I know this is way past due, but I am FINALLY writing about
our honeymoon! We had such a wonderful
time and only have our fantastic friends and family to thank for the wedding
money that went towards our trip. We are so grateful :) This will be a long
one, but hope you enjoy!
Thursday, September 13th: Day 1
This was a pretty long day, as we woke up bright and early
to finish packing and load up the car to begin our drive to Coeur d’Alene,
where we would stay for the night. We
had lots of suitcases and bags, as well as a cooler with some food and our
clothing steamer (I hate ironing). We
had planned on taking my little yellow bug since it gets better gas mileage,
but didn’t know how well that would work with the large pile of things we had
to take. Surprisingly, we fit it all in
the car. The bug looks like it can’t fit
much, but she hasn’t failed me yet! We
left Marysville at noon, stopped to run a few errands, and then we were off on
our little road trip.
It was so wonderful to just have hours in the car with each
other to talk without anyone else. Since
we are so busy with work and have different schedules, we rarely have time with just the two of
us. That’s what I was most excited
about… having time to ourselves. One of
the wedding gifts that we received was a 4-talk set on CD called “For all
Eternity” by John L. Lund. Grant’s good
friends from his home ward, the Grants (no joke), gave it to us. . It
was such a wonderful thing for us to listen to as newlyweds. We got some great advice, and kind of
evaluated ourselves based on some of the issues John Lund discussed. We had quite a few good talks and finished
all 5 CDs during our trip, since we had quite a bit of driving. :) Thanks, Grant
Family!!
When we finally arrived in Coeur d’Alene, we had dinner at
Red Robin, Grant’s favorite! We were
both pretty hungry because we hadn’t eaten since we left Marysville. Afterward, we headed to Heath’s house to
crash for the night. Heath is engaged to
Grant’s sister, Wendy, and he was gracious enough to let us stay at his place
while he was out of town. We watched a
few episodes of How I Met Your Mother before bed to keep up with our running
marathon (and caught up just in time to start season 8 when we got home from
our honeymoon!).
Views from our road trip
Friday, September 14th: Day 2
We slept in this morning, since we had a whole lot of nothing to do before we could check in at the resort at 6 pm. We watched some more How I Met Your Mother, ate a little, watched a couple movies, and then packed up once more to finish the rest of the drive to Stoneridge Resort in Blanchard, Idaho where we would stay for the week. It was only about an hour drive from Coeur d’Alene. It really is in the middle of nowhere, but is a really nice resort (I guess the biggest in Idaho) and has lots to do. They have a golf course, which Grant would have loved to spend a day on BUT his golf clubs wouldn’t have fit in the car AND I don’t golf… he didn’t want to do anything without me. It probably would have been a waste of money for me to go anyways since I have never held a golf club in my life. Driving range first! Haha :)
After we checked in and got settled in our room, we headed to the nearest grocery store(which was half an hour away) to stock up for the week. We took advantage of having a full kitchen and ate at the resort as much as possible. While planning our trip, we made a daily itinerary with meals and all so we could make an exact grocery list… one of the few ways we limited our spending on the trip. We brought a couple things from home as well, so we had even less to buy. While we were out, we also had dinner at a little local restaurant. Grant had fish and chips, and they were amazing!! Second runner up to Grandpa’s beer batter fish n chips :) When we got back to the resort, we put away the groceries, got our nightly fill of How I Met Your Mother, and headed to bed.
Our home for the week
Saturday, September 15th: Day 3
Our first day at Silverwood! This was the entire reason why we decided to stay in Idaho for our honeymoon… we needed some theme park action! Stoneridge is only a little less than half an hour away from Silverwood. Both Grant and I have been to Silverwood more than once and kind of know our way around the park. On our drive there, we took a walk down memory lane, sharing stories of our previous trips to Silverwood and talking about our favorite rides. In the process, we made a plan of attack for the day. Unfortunately, I got a headache early on in the afternoon, so our thrill rides were cut short. However, we rode the train ride a couple times and hopped on the Ferris wheel. For lunch, we ate at the pizza place where the magic show theater is. We got there early enough to get seats close to the front, which resulted in the magician asking me to help him in the magic show. He called me out when he noticed my “Bride” shirt. Another girl in the audience and I helped him with a card trick, which totally blew my mind! After lunch and the show, we did a few more small rides and walked around the park. We decided to take a risk and get on the log ride… We got drenched!! Fortunately it was warm and sunny, so we dried off pretty quickly. Besides having a headache, it was a wonderful day. We got lots of comments on our “Bride” and “Groom” shirts. We decided it was ok to wear them on our honeymoon to get some use out of them, since there won’t be many good excuses to wear them in the future ;)
The Magician
My 15 minutes of fame :)
Before getting drenched on the log ride
Our view from the Ferris Wheel
Second time on the train ride
If you raise your camera, he raises his gun
Buffalo on the train ride
Getting robbed on the train
My score is on the left and Grant's is on the right.
What can I say, I have a good shot ;)
Aftershock!
Driving the old cars
Sunday, September 16th: Day 4
Another day at Silverwood! We were both a little more into the coasters the second day, which resulted in two headaches instead of one. Those wooden coasters are a little too shaky! Because of that, we did the train ride a few times again, and even watched the magic show at lunch once more. I think I figured out how he pulled off his card trick! Despite our headaches, we had another wonderful day.
