Off Color Anniversary Rendezvous: Southern Hospitality and Jacuzzi Tub Baptisms (part 1)

“Being Southern isn't talking with an accent...or rocking on a porch while drinking sweet tea, or knowing how to tell a good story. It's how you're brought up -- with Southerners, family (blood kin or not) is sacred; you respect others and are polite nearly to a fault; you always know your place but are fierce about your beliefs. And food........ -- is darn near a religion.” 
― Jan Norris

Well, we made it!  Big Daddy and Sexy Hot have made it to twenty years of marriage.  It "ain't" always been easy but it sure has been fun that is for sure.  We've been through hell and high water and come out on the other side still smiling and I suppose at the end of the day---that's why we've made it.  We've learned that most things are small enough to find some humor and the laughing has pulled us along like a swift current flowing through the mountain--flowing over rock after another moving toward another place in time.  I summed up what it was like being married to a man for twenty years the other day....I said, "Big Daddy can get on my last nerve, can make me mad  (you know we both are what is called a "KIA"-no that isn't a car--it is what is called in the off color abode as a "Know it All" and one in the house is usually enough--try living with two) but at the end of the day when the sun meets the moon and the day is laid upon the scale--the life scale still moves over into the positive direction....real truth be told---after 20 years, he still makes my heart melt and has a way of making me laugh-even when I don't want to give him the pleasure of doing so.

We knew we wanted to do something different this year, but we didn't know what---seems we both hit upon an email for a three night stay at little mountain place called 

Archer's Mountain Inn. We talked about it for a bit and hit their web site and then just decided to purchase a coupon for the stay.  

When I called to make a reservation, the woman on the other end of the phone was both funny and pleasant.  As we talked about dates and the arrangements, I shared that we would be celebrating 20 years of marriage.  The woman disclosed that she'd been married for over twenty years and that she and her husband had just become owners of Archer's Mountain Inn.  We shared stories about "being old married women" and at the end of the phone conversation, I felt like I was talking to a friend rather than some owner of the place Big Daddy and I would be staying and she made me feel like we were the most important people on the face of the earth when she said, the coupon isn't for this room but since it is your anniversary, I'm gonna put you in the Presidential Suite (they have since renamed it, It think--to off color Holy Sanctuary)--my husband might kill me but I'm doing it it

So last Friday, Big Daddy and I loaded up the car--yes he was driving--after our pickled peppers in the baked beans from my last blog post--you'll understand.  I knew what to expect before we ever left the driveway.  Big Daddy always packs a cooler of cold drinks--seems driving makes us both thirsty and gives me a great reason to get to stop at all those little "dives" along the way. I can't stand driving past a mom and pop store or road side stand without getting out and looking---looking means I'm gathering a story or listening in on the life of another for just a moment.  He always packs a picnic "snacking food--meaning food you can eat while driving". 

We start the car, get settled in, stop for gas and a last minute bathroom break just before we get on the interstate and we're off

for an Off-Color Big Daddy-Sexy Hot Anniversary Rendezvous--

and

then

Big Daddy pulls out his little box of cassettes--who listens to cassettes anymore and why do we still have a car that plays them--

always the same play list

every road trip...

We start off with the Eagles Greatest Hits volume one and then two, move on the Billy Joel, migrate to the Carpenters and top it off with a bit of James Taylor.  

Windows down, 

wind blowing, me starting to doze off,

Big Daddy play list playing

and

we're off...

off for a great Anniversary Adventure

and

what an adventure it was....

so much adventuring...

whew...you will not want to miss our

Anniversary Antics 

or miss hearing about all the wonderful encounters

so tune in later this week for future volumes...

you will not be sorry if you don't--that is for sure---you might 

want to take a bathroom break before you 

read each morning---

cause

you just might find yourself 

laughing so hard

you'll pee on yourself.

I'm back in life this week 

and

have commitments

so I must hit the shower right now....

Here's a couple of pictures

to hold you over....

relics of day's gone by dotted the highway

reminding us of store front days

candy on shelves by the cash register 

and 

friends gathering for bologna, crackers, moon pies and a cold coca cola right from the ice box....

scenic sights

and

majestic beauty filled with sacred awe

Big daddy moving inviting himself into a family picnic.....you should have seen their faces....

sacred walks...

and 

time at the inn....

unfortunately the Jackalope did not share his glass...

and the place where Eucharistic meals were served 

and

folks gathered around Jacuzzi Tub Baptisms...

I promise you will not want to miss 

the next few posts...

but

they will only be for the off-color eyes....

Until later in the week...

The Radical Rambler...