Healthy Anniversary

The wonderful thing about marriage is that if you do it right, you get to have fun and hang out with your best friend every day for the rest of your life.  Nine years ago we got married on a camping trip, and after all the incredible adventures we've had, I'm certain we've done it right. 

For our anniversary weekend, RDB and I came over to another nearby favorite campground - Lake Livingston State Park.  As RDB drove us over Friday afternoon, I looked back thru our prior visits to try and remember if I had booked us in the site that was super easy to back into (site #98) or the site that was a real frustration (Site #99).  This was important, since it was still going to be raining buckets when we arrived.

Good news - we were in the 'good' site (#98).  Bad news, it was the second camping trip in a row I found myself hiding from the rain under the tongue of the camper.... only this time, we had hail, too. Ugh.

And that frustrated face also goes for the fact that we can’t put out the living room slide when it’s pouring down like this; we’re still waiting on parts to come in for warranty work on the window that leaks like a sieve in the rain.

So, we squeezed around the still-pulled-in-slide and fixed salads for dinner; I even managed to get a yoga practice in with minimal space on the living room floor. We made the best of it, waiting for a break in the rain to get things out of the truck before calling it a night and going to bed.

The storm that came thru Friday night dropped the temps by nearly twenty degrees, and we found ourselves in the low forties (just like the night before our wedding, when the temps dropped us down to 41*!) All worth it, though, to wake up in a camp ground on our anniversary and be able to get out and go for a hike.  Hello, fall, we're glad you're here!

After our hike, we unhooked the truck and leveled out the camper (with the torrential downpour happening as we got in the night before, we didn't bother fully setting up - just get the bare minimum hooked up and get out of the rain!) and then headed towards town.  We had visited downtown Livingston and got pictures of the Livingston County courthouse before, but we didn't go into any of the little shops (I think we visited on a Sunday).

So we dropped into Downtown Treasures to browse around for a few. I happened to notice a display full of anniversary items... Happy 35th, Congrats on 50, and the like.  Nothing for the odd 9th year, but we noticed a very pretty set of etched champagne flutes for a reasonable price, so, they came home with us. 

Our first toast was to the couple who previously owned the glasses, and after that, to a long and healthy lifetime of adventures together for us. 

Happened to notice the word HEAL is part of healthy. Remember that, SJB. <3

We had an early dinner of one of our favorites from the HEB Fish Market  - Atlantic Salmon Burgers, Fiesta Jalapeno style.  Along with roasted butternut squash with garlic, steamed green beans, and a really good dark-greens salad, we were happy campers.  And for dessert? A set of apples. (When you've been low-carb/keto for a while, something as simple as an apple can be a real treat!) RDB and I are focusing on our health - physical and mental - right now; it seems there's something about the time change every November that really brings my attention back to the things that matter most.

And with all the changes at work, there is no better time to focus on what matters most to me right now.

Sunday morning we (didn't sleep in - ha!) woke up to 36* outside - brrrr!!  RDB was up first, turning on the space heaters in the living room, then crawling back into bed.  I was up just a short while later to get in a yoga session (thankful that he turned those heaters on!); RDB was planning another long hike for the morning, but I ended up with a nasty blister on my heal hiking in a loose pair of boots the day before (remember the rain Friday? My sneakers were still soaked the next morning).  I still managed to join him for a portion of his hike on the boardwalk trail, before coming back to the camper to shower and get caught up on the blog. 

Listening to a new favorite artist while we made lunch, once again focusing on health-full foods (btw, it's easy to cut out the cholesterol when you forget to bring the cream cheese for your lox. Duh.) We talked thru our menu for our upcoming Big Bend National Park trip over Thanksgiving.  Yelp won't be able to help me find fun places to eat in Terlingua where there's only, like, two restaurants and one store.... But, boy, are we looking forward to that trip! 

We finished up lunch and found ourselves sitting in the camper, enjoying warm cups of tea, looking at activities for the Big Bend Trip, and delaying for every moment possible having to pack up and head back home (like we do nearly every single trip!). Yet, as much as the time change brings me the renewed focus that others seem to have at New Years, it also brings with it sunsets in the 5 o'clock hour and RDB reminded me that we'd probably want to pack up before dark.

Now, if we could just finish our cups of tea and if this blanket weren't so comfy.... hygge is healthy, too, right? ;-)

We were at Lake Livingston State Park, Pin Oak site #98 (the good one). The site is level side to side (thankfully!) and relatively easy to back into.  I was up on the roof to remove a few dead branches that had fallen on the slideouts, and pruned out a few more that would have fallen on their own eventually. It was a busy weekend with a scout troop in the loop with us, so plenty of people and activity on the trails.  And speaking of the trails, we definitely put them to good use this trip - getting in several miles on both days (go, RDB, go!).  Here's to another wonderful camping trip, another great year of marriage, and many many more of both to come!