Our favorite ride
Practicing for when we are parents :)
Monday, September 17th: Day 5
After having breakfast at the resort, we drove an hour to a little town called Liberty Lake back in Washington. We had pottery painting on our schedule for the day, but we first stopped at a redbox to pick up a couple movies for that night. We also got a recommendation for a great lunch spot in Liberty Lake called Barlow’s. It was delicious! Grant had a burger (his typical choice when we eat out) and I had a sandwich. We then made our way to an adorable little pottery studio in Otis Orchards called “The Pottery Bug”. I have always loved painting pottery and thought it would be a fun Monday activity. I warned Grant that we would probably be there for a few hours, mostly because I take my sweet time when doing something crafty. I tend to be a perfectionist. Poor guy was done in half an hour and had to sit and watch me paint for the next couple hours. We had some great conversation, though. I had actually emailed the owner of the studio before our trip to make sure they could get our pottery fired by the time we were driving back through at the end of the week, so she was expecting us. She gave us a bowl of skittles because she said she forgot to grab a bottle of sparkling cider to congratulate us. She was so sweet! We had a great time, and I totally recommend The Pottery Bug if you are ever in Otis Orchards!
Grant getting in touch with his artistic side
Birthday cake plate
Grant's Seahawks bowl
Stopped for a picture on our drive back
Tuesday, September 18th: Day 6
Today, we woke up bright and early and got ready to go to the Spokane Temple. We went to the 10 am session, so we had to leave our resort by 8:30 to be there in time. It was our first time going just the two of us since we got married, so it was a definitely a special temple trip. I was nervous to be going through a temple I had never been to, especially since it was my first time going without my mom. Thankfully, the Spokane temple is so small that you basically go in a complete circle from start to finish. After the session, we walked around the grounds and took some pictures before having a picnic lunch in the grass by the church. It was the first picnic lunch we have had together :) Once we finished and packed up, we made our way to Riverfront Park in Spokane, where we rode the merry-go-round and the gondola. We were bummed that the tour train was closed for the season, but we walked around to see the sights instead. After having our fill of the park, we went to visit Wendy at her apartment and took a little nap before going to Laser Quest. If you like laser tag and have never been there, GO! It is basically a three story building with the biggest laser tag maze. It is HUGE! Anyone can play at any time, and it’s every man for himself. The games are 20 minutes long, but they go by so fast. Grant and I played 2 games. Both of us were in the top 5 in both games, and I proudly placed second in game 2. Grant was so mad that I beat him simply because of my accuracy. He said, “I made more hits and got shot less than you, but you still beat me!” I had 170 points added to my score because of my accuracy, thank you very much ;) We were both starved after laser tag, so we headed to Chili’s for dinner. I had never eaten there before and was pleasantly surprised. It was so yummy!
Gondola
The view from the gondola
Dinner at Chili's!
Wednesday, September 19th: Day 7
We thought it would be a good idea to spend a whole day at the resort since there was so much to do there. We played ping-pong, pool, and some board games at the club house, and had a go at mini golf. Their course was filled with historical artifacts and articles about Blanchard, Idaho, which made it an interesting game. Grant won, of course... but only by a couple strokes :) We really “vacationed” on this day; it was our one day without an actual schedule. We relaxed, took our time, and did whatever we wanted to do… which included driving to the nearest Chili’s AGAIN for dinner. That is how much I loved it. When we got back to the resort, we relaxed in the hot tub before cuddling with cookies, milk, and our favorite show.
The mini golf course
Old pro :)
We got really good at taking pictures of ourselves using
the camera timer :)
Thursday, September 20th: Day 8
Today we went horseback riding! Both of us had been looking forward to this the whole week. We drove up to Sandpoint, Idaho and had an hour and a half ride through the mountain trails. We were the only two on the tour, which was nice. It was so peaceful and quiet on the ride, and we had such beautiful views of the mountain ranges. Both of us were incredibly sore by the end, though. I forgot how uncomfortable it can be to sit on a horse for that long! I am pretty sure my horse was tired of me being on him too, since he tried to throw me off a few times during the ride. I was holding on for dear life! My horse was very ornery- he would not let Grant ride next to us. He wanted to be right behind the trail guide and his horse. Every time Grant tried to ride next to me, my horse would turn sideways or speed up so he had to stay behind us. A horse with road rage… it was hilarious! After our horseback tour, we had dinner on the waterfront at a restaurant called Dish. I had the most delicious fish tacos with avocado fries. SO yummy! Can you guess what Grant ate? Yep, a burger like usual. While waiting for our check, our waitress brought out a piece of the most magnificent chocolate mousse truffle cake with a lit candle to wish us a happy honeymoon. Neither of us had told her we were there on our honeymoon, so I was confused as to how she knew! I guess while I had gone to the bathroom, Grant told her we were celebrating and wanted to surprise me with a dessert. It was the best dessert I have ever had! A wonderful ending to a great week.
At the top of the trail
Grant and I with my crazy horse
Friday, September 21st: Day 9
Check-out day. We
were both not ready to leave at all, but who is ever ready to go home after a
vacation?! We packed and loaded up our car for the ride home. On our drive, we stopped in Otis Orchards to
pick up our pottery, which turned out super cute. We also stopped in Moses Lake, where we met my
mom and our friend, Shirline, for lunch.
They were headed to Spokane for the weekend for Zumba. We ate at this nice restaurant along the lake
in town, and had a surprise visit from my Aunt Brenda, who lives in Moses
Lake. After saying our goodbyes, we
continued on our drive. We stopped at
John and Danielle’s new house for a few hours to visit before arriving in
Yakima for the rest of the weekend.
We had such an amazing time on our trip. I cherished spending time with JUST
Grant. We certainly love living so close
to family and having Grandma Jackie open her home to us while we wait to head
to school, but it was so great to get away and have time to ourselves. We look forward to having that more often
when we head off to school at the end of the year!
