All Things Kerflooey

Archive for the ‘Tours and Travel’ Category

I have loved New Orleans since I was a little girl…but never got there until last year. Go figure. But I’m fairly certain it will be my home away from home some day soon. Excited to see this series premiering this Sunday.

I have loved New Orleans since I was a little girl…but never got there until last year. Go figure. But I’m fairly certain it will be my home away from home some day soon. Excited to see this series premiering this Sunday.

Paul and I are still talking about our little weekend getaway in mid-October, to Stillwater. It was delightful.

In September I began thinking that I wanted my husband to myself. I didn’t want him in front of the tv with a beer in his hand trying to blow off the stress of farming and many, many long hard days of balancing that with a full-time job. I didn’t want him with his mind on acreage or harvesting or the market price of soybeans or all the paperwork he had to do. I didn’t want him scouting the house with paper towels and a spray bottle of vinegar, looking for where our little four-footed housemates might have had an “accident.” I didn’t want him thinking about football or setting his alarm to 5:00 a.m. 

I knew it would take some thought.

We’ve had many vacations: ocean beach vacations, lake vacations, big-city getaway vacations, camping vacations, friends and partying vacations…and we’ve enjoyed all of them, but I could not remember a single time we’d ever gone anywhere just for the sake of having a room in which to escape, without an agenda, and with no obligations. I started an internet search. Hotels seemed too wrong for what I was wanting. A cabin? Maybe. Hmmm, how about a bed and breakfast? That thought conjured an image of Victorian flowered wallpaper, crocheted pillow covers, cherry antique furniture on wobbly Queen Anne legs. A Grandma Parlor. Yech. I almost dimissed the B&B idea, until I stumbled across the Elephant Walk  in Stillwater, MN.

It was such a nice weekend. Far better than nice. We drank wine. We lazed. We lit candles. We soaked in the hot tub. We took walks. We wandered the misty October gardens. We ate like kings without a conscience. We made room in our heads and hearts for the connection between the two of us – each others’ company and presence…and we let ourselves take joy in it as it unfolded.

Weeks after, the perfection of the weekend still resonates. Don’t ever let someone tell you a weekend can’t work miracles. The everyday stuff blinds a couple to one another after a while. We came home with our eyes opened again. We want to go back, again and again. Can we recreate the first experience by repeating the venue? I don’t know, but you can bet we’ll try.

Paul and I are still talking about our little weekend getaway in mid-October, to Stillwater. It was delightful.

In September I began thinking that I wanted my husband to myself. I didn’t want him in front of the tv with a beer in his hand trying to blow off the stress of farming and many, many [...]