I love surprises and every year I hope for something surprising to happen perhaps around my birthday and this is the first time ever anyone has managed to do this. There is a downside to a surprise. You can end up sabotaging people's best intentions with say going out the night before a romantic getaway with a best girlfriend and drinking your weight in German beer. Nancy and I stumbled home from the pub after accomplishing an impressive number of pint glass bicep curls. I woke in the morning feeling like I'd eaten a whole cactus. Joel on the other hand was urging me to pack my bags quickly and get into the car. GET INTO A MOVING VEHICLE? Are you crazy? His look was desperate so I gathered my strength and my blanket and complied. Of course we were pulled over not long after on the side of the 101. Sorry honey, I really do love surprises.
So our drive ended up in Monteray at the aquarium. I had a feeling there was a little more to this surprise since Joel kept scanning the lobby. Sure enough our friends Ben and Jess emerged from the throngs. They'd driven all the way up from LA that morning to meet us. Thank goodness I'd only made Joel pull over once! Apparently we were a little late. Needless to say it was a great day, one that got better as the nausea wore off.
We went out to a fantastic restaurant, drank champagne (cures anything) and played board games all evening long at our B&B. The following day we walked along the water on a beautiful chilly clear day. What a fantastic surprise Joel!
