Romantic Getaway

As a reward and motivation for walking 5 or 6 days a week for 6 weeks, David took me on a little getaway. Discussing where we wanted to go, we decided it would be fun to go to a bed and breakfast in a nearby town which had state parks where we could go hiking. After church on Valentine's Day found us loading our snow gear and overnight bags, saying good-bye to the kids, and heading west.

Our first stop was a state park halfway between our home and our bed and breakfast. Stopping at the park office to get a map, big, fluffy snowflakes began falling. Although the trail to snowshoe was a drive to the other side of the park, we first trekked to the waterfalls.

This bubbling brook is behind the bridge you see in the above pictures.

It was quite pretty. Many other couples were stopping for a visit. Despite the path being extremely icy, we didn't fall and we decided to come back in the spring and summer and see the falls running.

We then drove over to the trail, strapped on the snowshoes, and off we went. The trail goes two different ways around an enclosed bison area. We asked the ranger if we could see the bison and he told us where they were which was unfortunately too far away for the time we had for a hike. Instead, we took the trail that went by part of their area as well as a little jaunt through the woods by the river.

We passed a lot of cross-country skiers. Although this state park no longer keeps groomed ski trails, many people were enjoying plowing their own path. One couple went by and the man wasn't using poles. He was holding on tight to his dog's leash and let him do the work. Clever!

After our 2 plus mile hike, we climbed back into the car and continued west arriving at our bed and breakfast.

This beautiful home was ours for the night. Well, not the whole home. We had use of four rooms on the main floor and one bedroom on the second floor, as did the three other couples who were there. After showing us around, Ramona, the owner, let us to ourselves. We carried our things into our room, and then brought our supper to the all season porch. This lovely room is where breakfast is served each morning. It also included a sitting area in front of a fire place and it was surrounded with windows.

Enjoying our supper of delicious meats and cheeses, Gary and Ramona were in the next room enjoying a toast to their 18th year of being in business. We toasted with them, sipping some of the complimentary Merlot they had out for their guests.

This is the view from the comfortable couch into the main entrance. When we arrived, a student from the local college was playing the grand piano.

After depositing our supper things back into our room, we grabbed our books, our box of wine, some chocolate covered almonds, and headed back to the main living room. We spent the next few hours resting, relaxing, and reading. It was delightful.

This bed and breakfast has five rooms to choose from. Glancing through the photos on their website we chose the Castle Room. We are glad we did. After leaving the cozy couch in the living room, we walked upstairs and enjoyed sitting in the chairs by the fireplace in our own bedroom.

It is called Castle Room because of the various pictures hanging on the walls of Neuschwanstein Castle located in Bavaria, Germany. Having visited this castle twice, we thought it would be fun to stay in the room named for it. Plus ,it had this cool knight guarding us while we slept!

Sleep well we did. Awaking refreshed and ready for the day, we took our books back to the living room couch and enjoyed fresh coffee and the smells of breakfast cooking. Breakfast at this B&B is a three course meal. It was splendid. Gary and Ramona started the meal with a mimosa in celebration of their 18th year. Yum! The first course was a delicious spiced pear served with a homemade granola. Some of the guests ate their granola on the side, others sprinkled it right on top of the pears. Our next course was homemade blueberry buttermilk pancakes and sausage links. Instead of maple syrup, we had a very tasty orange sauce spread on top. Yum! Finally, as if we weren't already full, out came dessert, a slice of a pumpkin cheesecake roll. Yum! Add in the coffee and the fresh juices, and you can imagine how full we were. Glad we planned on hiking later!

All throughout breakfast, we enjoyed getting to know the other three couples who had also come to spend Valentine's evening at this bed and breakfast. Conversation flowed freely and we all stayed at the table for two hours or more. Gary, husband of Ramona, was our server and he joined in our conversations, but Ramona only came out after all the serving was done. What a delightful, lazy, yummy start to our day!

But good-byes had to be said and so they were. We packed up our things, loaded the car, bought two of their very nice, unique, stoneware mugs for a souvenir and headed out for the state park. Donning our snowshoes once again, we hiked along the same trail where we tried snowshoeing for the first time on New Year's Day.

It was a wonderful way to reward ourselves for our diligence in moving our bodies for six weeks. Although we won't reward ourselves in quite this way each time, we have decided that this sort of romantic getaway treat should happen more often than every so many years.