How NOT to Plan a Romantic Weekend Getaway

This last weekend, Aaron had to work a boat show at Lake Arrowhead. Aaron had the great idea of having that weekend be our last "Big Hoorah" weekend away before the baby gets here. I had a great time going up there for the day during last year's boat show, so I couldn't be more excited to go again this year. Due to a series of unfortunate events, out last "Big Hoorah" was not exactly the romantic getaway we had been hoping for.

In the event that you are planning a getaway of your own, I've compiled a list of tips that will help you avoid the mishaps we ran into:

1. If your husband still has to work a 12 hour day, it doesn't count as a romantic getaway trip.
Work is still work no matter how beautiful the setting is. My hard-working hubby busted his butt baking in the sun, sweating like crazy and didn't have time to eat lunch. By the time he left the show at 7 pm, he was tired, hungry and a bit of a grumpy bear. We made it back to the hotel and the really nice restaurant we wanted to eat at was booked until 10pm. This did not help the grumpy factor. We found another place to eat that was just great. After he finally got some food and was back to his usual sweet self there were lots of kisses, hugs and apologies for being a grump. Because he had to work in the morning, there was no sleeping in. The alarm went off at 6am.

Aaron "workin' it" with some potential customers

2. Staying at a pricey resort does not insure the staff knows the difference between "lake view" and "parking lot view".
Friday night we got to Lake Arrowhead Village to set up for the boat show. Only one other guy from Aaron's work showed up to help - so 2 guys did the work of 6. We finally got the the resort to check in at 10pm. We were beat. We got our keys and opened the door to a beautiful room. Aaron went to check out the view (as best as you can at night), opened the drapes and found we had a gorgeous view of a huge pine tree and a condo parking lot even though he paid for a lake view room. We went back to the desk and got keys to another room. This one was on the first floor and over looked the pool and the lake view was on the other side of the pool. Well, that was better, so we went to check it out. It was OK until we heard the noise - SLUUUUUURP ... GLUG, GLUG, GLUG ......SLUUUUURP! What the heck?? We opened the balcony door and found that because we were next to the pool, we were also next to the pool filter equipment. There was no way were going to pay a grip of money for a room to sleep next to that! Back to the desk we went. The clerk found us yet another room for us to check out. 3rd floor, overlooking the pool, and if you stand over to the left and look right you could see the lake. Fine! We took it. By the time we finally got to the last room it was 11:30 pm. We still hadn't eaten dinner yet. The only place open was a Stater Bros. So we dined on a pre-made turkey sandwich, wheat thins and orange juice. We didn't get to sleep until 12:30 and we had to be up by 6am. Are we having fun yet???

It took 3 rooms to get this much of a "lake view"

3. Just because you're staying at a pricey resort does not mean the parking lot is big enough for its guests.
I understand that this is a mountain resort and space is limited, but seriously - they gloat about spending millions renovating this place and there's not enough parking??? This was the hugest pain in the butt. It was a fight every time we tried to park. It really took it's toll on the above-mentioned night when Aaron was being a grump. I was driving and had circled the parking lot with no luck. I went back past a row we had already gone down and there was a spot at the very end of the row. The only problem was that there was another car already coming around the other way to get the spot. Aaron got all jumpy and started yelling "Back up! Back up! Go beat him to that spot!" Are you kidding me? I was all the way at the far end of the row and the other car was already coming up on the empty spot. There was no way I could have made it. Aaron was already in a foul mood and this did not help. He was miffed that I didn't even try to fight for the spot. He did admit later that there was no way I could have beat the other driver - but that I still should have tried. Sometimes man logic makes no sense and is completely stupid.

4. When ordering breakfast, be sure you read the entire entree description first.
At the Lake Arrowhead Village there is this great waffle house overlooking the lake. We went there for breakfast. As I was looking over the menu I came across a Belgian waffle with baked apples, cinnamon, walnuts and raisins - yum! When my food came, I didn't quite know what to say... There were my beautiful waffles draped with the baked apples, cinnamon, walnuts and raisins - but between the waffles was 3 big scoops of apple cinnamon ice cream topped with 1/2 a can of whipped cream. It looked completely awesome if I was ordering dessert, but it was a bit much for breakfast. I looked back at the menu to see where things had gone wrong, and sure enough, I failed to read the second line of the entree description "served with apple cinnamon ice cream and whipped cream". Apparently, in Lake Arrowhead the big thing there is waffles with ice cream for breakfast. What can you do? I ate my Belgian ice cream sandwich and hoped my unborn kid would forgive me. If I give birth and the first thing my kid does is smack me, I will refer back to this moment and know I fully deserved it.

5. Don't go on vacation if you're so sick, you think you may just die.
OK, so Thursday night my throat was a bit scratchy. No big deal. Friday my throat was still scratchy and I lost my voice. I still felt OK, thought it was no big deal so we headed up the mountain. By Friday night, I knew I was going to be in trouble. My scratchy throat turned into a full blown sore throat and it was getting harder to breathe. Nothing says "romantic getaway" and "hey baby, come and get me!" like a huge pregnant lady that breathes like Darth Vader and is hacking up flem chunks. I hardly slept at all Friday night and by Saturday morning I was a mess. My throat was on fire, my voice was totally gone and it was so hard to breathe, it felt like my chest was going to collapse. When the boat show started at 10 am, I went back to our hotel and just sat up in bed and concentrated on breathing. After about 3 hours I finally had a huge coughing fit and got some "chunks" out of my lungs. Paints a pretty picture, eh? At least I could breathe better. I headed back to the boat show because Aaron's family was there to visit, they were camping at a site near Lake Arrowhead. We walked around a bit, but I was exhausted so I went back to the room and took a nap, which was interrupted by some lady who didn't speak english checking to see if we used anything from the mini bar. Ugh.

Hardly slept Saturday night either. Aaron still had to work another day at the boat show on Sunday, but we had driven separately so I could make it down the mountain for church. Needless to say, I was in no condition to go to church or help in the Nursery. I just went home. I had to keep taking hot showers to loosen up the junk in my chest, despite the fact that it was 105 degrees that day. The pressure in my chest subsided Sunday night, but the snotty nose and congestion showed up just in time to take it's place. Luckily, my pre-natal exam was scheduled for early Monday, so I was hoping to get an answer to what the heck was going on with me. At my appointment, the doctor said she could do a strep throat culture but the results would take 3 days and I should be over my sickness by then, so why should she bother? Thank you, Large Expensive Healthcare Provider for raising my rates another $40/month this year, and for what? Yet another doctor that isn't too interested in taking time to help a patient out. Sorry to waste your time. A simple "sucks to be you" would have done just fine.

The trip wasn't all bad though, we did get to have a little fun. One of the perks of having a husband in boat sales, is that you get to use the boats for free. I got to go on 2 really nice boat rides. One with just Aaron and I and one with some of his family that came up to visit. Here are some photos from the boat ride:

Letting the nephews drive the boat


Awesome boat ride!

I got to see a couple of other "boat wives" that I'm friends with that came up to visit for the weekend also. It was nice to see them too. Aaron and I did get to spend a bit more time together this weekend had we not stayed at Lake Arrowhead. All in all, the trip could have been much better, but sometimes things just don't work out the way you wish they would. I still love my hard-working, wonderful husband more than anything and I appreciate the effort he put into trying to have a nice weekend for us. Love You Hon!