A Long Drive

Billy got a Sirius satellite receiver for Christmas from an awesome chick (that would be me). Howard Stern debuted his first satellite show on Monday at 6 a.m. Billy stayed over Sunday night but would need to be in his truck at 6 to listen to the show.

Wanting to join, I set the alarm for 5:45. Time for me to get up, take a lightning quick shower, throw some jeans on and put my hair up, and bounce out to the truck. When the alarm went off, I did just that. Well, except for the truck part. Billy had gone down to warm up the truck and discovered it was actually 4:55, not 5:55 a.m. He called up and asked me what time it was. Oops.

I remembered getting up some time in the night to reset the time on the alarm clock. Something had gotten into my head that the clock was set wrong, so I guess I reset it half-asleep. Oh well. I didn't mind too much because that meant I would have time for eyeliner and lipstick!

We set off around 5:40 a.m. and headed north. It was still dark and it started snowing. Once we got north of Tilton, the Stern show began. We listened for a while and then realized we had driven way past the exit we meant to take. Part of the beauty of spending time with Billy is that it can be very unstructured and changeable. That can be very fun. Where I didn't have to be home until 2 p.m., we had time to make it that way, so I was relaxed and open.

We headed out on Route 302. I was starving since I normally eat breakfast first thing in the morning, and I hadn't had a bite. We kept an eye out for a roadside restaurant or diner. We soon came upon the Mount Washington Resort, and to my surprise, Billy suggested we check out their breakfast.

I have to say it was pretty funny valeting a big diesel pick up truck. We got out of the still falling snow and were welcomed by a large fireplace. The hotel was beautifully decorated. The staircases reminded me of the older section of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Magnolia.

We had a lovely breakfast buffet, which included egg white omelettes! I was excited about that. The food was delicious and I felt a little guilty for not being able to eat more. I was pretty stuffed when we left, though!

After breakfast, we looked around the hotel a bit. I browsed through a gift shop and discovered an abalone shell ring with little silver hearts. It was so pretty and simple, and I had to have it. Billy bought it and placed it on my finger. Awww! ;-)

We got back in the truck and continued listening to Stern. We made our way over to North Conway and browsed in a few stores for snow boots. Yep, snow boots. Without a heel. Functional, warm snow boots. Ha ha! We are planning to go snowmobiling this winter, and I suppose I will need to be extra warm and cozy for a day outside in the woods. It occurs to me now more than ever that I've never been involved with a lot of typical NH winter activities. I've never skiied, snowmobiled, snowshoed, snowboarded... none of that. So I have no gear. I still run outside now, but I wait for the sidewalks to be clear of ice and snow before heading out.

I navigated the rest of the drive home, with one huge error. I glanced up when we passed through a rotary and directed which way to go. I think I was busy tuning the Sirius receiver to stations I prefer, and just wasn't paying attention. When I did finally look up a while later, I realized we were heading in the completely wrong direction! That added about 30 minutes onto the trip, but still made it to my place in time for me to leave for work on time.

As I sat at work that afternoon, someone asked how my day was going so far. I started with, "Well, I had breakfast at the Mt. Washington hotel". I glanced down at my new ring and thought how life with Billy is always an adventure, one I hope will continue for a very long time.