Greg and I haven’t had a chance to get away for an overhnighter since we went to Lake Havasu at the end of March. This is was a major sad face, but thankfully we were able to squeeze in a short get away in Prescott last weekend. It all started because I saw this:
and told Greg I wanted to go. He decided to turn it into a whole thing, and who am I to deny him the ability to whisk me away?
So to Prescott we headed! All because I wanted to go to this Strawberry festival. Thankfully, Prescott is a super easy drive, and we made it to the cutest little B &B, Prescott Pines Inn, by about 4:00 on Saturday. It’s not really listed as a Bed & Breakfast, on the website it is a ‘Boutique Resort.” We had already paid when Greg made the booking, so this should have been an easy check in, right? Not so much. We booked through Expedia through hotels.com, but they showed we still owed. After a few minutes, the lady figured it out and went to swipe our card for the “hold” and assured us that it wasn’t charging anything. Yeah, well, when we got to the room, Greg checked and sure enough she charged us for the room, again. Twenty minutes later, a call to hotels.com, another visit to the lobby and we were finally set with a refund and a couple free sodas.
Through it all, the staff was super sweet and apologetic. It got all resolved and I appreicated how it was all handled. And this little hotel is absolutely ADORABLE! I highly recommend it if you want something a little off the beaten path. The sounds of the cicadas is just one of the nature sounds I can’t get enough of and here it was almost deafening. Driving into the area, I kept hearing this noise and I didn’t know what it was. I got to the point that I thought it was my car, so I rolled the windows down to hear the sound better. That’s when I realized what it was!
So, we got freshened up and headed out to an early dinner since we didn’t eat lunch. (I should probably mention that Greg unpacked. Like legitimately unpacked. Like he was staying for a week instead of 18 hours!) Even though we could have gone to Texas Roadhouse, one of our faves, at home we were both in the mood for rolls and steak. Since it was early, we didn’t have a long wait. Can’t say the same thing for the 130+ people on the waitlist when we left. (That is what our waiter told us!) But, it was yummy, and I ate way too much.
We typically bring a few dice games or other little games when we go away, but we forgot. As a result we decided to stop by Target to get a game. Naturally, it started raining on our drive from the restruant to Target, but it wasn’t bad. However, when we got to there, we noticed there was a store called Game On right beside Target. We were on a gaming mission, so we checked it out. It was pretty cool. Basically a much larger version of some little stores that we have locally. They had some regular boardgame type games, but they primarily carried items for Magic, The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. We enjoyed walking around and checking it all out. There was a Magic card that was $300!!!! I must not fully understand, but that seems a lot to spend on a card.
In the end, we headed over to Target and ended up with a pack of dice that promoted “Ten different dice games!”, and a card game called Unstable Unicorns. I hope you can guess which one we played! But, before we made it back to the B & B, we had to stop at the Courthouse Square and get some ice cream at Frannie’s! If places don’t have a good sounding fruit filled ice cream, I always go with cookies and cream, but I always, always get a waffle bowl. Apparently, since Greg can’t ger the same ice cream as me, he settle for cookie dough.
Unstable unicorns seemed really complicated and confusing from the directions, but we eneded up figuring it out. So we had John Wick #2 playing on the TV while throwing cards around trying to kill each others unicorns. I think Greg’s unicorns cheated since he somehow figured out how to win. I definitely call shenanigans! Oh well, it was still fun, and I can’t wait to play it again.
Sunday morning, we woke up to a knock on the door which was just the delivery of our breakfast. Left in a picnic basket! It was adorable. I mean the breakfast itself wasn’t anything special, just some bagels, a little cream cheese, canned orange juice and hardboiled eggs, but is was cute and a fun little morning treat. After we ate, I pateintly waited for Greg to repack his stuff. Me? I just shoved it all back in my bag. I wash everything I take on a trip regardless if I wear it or not, so I never spend time folding and being organized about it. Shocking coming from me, I know!
Once we were finally ready and checked out, we headed back to the Courthouse Square. I like to find the cute little local bookshops. And the one I found was right there in the square, and yet we have never even noticed that the little nook it was in even existed. It was small, but it smelled just like a used little shop should. It was absolutely perfect! The only thing it was missing was a cat.
Greg persevered through my bookshop excusion and then we were off to the farm. I had always wanted to go to Mortimer Farm. I follow them on Facebook (obviously) and see all their festivals. Since, festivals are a big part of the family retirement plan, I wanted to get a jump start. Greg said it didn’t count and was simply to be used as research. I wasn’t convinced until we actually got there.
The farm was amazing. It was huge, had donkeys and sheep and lots and lots of fruit and vegetable patches. The issue was that there was no strawberry festival going on. I even pulled up the picture I had screenshot to make sure I had the correct dates. Sure enough it was there - Aug 20 & 21 - Strawberry festival. Instead, it was a Sunflower festival.
Sadly, there were no ripe blackberries to be found, but I was able to successful pluck and snatch SIX strawberries. Yep. I only found six in the whole strawberry patch. Greg was a trooper, just follownig me with the container watching me jump over mud puddles in the rows when I caught a glimpse of red.
There was this huge, gorgrous tree towards one of the back edges of the farm. It was a little isolated from other trees, and it reminded me of the Tree of Life. There was a peacefulness surrounding that I just loved. I could just picture it - laying in it’s shade with a good book and a cold glass of lemonade. The only issue is that was really hot, and there were a lot of people! Oh, and always being on the lookout for Cicada’s shedded skin/exoskeletons. It’s a little creepy to see them on the ground or on trees.
We walked pretty much the entire farm, at least the part that seemed open to the public. There was a moment when we saw a reception/party area with a stage in a 3/4 walled enclosure where I began thinking this would be a great setting for a horror story. A nice wedding murder story or a Halloween cornmaze creepy spooky season read.
We continued our walk around the farm and came to the sunflower field. It was beautiful to see all the flowers against the bright blue sky. Even though, we had the ability, we didn’t pick any. I’m not a big fan of all the flying insects that were all over the place. Sometimes things are just nice to look at!
Once we were hot and sweaty and had walked around the whole farm, we headed back into the little store, bought a ‘farm to tabele’ apple pie and some strawberry jam, and headed off to grab some lunch before embarking on the drive home. We decided on pizza and found a little place called Guido’s that was almost directly across the street from the farm. I will say that it was delicious.
If you have the ability to get away every now and then, I highly recommend it. Sometimes it’s stressful to be away because the coming home and not feeling prepared for the week can be a little overwhelming, but it’s so worth taking a moment away to breath and spend time with those you love. Our next weekend away will include taking the kids. That was my new request. I want to alternate our couple getaways with family getaways. So, we’ll see what’s next. Our weekend schedules are about to get absolute insane with football, soccer, and dance! But, these weekends home or away is what life is all about.
Until next time….
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Awww sounds like an awesome little trip and that b and b is adorable