Lucky Number 13

Words.
Words do no justice to the last thirteen years of marriage.

I am so glad that I found someone who is my kind of crazy. Brent is so neutral...he balances out my hot and cold personality. He is wildly funny and selfless.
He is extremely easy to love. He compliments me everyday.
I adore his strong yet gentle way of parenting. His big picture thinking and genuine care for others helps me see a way of being a better human being.

I have journals filled with our relationship journey...
I could go on and on about the million ways/things that I am grateful for in our marriage, but let me document our actual anniversary trip.

Approaching our thirteenth year of marriage we wanted to spend a little time  focusing on each other. NOT the kids, NOT the house, NOT the to do list...or work, or school. JUST US.

My mother had said she would watch the boys for us to have a night away.
There are few things we won't do because of the boys...I mean, we will take them anywhere to do anything...but, there are some things that are more enjoyable enjoyed differently when we do not have the children.

We narrowed our list of things to do to Silver falls eight mile loop, OR Crater Lake. We decided on going to Crater Lake. It seemed more romanticle. Plus Brent was working up until the second we were leaving, so I thought this would be more laid back.

It was hard booking a place so last minute, but Brent wasn't sure what his schedule would look like...
We found a place 60 miles south of Crater Lake. Klamath falls. We decided that was fine. We enjoy the Klamath Falls area. So Saturday morning we woke up when we wanted...I made everyone omelets and then we headed out.

It was so nice laughing and taking our time.
We stopped in Bend at the site of Brent's future store.
He was surprised at the length of the place. He was happy to get to see it and make it feel that much closer to actually happening.
Chipotle is coming to Bend, and Brent is coming home~

After that we headed to our hotel.
We stopped along the way at a Casino.
Leave it to Brent to find a casino in the middle of nowhere.

After our tummies were full again we headed back out to the hotel...
Brent drove this leg of the trip.

We arrived and were able to check in an hour early.
We spent a few hours just enjoying the hotel...the quite...the lack of people demanding our attention. It was amazing.

We ventured out again to find something to eat. Brent wasn't really hungry and I was too hungry. So we went driving around Klamath falls window shopping food locations. I wish Brent like mexican food more...there were a few places that looked really good.
We ended up in the parking lot of an old diner.

It looked quaint from the outside. When we walked in we noticed that there was no one there under the age of 50...probably even 60. It was hilarious. There were a ton of elderly farmer type folks sitting around eating the special.

Brent saw this as a good thing, since he was craving some soup. I followed suit and ordered the special, a stuffed bell pepper.

We slowly ate our dinners and played the number game.

 I won three times in a row

My dinner in all of it's tomato sauce glory

 We had both forgotten our swim wear...or that the hotel had a pool. So we went shopping for some swimwear.

When we got back to the hotel the pool was crowded. REALLY crowded.
So we stayed in the hotel some more and watched a movie from the tub.

The next day we got up early to enjoy the free hotel breakfast.
I love the hotel culture. It is always so neat to see who you will meet in the dining room of the hotel.
We were very happy to see a half decent spread . We made our plates and ate...slowly.

I was so excited to start the drive to Crater Lake.
Annette said that we had to go there. She said it feels like "your on top of the world".

It felt like we were going to the top of the world as my bladder filled up...
I was so glad when Brent pointed out a rest stop on the way up!

Even the rest stop looked great.

We started up and around the roads lined with trees.

We got to the toll booth and were a little unprepared.
Apparently it costs $15 for the day pass. I only had $13. As I tried to gather two dollars in quarters from my car's change drawer, Brent pulled up to the booth. The man saw I was counting out quarters and he said, "we don't accept coins, come back later" and waved us on.

Brent and I were looking at each other and slowly driving. We were confused as to what the man meant. He was very vague and quite short. I know there was a slew of cars behind us, but still.
We decided to keep going...
We stopped at the visitors center to get some maps and look around.

After looking around we headed up to get our first little peak at the lake.

Herein starts our adventure...
From the first glimpse we knew we were in for a day of hiking and sightseeing.
I'll let the pictures tell the story...

hallway to the bathroom in the lodge

the lodge

Mediterranean hummus wrap

Our first stop on the rim drive!

These little guys were everywhere...

My Monkey

/The crowded overlooks

Pictures of ourselves with Wizard Island in the background.

Then of course we tried to get some selfies in...

With each new turnout there was a different view. It was nice to see a natural example of how perspective can change the way you see something.

There were some pretty rock bathrooms too...

More crowds at the overlook

In front of these awesome looking trees

Pictures are not doing justice to the colors and height of these rocks

Brent hiking out to the ledge

I'm not really posing as much as hugging the rock as closely as I could...It was way high up there!

The trunks of these trees were twisted and mossy. It was so neat to think of the elements which caused them to grow and contort in such a way.

Bright orange moss on the rocks

I love reading these myths and legends that were passed down through time...oral history at work.

The flag trees...all growing sideways due to the strong and consistent wind

little closer peak at the phantom ship

Pumice castle

This trail was kind of insane. There was a ton of the pumice rock...It was shaped like the popcorn Styrofoam used in packaging, and just as light, but coarse like rock. We were sinking and sliding and the rocks were scraping and crushing against themselves. It seemed much higher up because of how steep the decline was to the edge.

This mini hike was a great example of what can make a marriage so great.
You see, I went down and was scared after about 15ft. I was ready to turn back and head to the car.
Brent encouraged me to keep going...
and then to keep going even more, until we were on the edge.
I am so grateful that he did. The view was so much more dynamic and wonderful. In fact I circled in on the map as one of my FAVORITE spots.
He encourages me when I doubt myself, and I am all the better for it. (Thanks, Babe)

Another selfie.
I had committed to myself to go makeup free for two weeks...although I only wear mascara most of the time anyways. Its crazy how sometimes looking at pictures you can really tell when you're wearing makeup...and other pictures you can't tell. This pic, I can tell I'm not.

 I was trying to show how high up we really were, but the pictures were not doing me any favors.

Brent thought laying down would give it some perspective...

 !

NOPE! Not really. And my video is hilarious. I was holding the camera out...I didn't realize I didn't zoom down to the water, and rather zoomed in on the rock. Ugh

I told Brent to pretend he was going to catch the phantom ship. I thought he would be more expressive. The still crack me up!

Out at this peak we checked Brent's fitbit. It was at this point we were around 16,000 steps and the equivalent of 37 fights of stairs...and we still had three more hikes to go. Each a little over a mile.
Needless to say we did a ton of walking.

Why are we bending down?! Hahahaha

 We headed back up the hill. It was much easier on the way up...still a bit sketchy in spots.

We arrived at this overlook at the same time as the tour bus...It got a little packed.

Straight out of Dr. Seuss. Loved all the flowers.
Best of all, we could sit and talk with no kids straining our attention.

This was a great little walk/hike. We had some great conversation

This fall was gorgeous. It was also quite busy. I tried to quickly snap shots as a line was forming behind me!

Then we went to the Pennacles.
These were not what I expected.
They were so cool looking. We talked about what formed these things, and how they were able to still be standing.
At the base of these grey towering cones, ash blew in circles like mini dust devils swirling up and dissipating in the air.

From the Pennacles we headed to one more waterfall. This was right off of the road and in the pictures it was more...well...more.
We didn't bother hiking up it. Just appreciated it from the base.

Then we went to the wildflower loop. It was beautiful.

Brent spotted a couple deer.

This sign just made us laugh...

So thankful to have these adventures with my love. Can't wait for next year!