BEST Birthday EVER!!

While this blog is mostly all about Max, I just wanted to post up what a wonderful weekend I had for my birthday. Tyler surprised me with a romantic drive up the coast and a stay at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. AND, the best part was that we left Maddox at home!! Okay, so I did miss him while we were away (surprisingly), but it was so SO nice to go somewhere and not be on "baby time" but on our own time, doing our own thing, being completely spontaneous and taking as long as we want to go wherever we want.

Maddox stayed with my mom (she was wonderful to watch him and Mattie for the weekend) while we stayed one night in the Wilhelm Tell Room -- a surreal experience to say the least. This entire hotel is composed of the most zany, off-the-wall, interesting looking rooms. Like this one and this one and oh, my, this one! Take a look at the website for pictures of all their rooms. This place has no words to describe it. It's gaudy and loud and bright and as Tyler so aptly commented, "so Italian".

We wound our way down the coast, through Oxnard and Santa Barbara. It was beautiful! And mother nature gave me the best present -- RAIN!! If you know me at all, you know how much I love rain, gray sky and blustery cold weather. So it was the perfect weekend with spurts of rain and crisp weather -- it felt just like the real Fall season (you know, the one in New England), my favorite time of year!
We had dinner in the steak house at the Madonna Inn. We split a steak that was really yummy. But Tyler will agree that the best part was the men's restroom. The urinal was a huge rock waterfall. When you stood in front of it, water came pouring down the face of the rocks to wash away the pee pee. It was really funny -- and yes, I went in to snap a picture, albeit not a great one because I was too nervous someone would walk in.

The dining room was so elaborately decorated it almost gave me a headache. But like I said -- there are no words to fully describe this place. It is a MUST SEE if you feel like heading up that way.

On our way home we checked out downtown SLO and Santa Barbara, stopping for a couple of burgers and some onion rings to watch some of the football games. It was really fun. And of course, no vacation is complete without lots of ice cream, which we had at Cold Stone.


I wish the weekend had never ended!! It was wonderful and romantic and just what Tyler and I needed, especially me.

So thanks sweetie for giving me a birthday I'll never forget!! (Isn't he just the greatest??)