So, here’s the thing: It was fun to surprise Dan and it was great to spend the night with him. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But, there was a little damper on the celebration.
Let’s start at the beginning.
I made it down to Dan’s B&B a little bit before he was supposed to get off work. Fortunately, I was able to get into the building, which was part of my Plan A. Then, I pinned a note to the front door…
And put my cowboy boots in the entry way.
Then I hid around the corner and waited for him to get home. Minutes later, I saw his car coming up the long drive. As he walked in, I heard him laugh — but, I couldn’t wait any longer, so I ran around the corner. I even started tearing up! It was just such a cool moment.
Dan said he was kind of confused when he first saw the note. (Did I leave it with the woman who runs the B&B?) When he saw the boots, though, he was “100% sure” I was there.
He agreed it would be fun to go to the movie — particularly because there aren’t many options for dining or entertainment in the small town he’s in — so we took off for the Warren Theater in Old Town Wichita.
We had a while to wait before the movie began, so we did some exploring.
After just a few minutes in the sun, we needed to escape the heat so we went into the nearby Beyond Napa wine shop. Like I said the other day, we bought a bottle of wine with the idea of opening it on our 50th wedding anniversary. When we bought the bottle, we basically based our decision on the fact that A.) there was a cork and B.) the bottle was pretty.
So, when we saw the exactly same bottle of wine in the shop, we decided to ask the sommelier’s opinion.
Apparently, it’s the driest rosé they offer — which is a negative to me. What’s more, he cautioned that the wine would probably only last for 10-15 years before going bad. That was a bit of a bummer, but the owner said there are some other options: Any kind of dessert wine would last longer, thanks to the preservative abilities of sugar. He also said that an ice wine would be good.
After the discussion, Dan and I decided it would be best to wait a few months to save money and buy a decent type of wine that will last. Forty-nine years from now, how much will it really matter what day we bought the bottle?
(While we were at Beyond Napa, we found a moscato that we wanted to buy, but the owner cautioned that it would be bad to leave it in the car while we went to the movie — so he kept the store open for an extra hour just so we could stop back by after the movie to pick it up. I wish I was in the Wichita area more just so I could shop exclusively at this wine shop! Such great service and advice!)
By that time, the movie was about to start! We made our way back across the street, grabbed a menu, ordered our meal and took our seats. (We also took a cheesy Instagram picture just for kicks.)
The food was pretty good. The movie was pretty good. The company was great.
Unfortunately, the Wichita Police Department seems to have the concept of anniversary presents backwards… On the way back to the B&B we got a speeding ticket.
Even in spite of that, Dan and I had a lot of fun and a really wonderful actual anniversary. Speeding ticket or not, that was worth it.
