You know that you are truly desperate
for a weekend with your spouse
when you find yourself calling your sister
and saying:
"Um... so Little e.. she feels a little warm...
and she has a snotty cold...
and.. um.. she might have pink eye...
wanna still come and babysit for us?"
You know your sister loves you when she says "Yes, I'll do it."
After arming Auntie O with eye drops, tissues, and DVDs,
Big E and I hit the road.
We trimmed our weekend romp to a single night in McMinnville, and it was glorious.
Our 28 hour vacation twinkled with lucky coincidences.
A quilt shop we paused at on our way out of town, happened to be having an open house full of demos and special guests (including an author who writes quilting mysteries).
The bakery we stopped at for treats to bring home was having their once a year dollar day, when everything in the bakery cost one dollar.
A kitchen store we walked past had a display of gaskets for my espresso machine (something I've been needing for ages), and I guessed the correct size. ($3 for 4 gaskets!)
Our Hotel, The Oregon Hotel, had wonderful live blues music to top off our dinner of tapas and the hot fudge sundae we shared for dessert.
Old town McMinnville is my new favorite instant getaway locale.
Their quaint, beautiful, downtown street has a great yarn shop, a friendly and fully stocked art supply store, and my current, absolutely favorite fabric shop. And the food... oh my the food.. We ate at La Rambla, The Crescent Cafe, Red Fox Bakery, Serendipity Ice Cream Parlor, and even grazed the after 10 PM menu at The Oregon Hotel. I know.. we rocked the calorie count! But, astoundingly, we kept to the budget. I even checked out of Boersma's Sewing Center $20 under budget! Truly a trip with magical, mysterious powers.
We arrived home in time for Tea Time on Saturday with a bag of pastries, a pile of new fabrics, the softest garnet colored yarn, and sense of better balance between Big E and I.
Oh, and best yet, Auntie O said she'd watch the girls again when we were ready to take another trip away from home!