A few years back Nicole and I did something: https://ridleykemp.com/2016-11-3-1504-miles-later-home/
It’s been a good ten years. The best ten years of my life, and my life has been pretty good so far. So, to celebrate, we’re doing something close to what we did for our honeymoon (It turns out that our marriage has outlasted the place where we fell in love with on the honeymoon). That wasn’t going to stop us from spending a few nights in a restored vintage trailer:
We had a little false start as we forgot something at the house and had to go back. But, unlike Marfa, Lucky Arrow Retreat in Dripping Springs is a lot less than 8 hours from our home. But we learned something important, or at least I did: Eating an entire bag of sea salt potato chips while one drives is a Very Bad Idea Indeed. I suspect Nicole already knew this.
We grilled burgers on night one and they are the best burgers I’ve had in ages. Was the mood? Or just the fact that we live in a town with no good burgers. Maybe both. Probably both.
We woke up the next morning surrounded by familiar-seeming friends.
The flock were very accustomed to human company and to white powder doughnuts. In fact, they seemed to (correctly) conflate the two things. Unlike the Kitty City peacocks, these were well behave and, thankfully, quiet. If youve ever heard a peacock in full voice, you know what I mean.
We poked around a little, made sammiches for lunch, and had a nice chill day. We even played Monopoly and I scored an unlikely comeback victory (I was down to $13 at one point). The railroads, believe it or not, were the difference. Dumb game. Then we played one of those games that’s really just a list of hypothetical questions you’re supposed to answer in thoughtful and revealing ways. We both agreed our answers were perfect, no not. We’d make pretty good co-emperors I think, not that we’d want the job.
Last night I read her a new set of vows. I kind of botched it the first time, a combination of nerves and not memorizing and trying to rephrase on the fly. I made sure I was reading a script this time, and the update included the things I’ve learned about marriage over the last decade. I think it went over well, and she deserved a better set of vows.
Today, the 22nd, is the actual anniversary date. We got up to make pancakes and then decided that we did not, in fact, feel like making pancakes, so we went into town and had coffee and pastries (as one does). We rented a little cabana by the pool and have spent the day chilling, grilling, and, um…illing? Not so much.
There are two pools, the “adult” pool we’re next to, which is #$%#$% cold an utterly unswimmable. The kids pool down the stairs is heated and lovely and is the one to use if you come here. And you should, because it’s nice. We grilled hot dogs, or, in my case, Earl Campbell’s hot links, which are absolutely wonderful so long as you do not ask what is in them.
I’d like to give a special shout-out to the guy at the counter. His name is David and he’s super nice and helpful. And I saw him feeding the stray kittens near the check-in area, which gets you a lot of points in my book.
We’ll do our anniversary dinner tonight at Tillie’s over at Camp Lucy because it’s really good and really close. I don’t want to spend all day on the computer, so I’ll just assume it’s going to be really nice and I will get smooches. And give smooches. Because smooches are nice.
Thanks for still being around if you see this. It’s been a while. I’m feeling the urge to Write About Stuff again. I have some ideas queued up, so we’ll see. <3