anniversary surprise

My original plan was to surprise Jesse and take him to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland for our anniversary. Things changed when we got word that his mom's husband, Peter, was really sick and in the hospital. We weren't sure if we were going to have to make an emergency trip to Maine so I decided to not book the hotel room. A couple days later we were so happy to find out that Peter was getting better and it looked like he would be out of the hospital in a few days. I had already told Jesse about my original plan so had to come up with something else.

Then it hit me.

There is nothing more romantic than blueberry picking! Joanna had mentioned she would be at her parents' farm that weekend so I decided to surprise Jesse with a trip to northern Michigan. I wouldn't tell him what I had planned but I did tell him it had something to do with our wedding. After all, Joanna was at our wedding and she brought blueberries for us all the way to Vegas! As a matter of fact, after Jesse and I finally got checked into our hotel in Vegas, we went down to the lobby to meet everyone for dinner and ran into Joanna, John, Erica and Fitz right outside the elevator. After hello hugs, Joanna handed me a bag of blueberries! As we walked around Mandalay Bay trying to figure out where to eat, I ate yummy Michigan blueberries...

Mmmm.... blueberries....


There is also nothing more romantic than peeing cows.


And baby chicks!


And chickens under a tractor...


Okay. So...for these city folk, farm life isn't exactly romantic. While Jesse was surprised when he realized we were going to the farm as we turned down the dirt road, I think he was a little disappointed. He did perk up a little bit when Joanna's dad asked us how Traverse City was, which happened to be the second part of the surprise that Jesse didn't know about yet.

After a fabulous afternoon with Joanna, her parents, Zander, Zoe, and Vienna, Jesse and I got back in the car and headed to Traverse City. We stayed at the Grand Traverse Resort because I couldn't find anything cheaper. Seriously. I spent hours online looking for something with a reasonable price but didn't find anything. Oh well. The second part that was like our wedding was the Turtle Creek Casino that is right up the road from the resort. We didn't stay very long and luckily came out ahead. That part wasn't like Vegas.

It was a short little vacation but a nice way to celebrate. Now I'm going to go eat some blueberries!