Do you know what the difference between having a good adventure and memorable great adventure is?
As horribly cliché as it sounds, its the journey that makes a trip really memorable. Don't believe me? Then just keep on reading and see what I mean.
This was kind of a special weekend. It marked the first overnight getaway for my girlfriend and I.
It was the perfect chance to forget about our crazy schedules for a few days and not have to worry about our jobs. We could just relax, swim and have fun.
The main purpose of the trip was to go see Astronautalis preform at the House of Rock in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. However, the show didn't start to about 10 pm. And given that's a three hour drive to Eau Claire, I thought it made sense to rent a room. That way the whole trip wouldn't be just Go! Go! Go!
So, I booked us a room at the Holiday Inn. There were a few conditions I had when searching for a room, and the Holiday Inn met them all.
Basically, I was looking for something that was affordable, had a pool, a king size bed and would be able to pass a black light test.
This trip taught me a few things. The first thing I learned is, Always ask how to use the key card to open your room door when booking your room. That way you won't end up looking like an idiot in front of your girlfriend because you were trying to find the slot that the key card goes into and then 10 minutes later realized that you just hold the key up to the reader. Only a little embarrassing, but really funny.
The room was nice and the bed was perfect. I still miss how comfy it was.
After spending a little time in the hotel, we eventually decided to get going so we could grab some dinner. We also wanted to try to find the House of Rock, so we could be sure we would be able to find it once it got dark.
We ended up eating at Mike's Storehouse BBQ. If you are ever in Eau Claire, I definitely recommend you stop in. The prices are really affordable, the food is good and you get a lot of it. Also, once you finish your dinner if you still have time to spare, you can catch up on all your favorite old western movies and make fun of the dialogue.
Once our bellies were full and we realized Mike's was getting ready to close, we made our way out into the gently falling snow and set course for the House on Rock. Where once again my girlfriend would learn a little something about me.
That little something being that I am horrible at parallel parking. Ray Charles could have probably did it quicker than me. It took about three tries and one close call with another car's bumper, but I did it. And while I rejoiced in my accomplishment, my girlfriend was quick to point out my less than stroller parking skills. Although, the whole time doing it with a smile.
That's one of the things I love about our relationship. We have this ability to playfully banter in almost any situation.
The House of Rock turned out to be this little college bar that was divided into two sections. One side having tables and a dart board. The other a stage and a small dance floor.
In addition to Astronautalis, there are two other performers, Fathom and Dietrich the Mage or maybe it was Cedric the Although possibly... Breakneck the Mage. Who knows. Neither of them were really memorable. We didn't even bother to get up from our table to watch them live. Just watched them on the monitor.
Breakneck's voice didn't really lend itself well to the tracks he was rapping to. And Fathom must have been behind on his workout because he paced back and forth across the stage so many times, I'm amazed he didn't wear a path into it. Also, every couple songs he would remove a piece of clothing. I believe if he would have did two more songs, he most likely would have been half naked. To be honest, I think the rapping grandma from the Wedding Singer could have taught both these performers something.
Finally, Astronautelis came on. He is quite possibly my girlfriend's favorite artist. Its hard to describe how deeply and personally his music touches her, but when he took the stage and started to preform... I understood. I could see the world around her just melt away as his music and words washed over her. She danced and sang along and smiled.
It was nice to see her so happy and having so much fun and being able to forget about all her stress for a little while.
Afterwards we went up and thanked him. He was nothing but polite and took the time to talk to everyone who wanted to talk to him, have him sign things or take pictures with him.
From there it was straight back to the hotel for a little sleep.
The next day we went to breakfast and filled up our bellies then proceeded to break the number one rule involving water. We went swimming less than an hour after eating.
We had the whole pool to ourselves which was nice. It gave us some more alone time without any little kids screaming in the background. And next to the pool... a hot tub. Which we put to good use more than once. Although, going from the hot tub back to the pool was like going from Florida to Siberia.
Sadly, our check out time eventually crept up on us. So we packed our bags and headed out. As we packed a few souvenirs might have found their way into my bag.
We had one stop left in our little getaway before we went home. My girlfriend's cabin. Her family was having some work done on it and she wanted to take some pictures.
Before we even got there, she warned me that we may want to park a little bit down the road if the snow was bad. So when we came to a hill that I had trouble getting up, I was ready for a little walk.
She took her pictures and we made our way back through the snow and ice to my truck. All that was left to do was back out down the road and we would be on our way home. It seemed simple enough.
But remember earlier when I said its the journey that makes for a great memorable trip. Well... I was about to give us one heck of a memory.
Backing down the road proved a little more of a challenge than I thought it would. As I backed out I would hear, "why are you all over the place" and "just feel the road" coming from the seat next to me. For some reason I kept going off the side of the road and running into bushes. My tire tracks were all over the place. A number of times my girlfriend asked if I wanted her to back out. In retrospect I should have let her, but after the room key and parallel parking troubles I had to prove I could do this.
It took a few tries and almost twice as many minutes but eventually I navigated us down the hill to the road. All that was left to do was make a sharp turn as I backed out and we would be on our way home.
I backed out. I turned the wheel. And... Thump. We were stuck in a huge snow filled ditch. Apparently, I didn't turn the wheel quite sharp enough.
Now guys, most women would probably start yelling or panicking. My girlfriend just shook her head, laughed at me then got out and started trying to guide me out. When that didn't work, I set to digging out the tires and she went and found some 2x4s to wedge under the wheels. Which was important since my back wheel was like a foot off the ground.
Another issue we had was trying not to vanish underneath the snow as we moved around. It was pretty deep and had kind of iced over on the top layer.
It took a little doing but eventually she guided me to where i could get my truck back on the road and all four wheels back on the ground.
The trip itself was so much fun, but getting stuck in the snow definitely added to the entire experience. How do you forget getting stuck in snow that deep. I'm sure it will probably be brought up for years to come when we are driving together in the snow.
We like to call our dates adventures, because that's what they always seem to turn into. I can't wait to see what happens next. All I hope is that I don't have to parallel park or back down a snowy drive way.
