Date Night - Rocky Mountain High

I don’t know how many people are lucky enough to be the recipients of a “Grand Gesture”, but my Queen and I experienced one last weekend. A dear friend of ours presented us last year with a gift certificate for a 2 night stay at a cabin resort in one of our National Parks.

We do love the National Parks but normally the only time we seem to visit them is when we have guests from other places. Sometimes that’s the way it is... you only take the time to enjoy the things in your own back yard when you are sharing them with others. Still, we feel lucky to have things like National Parks that keep at least parts of our country preserved for wildlife and the beauty of the lakes and mountains accessible to everyone.

We decided to use our certificate at the end of September so that we could enjoy the fall colours and also to get away from the majority of the crowds. My Mom and Dad are always good to watch the kids (even though we don’t like to take advantage), but they made it possible for us to slip away for the whole weekend. 

I have to tell you, I was surprised by how excited I was to go. Even though our friend had booked us a classic cabin that sleeps up to 4 people, we decided to make it a romantic weekend with just my Queen and I. The description of our cabin said it had a kitchen, so we spent a few evenings planning a menu to sustain us for the weekend.

Come Friday night, we had a cooler packed up with food and a couple of bottles of wine. I also slipped in our George Forman grill and a couple of steaks. You know with a family as big as ours, we rarely can afford that kind of luxury, but I figured this was a golden opportunity to treat ourselves!

Our days are getting shorter by a half hour every week now, and we sure can tell the difference. It got dark pretty quick into our drive. With a clear sky, the stars shone brilliantly, making the trip that much more special.  We just don’t get to see stars like that in the city. When we finally arrived it was already dark and the check-in was closed. But there was an envelope on the door with our name and key inside, so we were fine to find our cabin and get ourselves settled in. 

The cabins are beautifully rustic looking... the kind of thing you would expect to find at a secluded lake. When I put the key into the door, we opened up to a living room with mission style furniture, wooden floors and best of all.... a wood-burning fireplace!

Oh boy! There’s nothing more romantic than a fire on a cool night.

We were tired from travelling, but couldn’t resist starting a little fire and having a glass of wine before retiring for the night. No phones, no TV... just my Queen and me.

In the morning, I got up early and started the coffee. When I heard my Queen stirring, I made us a nice bacon and egg breakfast with toast. My Queen does most of the cooking usually, so when we are on a date, I try to take over that job so she gets a break from it. I’m a pretty good cook if I do say so myself, and my Queen always seems to enjoy my offerings.

After breakfast, we took a hike up to one of the waterfalls. It  was nearly 3 km to get to higher falls, but the scenery is beautiful and even though it’s a fair climb, we took our time and enjoyed being outside on a beautiful fall day. I was surprised at how many people were also out and about... probably because the weather was unseasonably warm. I can imagine how crowded it would be in the summer though and I was glad we chose to come come later in the season.

When we got back to our cabin, by mid afternoon, we had some tea and cake that my Mom had sent with us and then we indulged in a little nap... how often do you have an opportunity to do that? Not often at our house I can tell you!  

When we got up, my Queen curled up on the couch with her kindle and I started on our steak supper. After the supper dishes were done, we went for another walk just drinking in the smells of the trees and enjoying those beautiful mountains. When we got back to the cabin, there was a chill to the air, so I was obliged to start us another little fire in the fireplace. Sitting on the couch in front of the fire, cuddled up with my Queen and our glasses of wine... well, as they say.... it doesn’t get any better than that.