weekend. Or maybe it was just hours spent sitting on the porch enjoying the views, or snuggling inside listening to songs from our wedding in front of the fire. Maybe it was enjoying the 4 dozen roses that Joel had bought for me (yes, I held them on the entire way there!). I'm not really sure. It was all pretty great.

The cabin was also right next door to the Grayson-Highland State Park. We went hiking one day, and as we sat on the top of this mountain, enjoy a 360 degree view of the Blue Rigde, Joel spotted something. "Isn't that our cabin?" Yes- it was... there was our little cabin, a dot on the top of a (much lower) mountain top. That was pretty cool.

We drove home happy but sad to leave our little bit of heaven. We decided to make the cabin trip an anniversary tradition, as long as we live in Virginia, anyway. If we ever get back to Texas, we want to stay at the place we spent our second anniversary, El Jefe in Fredricksburg, Texas (http://www.austinstreetretreat.com/). That was pretty amazing too, but in the town of Fredricksburg so we ate out and walked the cute little streets more than just snuggling up in our room. There is something really nice about not doing anything, not seeing anyone, just getting to complete relax and re-focus. Do I have to wait until next year?