15 Year Anniversary - Silver Falls 2017

To celebrate 15 years of marriage we decided to take a weekend away and do something we keep putting off, the Silver Falls waterfall trail loop.

On our way over the pass we got a phone call that the hotel we had booked our reservations with was having electrical difficulties, but they would put us up in a hotel closest to our destination. We ended up in Salem. The hotel was substantially less than we had previously booked. The room was smaller, dirtier and minus a jetted tub. Still, we were away together and were going to make the best of it. After all, it was dark and already late we just wanted to be at our destination, especially since it was now almost 45mins further than we had planned.

We tried our best and really enjoyed the hotel and taking Emmett with us, we enjoyed the pool and testing out all of our life jacket options on him.

We woke and were ready to head out on our hike, but the weather was not very promising...

Side note that effected our trip: On the way to the falls Brent received a call from his store regarding a series of issues with his employees. Several employees were sick, some had been sick or around others that were sick, and they were not following the new protocol. Recently Chipotle had been in trouble with the Portland and Washington stores closing due to ecoli break outs. Although Brent's store wasn't part of the closures, they felt the impacts. As a company they began to get really serious about food safety and health standards. In addition, much of the management staff was suddenly shifted around and there was a general feeling that they were cleaning house. Many of the regional and area managers were no longer with the company, and then it started that the newly appointed management started hiring and firing general managers at most of the stores. One of the things I was always frustrated with, regarding Brent's work, was the company's lack of support. As the manager everything was your fault, even if it wasn't. It never made sense to me. No one ever had your back, if anything they were yelling at you and making you feel grossly incompetent, when really it is the ridiculous expectations and lack of support that are really to blame.
And here we were trying to enjoy and celebrate our wedded bliss and instead Brent gets one phone call and is shaken to the core. This was the day Brent knew his position was over. One phone call.We turned around to go back to the hotel and check out so that Brent could go back to work and try to alleviate the problems, but then Brent received another call telling him to not come in.  This phone call was received by a new regional manager he had never really even met. It was very upsetting. After almost 10 years with the company there was still no sense of security or common decency. Clearly Brent was upset but he insisted we turn around and go do what we intended!

Needless to say our conversations for the majority of the hike what all the scenarios that we were going to be facing with this new realization that Brent will most likely be losing his job.

There was obvious fear, I mean I was knee deep in graduate school, but there was also excitement. Brent wanted to change careers for so long, but he felt stuck. Now he was forced to explore and expand. So that is where we settled in, the possibilities that were now before us.

See how fancy the hotel room was?

Emmett couldn't even sit up with his life jacket on. It was too long. He just kept falling over.

We tried to let Emmett sit and splash in the water. He was okay with it for a few minutes but then he got upset. He was tired and hungry and his voice echoed through the high walls of the waterfall.

The next day we checked out and headed straight to Brent's store where it was requested he go. He picked up his things from the store and then we headed home. It was a memorable anniversary, and always nice to have some time where we can focus on each other...and only one little.