Date Twenty-Seven: The Road Less Traveled. The Road to Nowhere. All dressed up and Nowhere to Go... Adventure!

Our luck last week was astonishing.

Not like astonishingly good, either.

Shockingly terrible.

Food poisoning, a trip to the ER, a report that our youngest is more delayed than we thought, no less than three separate trips to the social services office to get the medicaid stuff in order, bought something at Target only to get home and find it was broken, etc etc etc. Seriously. It was exhausting.

And then Saturday came, and with everyone all recovered, we set off on date night. We decided to try a new restaurant that several of our friends have been raving about, the Swinging Bridge Restaurant.

Now, folks, I am not a good traveler. About 20 minutes in the car is my max, and then I need to either be the driver that is speeding in order to shave off minutes on the gps arrival time, or I need to be unconscious. So I've been putting off this little mini-road trip. But, I thought hmm a few hours in the car will be nice after the crazy week we've had. So, we called to make sure they would be open their normal hours and were assured they would, and we were off!



We chatted and talked about the gorgeous views with the sunset in the background and enjoyed the winding drive...

As we began to climb the mountain (which was seriously steep and curvy!), it got colder. And snowier.

And as it got darker, it got even colder. And snowier.

And we were getting hungrier. We had to slow down some because of the slick roads, which only added to my traveling anxiety.

And then my parenting instincts kicked in. There are no guard rails, at all. What if we slide and go over the edge and my kids are left parent-less? Oh dear. Plus, we were so far up the mountain that there was no cell phone signal. I was sure we would go over the edge and nobody would find us for days. Then I would have frostbite and not be able to wear cute shoes ever again. Sigh.

My husband, however, claimed, "This is awesome! Unplowed roads and we are going to eat some great food... this is fun! Don't be so tense."

Can you see the yellow line in the middle of the road? Yeah, me neither.

Finally, we arrived. I was so excited to eat! And we started to notice... there were no cars in the parking lot. And no lights on in the restaurant. An elderly man hollered out, "Ya'll here for the restaurant? I'm sorry, but nobody been here for hours 'cause of the weather. They been closed a long time."

Seriously?! We just called a little over an hour ago and were assured they would be open. But then again, that is how our week has been.

So, my hubby, who still was pretty psyched about the "adventure" but also getting hungry, suggested that we go to the Homeplace, which was about a 30 minute drive back down the mountain. I was ready to agree to eat anything that resembled food at that point, so I said "Lets go!" And in the end, I was rewarded with this. Yes, that is all MINE. And yes, that was only first helpings. Yes, I had seconds.

So, after nearly 4 hours, we made it back home. And somehow we still liked each other.

However, the Swinging Bridge Restaurant will be getting a call...