Anniversary Awesomeness!

Hubby and I got the opportunity to go on a little overnight trip for our tenth anniversary!  It was amazing and I'm so so grateful to my mom and my sister for offering to watch the kids so that we could go!  It was our first overnight together since way before AJ was born and the first time we've really gone out of town together since our honeymoon!

Be warned!  Picture overload!

Adam was scheduled off work on Friday, so I took a vacation day.  We left the house around 8 am and drove to Columbus, IN. 

On our way!  So excited!

We stopped at a Goodwill store--Adam is an avid Ebay seller and he's always looking for deals on things he can resell. He found a few things and I found a cute Vera Bradley purse.  After we were done there, we continued on to Nashville, IN.  In Indiana, we don't really call it "Nashville" very often, probably because it's easy to confuse it with Nashville, TN.  We mostly just call in "Brown County" (Nashville, IN is in Brown County lol).  I'd been there a time or two with my parents when I was a kid.  It's basically just a tiny little town with lots of quaint little shops and B&Bs and a big state park.  It's quiet and everyone is super friendly.

Our first stop was a winery outside of town.  As I've mentioned before, I have tried some wines in the past but never really cared for them.  The Brown County Winery offered a good selection of sweet and semi-sweet wines, so Adam and I hoped we'd find something we liked.  We weren't disappointed!  The very first one we tried was great!  It was their Vista Red, a semi-sweet wine and their bestseller.  We tried a couple of others but we liked it the best, so we bought a bottle and a few glasses before heading back out.

A view of the road

Rocky!  No mountains in Indiana, but we've got some hills!

The best I could get of the amazing views

We decided to go on past Nashville to Bloomington for lunch.  A few of my friends and Twin have raved about a little pizza place there called Mother Bears, so we decided to try it.  It took forever to figure out where to park because all of these little businesses each have about 5-10 parking spaces and that's it. Each business has signs that says their spaces are for their customer's only.   Of course, all of the spaces at Mother Bears were full.  We drove around for awhile, trying to find something, but everything was either reserved or was student parking for Indiana University, which is right across the street.  Finally we gave up and parked at a photography studio that offered parking for $5 for non-customers.  The food was good.  The pizza didn't blow me away, but the cheese garlic bread was phenomenal and worth the trip on its own.

After lunch we went back into Nashville and found a place to park (paid parking, again) and we just walked from store to store.  They have a little bit of everything there, handmade items, jewelry, artwork, leather shops, and of course lots of food.  A former coworker of Adam's owns a shop there, so we stopped by and talked to him for awhile.  He gave us his recommendations for where to have dinner and breakfast on Saturday and I bought a really pretty butterfly necklace from him.  We eventually bought Tyler a fancy bug catching cup with a magnifier (my little explorer), an egg that hatches into a duck, and a pez dispenser, AJ a new Peek a Boo book, my mom several colored crystals, my sister a pair of striped toe socks (she loves them) and twin a cute little hedgehog made of seeds and twigs.  We also got some saltwater taffy, caramel corn, chocolate fudge (heaven) and a bag of the best German roasted almonds I've ever had.

The shop owner called these her "Happy Herd"! I wanted one!

This was so Adam's shirt, but they didn't have his size!

Yum, chocolate truffle!

Beautiful blown glass. I took this and then saw a sign saying no pictures. Oops.

Beautiful sculpture outside the visitor's center

So quaint

Every kind of taffy you could imagine

At around 3:00, we headed to our hotel to check in.  The lodge is run by an older couple who were really nice and welcoming.  We chatted with them for a few minutes and then went to check out our room.  It was a simple room, but the bed was covered in a cute quilt and had a nice frame and was comfy.

The Green Valley Motor Lodge

Pretty comfy bed

But the best part of the room was this:

Can I get a HOT TUB?!

As tempting as the hot tub was, we just changed our clothes for dinner and headed back out because we had appointment for MASSAGES!  Adam had never had one before, and he definitely enjoyed it.  I didn't know ahead of time, but they used hot stones during the massages!  I was surprised at first, but it was really nice, so relaxing.  After the massages, we walked a bit more and then went to a place called "Out of the Ordinary" for dinner.

Do not adjust your screen, there is really that much bacon on that BLT.  YUM!

After dinner, the shops were all getting ready to close, so we stopped in a few more and then ended up getting ice cream.

Cookies N Cream for Adam, Mint Chocolate Chip for me!

We shared our cones with a birdie!

Once everything had closed up, there wasn't much to do other than head back to the hotel.  We enjoyed the hot tub and drank the ENTIRE bottle of wine and even slept some ;-)

The next morning we woke up pretty early so we killed time playing Texas Hold 'Em with saltwater taffy as our chips!

Tasty betting

After that, we headed for the Artist Colony Inn.  Adam's friend Joe had said they had a great breakfast buffet, and he was right!  They had eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries, oatmeal, fruit, pancakes and best of all, fried biscuits rolled in cinnamon sugar with apple butter.  SWOON!  Adam tried his first and then said "Did you get one of those biscuits?" I nodded and he said, super seriously, "Eat it!"  It was heavenly!

After breakfast we started wondering when the shops would open.  We hoped it would be by 9 am, so we wondered around a bit and ended up finding a yard sale!  I found a book for AJ and a coach wallet and Adam found a rare Super Nintendo game!  I also got a pretty glass bowl for my mom.  After 9, we realized the shops probably weren't going to open until 10, so we decided  to head to the State Park to go horseback riding.

The bridge leading into the park

So pretty

Horses!  Well, horse butts

My house, Cash

Adam, riding Bonnie

Not exactly a cowgirl, but I can handle a horse!

The one picture I chanced taking while riding. A little blurry!

We got to be on one of the first trail rides of the day.  I mounted a horse named Cash and was immediately told that he need a firm hand, that he like to be lazy and let horses pass him. He then proceeded to rub on the fence until he got his bridle off of his ear!  I got nervous then! I wasn't sure he wanted me to ride him!  But once we got on the trail, he was pretty well mannered and I only had to urge him on a few times!  Adam's horse and the horse in front of me kept grabbing snacks from the nearby trees!  I thought it would be an easy, flat trail, but no!  We went uphill and downhill and it was fun!  And a workout, my legs muscles were a little sore!

After the horses we stopped at the winery and bought another bottle of wine to take home (we really liked it!) and then we spent a few hours stopping at flea markets along the road.  Adam found some things to resell and he found a new wallet he liked.  I also found my mom some of the knives she loves and Tyler a Turtles Bounce-on ball (what do you call those things?  With the handle, that you sit on and bounce around) and some little geodes.

On the way home, we stopped out our favorite restaurant for dinner and made one last detour.

The park (garden) where we got married

10 years ago, we said "I do" in that very spot

Love that man

It's been a great 10 year!

When we started getting close to home I was antsy to see my boys!  We had a great time but I missed them too!  Someday (when I don't have to worry about strollers or toddlers breaking things) we'll take them to Nashville too!  It wasn't the Hawaii trip we had dreamed of, but I couldn't have imagined a nicer trip to celebrate 10 years together!