If you read my last post, you know that my husband is getting ready to embark on a pretty extensive European tour with his band mates. His departure date is fast approaching..he flies out this coming Tuesday..September 3rd.
With all of the preparations entailed in putting this tour together, it’s been a tough couple of months for us both.
Making sure all the travel arrangements have been made, hotels overseas booked, merchandise..designed, printed, purchased and shipped, venues booked (of course venues and hotels being setup by their booking agent overseas), videos produced, interviews completed…you get the picture. On top of that..Jason and his electrical contracting partner had to complete jobs, hire an apprentice and make sure all is good on that front.
Amidst all of this..my sweet..thoughtful guy..took the time to book a romantical night for just him and me.
He had told me, a week or so ago, to make sure I kept my night open for Saturday the 31st. I tried to get the secret out of my daughter but she stood her ground and wouldn’t give in to the pressures of my prying.
Around 1600 hours on Saturday, Jason says, “O.K., let’s go..pack a bag. Throw in a swimsuit, maybe a long sleeve shirt and what you’re wearing is perfect.”
I followed instructions and soon enough we were en-route on our secret field trip!
A few miles from home Jason says, “It’s nothing too extravagant but I booked a room for us at The Pointe Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs. I wanted to spend time with you before I leave. We could have done so at home but this takes us out of our element and I thought this would be nice.”
How sad is it that my second thought ~ of which I voiced aloud ~ was, “OH!! The room will have air conditioning!”
We have a leak in the refrigerant line of our central air conditioning unit at the house and have been having to turn it off and on periodically because it keeps freezing up. 
It’s a bit miserable, especially..in the middle of summer in Arizona.
Someone was set to come look at it on Sunday, finally!
Notice I said “second thought”..my first thought was, “How awesomely sweet is he”!
The drive was quick ~ the hotel is only about a fifteen minute drive from home, bonus! An escape from reality so close to home!
Surprisingly…I did not take but three pictures and those three pictures are on my cell phone and I don’t feel like connecting the phone to the laptop to export them and post.
Yes, I am that lazy today. 😀
You will have to make do with the photos I snagged off the internet.
Even such a short distance from home, you can see how this getaway spot is nestled all snug like in the mountains of the Phoenician desert.
Driving through the resort to get to the registration office was a little challenging. The hills are pretty steep and there were so many people walking and so many cars parked off to the side of the narrow roads. We managed, we checked in and were off to our quiet spot higher up on the hill.
I cannot even imagine driving a stick shift through this hotel road set up! Being the hotel was packed ~ most likely booked to capacity ~ there were not many spaces left for parking but we lucked out and found a spot right below our third floor room!
As soon as we opened the door a burst of ice cold air was the first thing we noticed. The thermostat read 69 degrees! Coming in from the 30% humidity of 110 degree temps outside we were more than happy to be greeted this way. 😀
After getting settled we changed and took a super short walk to the secluded Sunset Pool area.
This was a tiny little pool area equipped with a tiny little pool and a tiny little hot tub.
Perfect! We had the place to ourselves! I am not sure how many pools this establishment has but I am certain it is more than six. The main pool, after our many stays here, I have never been to. I hear the pools are huge, surrounded by man made waterfalls and packed with people.
A lot of locals make a day trip to the pool, I think you can pay at hotel registration for day passes. I bet it makes for a perfect family funday on the weekends. For us? Not so much, we like to stay in the rooms close to the smaller less crowded pool areas.
The water was luke warm..not very refreshing..but after a few minutes..it was better than nothing and when I stood up there was just enough of a breeze to genuinely cool me off. We floated around and talked for about an hour or so then decided it was time to go to dinner.
The draw back of this was..we both wanted sushi which meant we would have to go back into the car and drive about two miles and yes…lose are prime parking space.
It was so worth it though, we found a little hole in the wall sushi restaurant called “Wild Tuna”. The place is a small, family owned business with deep blue walls decorated appropriately with fish paintings and accented in my favorite shade of green.
We ordered green mussels, a philly roll, tuna rolls, yellowtail sashimi and unagi. The prices were totally reasonable but the rolls could have been bigger 🙂
I will admit, it was all so good but the yellowtail stole the show. It was abolutely amazing!
Bellies full, we set off to the store to grab some Perrier, a bottle of wine and some chocolate.
We lucked out, yet again, and scored a parking spot close to our room. Again, I will remind you, the hills are so steep trying to get out the car with the car door smashing me in the face was a chore.
We both decided…we could never live in San Francisco 🙂
Back in the ice cold room, YAY, Jason said, “I’m going to the ice machine so we can put the wine on ice”.
I, having watched way to many scary movies, gave him a sideways glance of fear that he won’t come back simply said, “O.K”.
He came back safely within in two minutes, phew! He did say the area where the ice bin was located was really creepy – it was in a corner and dark and there was a hallway looking structure that went back about ten feet…and it was also dark.
Once the wine had chilled, we poured some into an empty can of Perrier (yes…I know..pretty classy, right?) In our defense..we wanted wine to sip while we were relaxing under the stars in the hot tub..so don’t judge. I thought it was pretty clever.
I turned the dial for the hot tub timer as far as it would turn. Fifteen minutes. I thought to myself, “Fifteen minutes? That’s really not very long”
We eased into the HOT tub and began to relax, sip wine and chat. Mid conversation I realize Jasons forehead is beginning to bead up with sweat and started to giggle at him..literally a minute later I started feeling drips of my own sweat coursing down my forehead. It was time to get out.
I told Jason my earlier thought of the fifteen minute timer not being very long and said, “What do you think? We’ve been in here maybe ten minutes?” He laughed and said, ” I think only five”. We got out and jumped into the much cooler pool ~ before I got in though, I checked the timer..sure enough, we were only in there for five minutes!
Fingers and toes all pruned up, we decided to get out and dry off. While we were drying..off in the distance we noticed a gorgeous display of fireworks ~ it was neat to see from high atop the mountainside. I think the event was for a local water park (which is about 13 miles away) ~ I am pretty sure this is the end of the water park season so they are to have fireworks through Labor Day.
The cycle of pool, shower, dinner, pool, hot tub, shower and snack was ideal for stress free evening.
Waking up in the cool, dark room to the smell of coffee brewing at 0830 was the icing on the cake. 🙂
We started packing up around 1030 and headed to a local diner for breakfast. I was actually surprised at the, Mel’s Diner feel of a, restaurants menu. I figured, our options to be eggs and bacon or eggs and bacon. I had a Spinach Feta Omelette and Jason had Eggs Benedict. Not superb but good enough.
After breakfast, Jason paid the lady and we were on our way…back to reality.
What I took away from this little staycation was that even after twenty-five years of each other ~ this guy is still so thoughtful and I hope I never take that for granted.
I will leave you with this quote,
“Love is the sum of our choices, the strength of our commitments, the ties that bind us together.”
― Emily Giffin
kristilynk 