Several months ago, I started thinking about how we would celebrate our anniversary this year. Typically we just have a nice dinner or something small, but this was celebrating 30 years, so it needed to be grand! Our oldest son asked when the last time was that we went anywhere…just the two of us. We thought about it and realized that it was for our honeymoon! So it was time.

I hoped to do all the planning, so that I could surprise my dear hubby, but he is SO hard to surprise! Making the initial plans, I had so many places on my list that I gave in and asked if he could help me trim it down.

We had some preplanning to do too. Having a farm, no matter how big or small, means a lot of planning. Thankfully two of the three youngest are adults and the one remaining minor is very responsible, so the farm and animals were in capable hands.

We decided to go for 17 days and visit 16 different places/people in Kentucky and Tennessee. Some of these places we had wanted to see for some time, and others we found as we searched the internet for fun places to visit. Along the way we saw many mountains, deer, horses, caves, multiple museums, and friends. We met some of the most beautiful people. We even saw a BEAR!!! To celebrate both our anniversary and my birthday, we had dinner on the dining car of the Tennessee Valley and Chattanooga Railroad. These all were such amazing experiences and we got to enjoy them together…just the two of us.

We wanted to spend our money on places and things, rather than staying in hotels the whole time, so we made our van into a hardshell tent on wheels and stayed at several different campgrounds. Our son-in-law helped by building a bedframe for our 12 passenger van, and we put a thick memory foam mattress on top. It was PERFECT! I made curtains for the windows, and our clothes hung between the front seats making a “privacy curtain” of sorts. In places where camp sites weren’t as easy to find, my mother-in-law donated hotel rooms for us to stay in. Getting to spend this time together and share new experiences together was such a blessing.

I thank God for the many years that we have been together, and we look forward to the years to come. Doing life together, because with both the good times and the bad, we had each other to lean on.