The last in our string of celebratory anniversary activities involved going to a painting class but not just any painting class, a class to paint a blue police box. Yes, those of you with nerd cred know exactly of who I speak.
Painting with a Twist is a little place in Murray that features daily canvas tutorials of all sorts. The atmosphere is relaxed and no artistic skills are required, which is great because I have none. And, for the record, that wasn’t a faux-humble statement that I expect someone to benevolently contradict. Truly, you would have a difficult time matching something I sketched to its corresponding object in the real world. Yet, rather miraculously, my blue box spiraled through the brush-time vortex relatively undistorted.
I am a hopeless perfectionist. I was the last person in the class to finish their work.
As you would expect from something so wibbly wobbly, time in our class flew by at an unpredictable pace. Three hours came and went in what felt like minutes. You had to paint quickly to keep up with our instructor and, unfortunately, due to my perfectionistic nature, I’m generally the opposite of quick. Therefore, my TARDIS materialized slower than anyone else’s but I did manage to only finish last by a few minutes.
Both of our paintings turned out far better than we expected.
This unique ending to our anniversary amusements was well received and appreciated. Many thanks to my clever spouse for planning so many fine and uncommon outings in honor of our topnotch marriage. And many thanks to him also for being the best husband a girl could ask for! Thirteen definitely doesn’t deserve its villainous reputation.
The following weekend, the second part of Jason’s anniversary scheme took us up to Salt Lake City again but this time to the twenty-fourth floor of The Grand America Hotel. We used that lofty vantage point as our base of operation for a couple days of downtown adventuring.
Our balcony, twenty-four floors up, provided a great view of downtown Salt Lake City.
We ate a delicious dinner at Ruth’s Chris our first night in Salt Lake. In my unsolicited opinion, if you are celebrating an anniversary or another out-of-the-ordinary occasion, Ruth’s Chris is a great place to do it. Although we didn’t make a reservation, when the hostess learned that we were commemorating our anniversary she quickly set about creating an atmosphere of specialness for us. Our table was strewn with rose petals and we received congratulations galore from the staff. We felt pretty elite simply for successfully completing another year of marriage.
After thirteen years, Jason and I are still hopelessly thrilled about each other.
On Saturday, we ate breakfast at Gourmandise, one of the best spots to grab pastries or cakes in Salt Lake; it’s very popular with the soon-to-be-fat crowd. On a side note, although this little joint never disappoints with its decadent treats, it can be short on seats so plan on patience if you’re going to gobble there.
The Golden Poison Dart Frog is one of the most toxic animals on the planet. One of these little guys contains enough poison to kill 10 grown men.
Following our leisurely breakfast, we headed to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. This aquarium only opened at its nifty new location in Draper a couple of months ago so, as you might guess, it was basically wall-to-wall people, with a few creatures strewn in. We had to wait in an enormous line to even be admitted because the building was at max capacity and patrons had to leave before more were allowed in. However, in spite of the overabundance of humanity that made the place more of a petting zoo than an aquarium, Jason and I had a nice time. The Living Planet is impressive but I would recommend waiting about six months for the crowds to dissipate a bit before you check it out. We plan on going back when we don’t have to hurdle strollers in order to access exhibits.
Arapaimas can get over 10 feet long, weigh more than 400 pounds, and breath air. Their Piranha-proof armor makes them perfect inhabitants of South America’s rivers.
After our aquatic adventures, we ate dinner at Pallet, a restaurant in downtown that opened last year. The food was fabulous and the modern industrial setting was sophisticated and romantic. I’d definitely recommend this bistro to all y’all.
We are certainly not above taking ridiculous pictures.
The rest of our weekend was monopolized by relaxation, reading, and writing. We spent our final morning in Salt Lake lounging in our hotel room and stuffing ourselves with tasty room service. You can’t beat lazily eating fluffy pancakes and hearty corned beef hash, which just showed up at your doorstep, with the city and mountains spread out beneath you like the workings of a model train hobby turned mania.
What a lovely getaway to celebrate a lovely life! As per tradition, the last of our anniversary festivities will be discussed next week in more detail than necessary. But I shan’t give any of those superfluous details away just yet.
Jason and I don’t hesitate to celebrate. No, no one could ever accuse us of skimping on festivities. So, not astonishingly, when our thirteenth anniversary came around this year we spared no revelry. Jason, whose turn it was to plan our activities this time, decided that the proper commemoration of this event shouldn’t be limited to one day but distributed over weeks. Yes, weeks of anniversary exploits means weeks of related posts. I wouldn’t want you to be subjected to more excitement than you could handle in one sitting.
Kea are very intelligent and curious. They are often called “the clown of the mountains” because of their inquisitive nature.
Our dedicatory partying started on our actual anniversary. Jason made a lovely breakfast for us that morning, after which we headed to Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. He had arranged for me to take a behind-the-scenes photography tour with the Curator of Exhibit Collections there. This was extremely cool and a very thoughtful idea on my hubby’s part. I was able to go into the birds’ enclosures and take pictures of them up close while learning fascinating facts about those feathery creatures from the curator. I got some terrific shots and a glimpse into the personalities of each of these rare species, some of which are now completely extinct in the wild thanks to the stupidity of our species.
Green Magpies are native to Asia. These pretty creatures can mimic other bird calls.
We finished our afternoon by strolling The Gateway and stuffing ourselves with sushi from The Happy Sumo. Then, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 occupied the bulk of our amazing evening. After all, seeing superhero flicks has become an anniversary staple for us.*
These White-faced Whistling Ducks seemed to think I was disturbing their naptime.
Our anniversary was relaxing yet distinctive. It was an outstanding day spent with many fantastic fowls and one fantastic non-foul. But the merriment didn’t end with these fine happenings. Check in next week for all the mind-blowing details about the second phase of our anniversary saga.
Recent Comments