First off: Happy birthday, linnaeus!

So, when last we left our heroes, they were about to venture forth on a romantic weekend getaway. Takaza made all of the plans in secret, and I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. I picked him up from work at 4:00 PM on Friday and I was instructed to drive…north.

After we stopped to fill up at the Lake Forest Oasis, Dan couldn’t wait anymore and told me where we were going: Racine, Wisconsin. I have to admit I was a bit nonplussed at first; we have been to Racine a couple of times for Congenial and I have to admit I wasn’t too impressed. But I trusted Takaza and I knew he wouldn’t let me down 🙂

After a bit of complicated driving that allowed us to fully explore the no-man’s-land between Kenosha and Racine (note: Google Maps’ directions can sometimes be as bad as Mapquest’s), we wound up just south of downtown Racine at the corner of 15th and Main: The Hughes House Bed and Breakfast. This is a wonderful little gay-owned B&B in a quiet part of town, right on the waterfront. We were met in the foyer by Dan Dashner, who was extremely pleasant as he showed us up to our room. Once we arrived there, we were quite surprised to find a lovely gift awaiting us: a nice bottle of wine and a bottle of mineral water, courtesy of camstone and mooivos! That was so thoughtful, and very much appreciated!

We didn’t really have time to get unpacked, because just as we were carrying our bags in, along came Tim, the massage therapist. Takaza had arranged for a one-hour massage for me, and it was truly delightful and relaxing! (even though the deep tissue work left me a bit sore, it was worth it!). After the wonderful massage, Takaza and I headed out to Salute’s, which we assured was “the best Italian restaurant in Racine”. I suppose we should have heeded the “in Racine” part because it was…unexceptional (perhaps like being the tallest dwarf in the room?). After dinner we walked a few blocks down to the Italian Fest which was going on by the lake. We enjoyed a great fireworks show, then walked around the festival a bit and picked up some terribly unhealthy desserts. Afterwards we retreated back to the B&B and collapsed for the evening in the very comfy king-sized bed.

Saturday morning we joined the rest of the B&B guests (as well as the couple that had spent the night on the yacht) for breakfast. We were served a delicious pecan praline French toast/casserole that I am absolutely making the next time we have company. The conversation around the table was a bit stilted, as it can be when you throw a bunch of strangers together, but it was nice anyway. The initial plan was to meet at noon to take the yacht out onto the lake and play with their Jet-Ski, but unfortunately a family medical emergency came up that pulled the proprietors away and those plans had to be cancelled. A disappointment, sure, but certainly understandable.

Instead, we wandered around downtown Racine for a while and found some fun little stores there. I confess to being a big enough geek that I found Dover Flag and Map a fascinating place, and we spent a good bit of time perusing their store. Afterwards, we drove up to the Racine Zoo, which was having a BBQ festival. Unfortunately we got there towards the end of a scorchingly hot afternoon, and the festival was mostly over, if it had ever really had that many people in attendance to begin with. The zoo itself was rather sad, and I was annoyed that while we paid $5 each to get in, as we were leaving they were letting people in for free. One good thing about the visit: We stopped by the gift shop and I got some new mascots for my computer monitor at work!

We toyed with the idea of doing the Jelly Belly tour, or maybe hitting the Racine County Fair, but we were both hot and tired so instead elected to retire back to the B&B and take a nap. The room was delightfully cool, and the nap was very relaxing. In spite of the change of plans, it was a lovely day anyway. For dinner we went to The Yellow Rose, which was much better than the previous night’s restaurant. After a tasty dinner, we drove down to the marina (out on a spit of land from downtown) in hopes of seeing a repeat of Friday night’s fireworks show. Just as we were giving up and deciding it wasn’t going to happen that night, the first shot went off. I quickly parked the car and we walked out a bit until we were within about a quarter-mile from the launch site. Again, it was an impressive display, made all the better by being directly underneath the show and listening to the booms echoing off the buildings on shore.

Sunday morning brought a tasty quiche-like casserole that was very much to my liking, and a breakfast sausage casserole that Takaza enjoyed. We puttered around the room before packing up and had a great conversation with the owners before leaving. We got to take a tour of the rest of the rooms (next time, we’re staying in The Yacht View Room!) and met the owners’ two (very friendly!) dogs, a yellow lab and a chocolate lab. We were assured that on our return we would be given a much more favorable rate, which was really nice of them.

On the way home we stopped by the Jelly Belly tour, which is not really a manufacturing tour since they just have a distribution warehouse in Pleasant Prairie. We skipped directly to the gift shop and bought a silly amount of jelly beans (mostly Belly Flops, discounted factory seconds), which we’re both sharing with our cow-orkers today. From there we headed home (with a stop by the grocery store) and had a nice dinner of homemade chicken strips and potatoes dauphinois while watching a whole lot of Alton Brown.

That was truly a wonderful weekend, and I’m so lucky to have a husband who would go through so much thought and effort to make it great. Dan, I love you so much!