Vacation...All I Ever Wanted!

With apologies for taking Lori's idea to name posts after songs... ;-)

Everyone (also in real life) has been asking for details of the trip and the 10 days I've been pretty much away from the blog so I want to try to get this done today before I forget anything good! Here we go...

Friday night (1/26) I went home to pack and planned to get to bed early since we had an early flight to Reno...didn't happen. I was in the middle of packing when I went to get something out of my car and slammed my fingers in the hatchback. The door latched so I had to open it while my fingers were trapped in the door. OW. I ran into the house and got ice right away even though I was crying and knew that it was pretty bad. I tried for about 15 minutes not to call DB (I was telling myself that I used to take care of stuff like this by myself all the time before I met him), but the blood was running down my arm (I was wandering around my house with my hand in the air) and I felt it all swelling so I finally called. He came right over and after looking at it thought we should go to urgent care in case my index finger was broken.

We headed to the urgent care that I had seen close to my house (and right next to the hospital where I had my knee surgery in September) and it was CLOSED. An Urgent Care closed at 8 p.m. on a Friday night?! Yup. Seems it's not "urgent" to them if it doesn't occur before 5 p.m.!! Argh. So we went next door to the hospital ER -- they told us to get ready to wait because they had had 4 ambulances just arrive. They suggested we head down by the airport to an urgent care there. We did. They took me right away and were very nice. The finger wasn't broken and they taped up the flesh wound and gave me a tetanus shot. We had some sushi for dinner then went home to finish packing. We got to sleep after midnight....and had to get up before 6...good thing it was vacation!!!

Our flight to Reno was pretty uneventful (although I do hate flying and grab DB's hand at the slightest bump). We got in and got upgraded on our car because they didn't have ski racks -- to a brand new bright red 4X4 4-door pick-up! It only had 13 miles on it and we fit in very well up in the mountains. ;-)

We stopped at the grocery store in Reno to get groceries and to try to get discounted lift tickets. Unfortunately in all the grocery excitement (we bought basically snacks, sodas, booze and breakfast food...and a lot of it!), we totally forgot to get the discounted tickets!! Oh well.

Then we were off to Tahoe...my first view of the lake elicited a gasp! It's impossible to explain how gorgeous it was. Wow. The house we rented was in the Kingsbury area (beautiful houses, close to casinos and skiing) and we loved it. It felt a lot like a cabin (lots of wood and windows looking out on the pines), but was a big house: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, dining room, laundry room, loft, kitchen, living room, 2-car garage (yes, I felt my house was pretty teeny when we got home last Saturday night!). We unpacked then danced around the living room until our first friends showed up around 4.

Since that Saturday was DB's birthday, we got ready for the special dinner out that I had planned...at The Summit which is probably the best restaurant in Tahoe (maybe in all of Nevada after eating there!). It is on the top of Harrah's and it was beautiful. The meal was definitely one of the best I've ever had: lobster tempura, a yummy arugula salad and lamb chops for me, scallop appetizer (yes, ONE scallop!), soup and bison for DB and other stuff for our friends. Each course had an accompanying wine that was totally delish. Dessert was souffles (chocolate or Grand Marnier) but we were all too full to really eat them all. After dinner we hit the casino for some fun roulette action then headed home for DB's presents. DB and our friend Aaron stayed up in the hot tub smoking cigars and drinking Grand Marnier until 1:30 am (we girls headed to bed a few hours earlier!).

Sunday was just cruising around getting the lay of the land. Checking out Heavenly (the ski resort where we were set to ski), the towns (Stateline, NV and South Lake Tahoe, CA) and the scenery (we cruised around the south of the lake to Emerald Bay which was frozen over...a very rare occurrence we were told). Had a late lunch on the lake then headed "home" to meet our other friends for snacks (no real dinner) and chatting before heading to bed early since 3 of us had to be at our ski lessons at 9 or so.

Monday was our first ski day -- FUN! Aaron, Brooke and I had a great beginners lesson (it was their first time...and my 10th or so!). Our instructor was fantastic -- really gave me confidence and I was so much more comfortable than ever before. We practiced the rest of the day when our class was over and left around 3:30 or 4 to go home for our soon-to-be-typical evening of snacks, showers, dinner and hot-tubbing. We were all really tired, but DB was exhausted -- he went to bed at 8 (I think he was fighting a cold too -- I was also doing that all week). The rest of us stayed up to play Apples to Apples (which DB had gotten me for my birthday -- I love it!) before tub and bed.

Tuesday was my Designated Birthday (we had to pick a day when we were all there to celebrate!). We got up later, got to the mountain about 11 and skied all the rest of the day (Brooke and I stayed on the main bunny hill to really get used to it). Then after cocktails, Brooke and I headed out shopping -- the outlet mall was disappointing, but the naughty erotic shop we hit afterwards was fun! ;-) We got back in time to change for my special "birthday" dinner -- DB had made reservations at a Japanese place -- we had a private "tatami" room and a wonderful sushi dinner! :-) After that, we headed back to town to gamble some more (I did really well with roulette -- I always bet birthdays and anniversaries and that's fun!) before home.

Brooke and Aaron had to head back to Texas on Wednesday so they, DB and I hung out in town (shopping for souvenirs, etc.) while our other friends went skiing. We were so sad for A&B to leave, but soooo happy that they came!! That evening, I cooked steak and salad and garlic croissants for dinner...yum...and then we all watched Love Actually (which I had bought for DB for Xmas and he hadn't seen...we loved it!) before hot tub and bed (do you hear a routine here?!).

Thursday and Friday were back to the slopes...by Friday I spent the whole day up the hill (they have "green" trails up there where I could practice rather than on the bunny hill at the bottom) with DB (our other friends left on Friday morning). Thursday night was another birthday celebration...our friends took us to a buffet dinner then a wee bit more, yes, GAMBLING. ;-)

We were missing our friends on Friday night, but it was great for DB and me to have one night to ourselves! We had had lots of snacks post-skiing, but got dressed to walk down the hill for dinner at a Thai or French place...we got to the bottom of the hill and decided we weren't really in the mood to sit in a restaurant so headed back home, got in our jammies, snacked and were in bed by about 8:30!!! Sooooooo relaxing.

We had to check out of the house on Saturday at 10 so we decided to drive around the lake -- it was such a relaxing day!! We saw all the scenery, houses, the dam, the incredible clarity of the lake, another casino, then went back to Reno for our flight home.

Words really can't describe how great it all was...I feel like a new woman. And a woman who is lucky to have such amazing friends and the best lover/playmate/partner EVER.

Yesterday (my actual birthday), we went shopping for glasses after our beach breakfast, then I went for a pedicure (wonderful!!!) before my mom took us for Indian food to celebrate our birthdays. It was a special treat that my hometown team won its first Super Bowl on my birthday...although I'm not really a football fan...I was more into the Halftime Show...wow PRINCE!!! :-)

Gotta get back to work...it's good to be home...back on the food and WOW wagon and raring to go!