Let me preface this by saying I had one of the worst traveling experiences of my life getting to and from this trip. It's definitely a good thing it was only me and not with my kids or I would have been a complete train wreck. It's also definitely a good thing this trip was so fun in between traveling!!
I flew out Friday morning and had an early flight. I was the last person on board and there was no room in the overhead bins so they told me they would gate check my carry on and lets just say that was the last time I saw it for the rest of the trip. It never arrived to Cleveland and luckily I had Melissa there to lend me clothes and makeup and then I bought a few other things I needed. Most spare moments we had were spent on the phone trying to track down my suitcase and encountering extremely rude and unhelpful customer service people. The whole thing was very stressful for me and gave me a pit in my stomach when i thought of everything I had lost. Nothing INvaluable, but plenty that was valuable. After arriving to Cleveland and finishing at the airport I took a shuttle to the rental car facility and selected my car and was in the exit portal when they told me since the car was under Paul's name I was to allowed to rent it, even though I was listed as a second driver on the account. I had to reverse back to my parking spot and deal with more rude and unhelpful people inside and, sparing a lot of details, I was stuck at the car rental building with only my purse and a cell phone that had lost battery and absolutly nothing to do but wait for two hours until Paul arrived on his flight. I was a hot mess of frustration and hormonal emotions. Paul arrived with my own pint of ice cream and saved me from the whole ordeal and we started our weekend together.
We checked into our hotel then went out to dinner then drove to an outdoor amphitheater in Cuyahoga falls to go to the Tim McGraw concert! We had found out just a few days before that he would be there and were able to snag awesome last minute seats! the drive was absolutely beautiful... so lush and green and huge trees everywhere. We had the perfect weather the whole trip. The venue was gigantic, and we were 9th row. We were extremely overdressed and under intoxicated and the people watching was fantastic. Tim sang some of his greatest and we had a really fun night. We stopped by Jeff and Melissa's that evening so see them, the Dicksons and Andruses. It was fun to see their house and where they've made home for the past year.
Our hotel where we stayed was about 10 minutes away from their house and was an awesome location and fun place. The next day we slept in, got breakfast then met up to go to Cedar Point: "the rollercoaster capital of the world" and that it was. Due to long lines we really only got to ride on about 5 rides but they were all awesome! On one we went 0-120mph on 3.8 seconds then climbed 420 feet and came back down. There was one coaster called "Maverick" that we also loved! We had so much fun. Paul won a gigantic unicorn that he gave to Madison and Emily and it was later stolen in the parking lot. (Thanks to awesome guest services they got a replacement a few days later!) we ate tons of cotton candy and stayed 'til after the park closed at midnight. It was a fantastic day.
Sunday we got to attend Olivia's baby blessing at Jeff and Melissa's ward. Olivia is one of the most beautiful baby girls I've ever seen. She has the cutest round face and pretty eyes and she's such a sweet baby. I loved spending time with her and her cute sisters. We had lunch after church and went to Kirtland that evening to see the temple and visitors center and Newell K Whitney store and village area. We randomly saw my cousin Parker at the visitor's center too! We had waffles for dinner and played games back at Jeff and Melissa's.
Monday morning Paul flew out early and since I still didn't have my luggage I went shopping for a few replacement items. That afternoon we explored West Side market and got lunch downtown before heading to the airport.
I got notices that my flight was being delayed from Cleveland and I was going to miss my connection. I called the airline and they said the best they could do was have me spend the night in Chicago and get a flight the next morning or spend another night in Cleveland and fly out first thing. I told them these were not options and gave them a piece of my mind and eventually they switched me to another airline all together so I could make it home that night. Even that flight was delayed but it worked out fine and I made it back to Dallas around midnight. I went to check one more time on my lost luggage and found out it had been mis-tagged under someone else's last name and had gone to Pennsylvania. I got it back two days later.
Back to the anniversary portion... I love my husband. Love that he knows how to cheer me up after rotten luck, love that he dances and tries to sing to me at concerts, love how mush he loves his family and how he always tries to make me happy. I love our little tradition of going to a different stat every year and so far not one year has disappointed... they have all proven that life in unpredictable and fun and adventure can be found anywhere when you have the right person by your side.
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