Anniversary Get-Away

We continued celebrating our 10th Anniversary this weekend. Waiting one week saved us several hundred dollars. I guess Memorial Day weekend is when the cheap summer rates official start at the local resorts. Instead of paying the nearly $500/night rate normally required at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort, we paid just $179.

Friday was the last day of school (half day), so we dropped off our kids at my sister's house (thank you!) and headed off to North Scottsdale. When we went to check in, they said they had upgraded us to a suite! It was so nice! I wish we could have stayed longer. After getting settled, and checking out the resort a bit, we went over to nearby Kierland Commons for a stroll, and had dinner at North. It was excellent! I had a delicious pasta dish with a very light Parmesan sauce, spinach, mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, and grilled shrimp, and Jay had a very tasty pizza.

After dinner we bought tickets to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." But it was opening day, and when we entered the theatre we realized we would be relegated to the front row, Jay said, "Forget it," and walked out. I went running after him, and said, "What, you want to throw away $20?" He replied, "No, I'm going to get our money back." I laughed, "They won't give us our money back." He was completely confident.... "Sure they will." I stood there in awe as he marched right up to Guest Services, handed over our tickets stubs and said, "We want our money back." The agent smiled, took the stubs, and said, "Would you like cash, or do you want me to credit your card?" My mouth dropped open, while Jay calmly replied, "Just put it back on our card." While the agent printed our receipt, Jay went to get the car, and I just stood there dumbfounded. I had no idea you could do that! I was proud of him for being so bold. I'm too chicken to do something like that.

We finally admitted we would rather spend time at the beautiful resort then spend it packed in a room with several hundred noisy, obnoxious, "Pirate" fans. Jay had insisted that he wouldn't wear a swim suit in public (he thinks HE'S embarrassed), so I hadn't even bothered to bring mine. But when we got back to the resort, the pool looked so lovely after dark, with all the lights, that Jay said, "Let's go swimming." I inquired, "But did you bring a swim suit?" "Well, yeah, just in case." Duh. So, we ran over to the local Wal-Mart and I found a decent one. We swam in the main pool for a bit, sat in the hot tub for a bit, shared a hammock for a bit... ah, it was lovely.

This morning we slept in until 9:00 (lovelier still!) and had a nice (but expensive) breakfast at the bistro downstairs. I had whole wheat pancakes with blueberries and pecans, and Jay had eggs benedict. Then we put our suits back on and headed off to the "Sonoran Splash" pool, where we took a dip, lounged around and read for a while (here is what I'm reading), and enjoyed ourselves like kids on the water slides. After that we reluctantly headed back to our suite, showered and dressed, and (sigh) checked out. It was a glorious, relaxing get-away, and I can't wait to do it again. Until then, we're glad to be back home with our kids, and sleeping in our own bed. After all, there's no place like home.