Weekend Away!

We stole away for the weekend, leaving the girls with their grandma and a house full of treats.  We went to Rocky Gap Lodge near Cumberland MD bc it met my requirements- less than $100 per night, king sized bed, indoor pool, beautiful surroundings, and about 2 hrs away (it's really 2.5 or 3 hrs away, depending on how fast you drive).  When I booked it 2 weeks ago, I had ambitions of hiking around the lake, maybe renting bikes, or who knows? we could finally do a white water rafting trip like I've always wanted!

But no, it's been raining buckets all week and the temp rose so all the snow is melting too. The whole region is under flood warnings with steady rain continuing to fall, so we were in no mood to do any outdoor recreation.  But that's fine. A weekend without kids is a vacation in itself!

Driving there we hit lots of fog on the high rainy mountain highway.  Freaky.  Then we get to the Lodge and the building's displaying flashing lights and there are tons of people crowded outside under awnings. As we cruise by and into the parking lot, I notice that all the vehicles in the parking lot are EMS or police or firefighter trucks.  What the what?  It was so unexpected. We left our bags in the car and went down to check out what was going on. Turns out, it was a firefighter/EMT/nurse convention and the fire alarm had gone off inside t

he building! We happened to arrive moments before the local working fire trucks arrived and fixed a malfunctioning sprinkler system.  We overheard everyone at the convention judging how the working firefighters were doing, which was funny. We left the scene and just read our books in the car until everything calmed down, and then we went in and registered.

It was  a very relaxing weekend. Sleeping in. relaxing meals. lots of reading in bed. We had a great time in the indoor heated pool and having beers and pizza at the local lounge.  We went into downtown Cumberland and found a very cute little artsy vein inside an old industrial town, brimming with history and depression and reinvention.  

The town ends at the C&O Canal, which was swollen with water and trash and debris. It was rolling and roiling and pretty dangerous.  I enjoyed watching it.  We also found historic sites and railroad, an artist cooperative gallery, and a downtown area with great food, great book store, and great toy store.  This was just our kind of town and we didn't even know it!

The Lodge was full of kids and made us miss our own kids, knowing how much fun we could have had with them. But then, we couldn't have had this weekend if they were along.   There's a time and a place for everything.

Best Moment of the Day: Coming home and being with our darling girls again!  We gave them new rubber boots and took them outside for some puddle splashing before dinner.  We mocked our way through dinner and bathtime bc they were so exhausted already.

Worst Moment of the Day: They are both dog tired. They didn't nap well this weekend.  So overtired kids leads to lots of tears at bedtime and then night terrors again later.  Tomorrow we're going to take it easy and let them adjust back into things.

Thoughts of the Day: I've been working on my mental list of my next things to do.  I have a few things that I'm worried I might not have time for in this lifetime. Like being a midwife, or being a fire fighter (and I swear that was my idea before this weekend!).  If I want to be a midwife, I'd have to put other things that I love aside for quite awhile so that I could go through years of schooling and difficult hours and a full time occupation.  Maybe if I had another lifetime, I'd do that right out of college.  Not instead of what I've done, because I have no regrets about my life. But more like, in addition to.  

So now I'm thinking about Plan B.  How can I adapt those dreams to my established life? It's some fun ideas to ponder bc I have time. I've still got some work to do on my current projects before I have time to start something new!