My wonderful husband planned a surprise adventure for me while our kids were on their own trip to Texas. For several days in a row he either gave me one clue or let me ask one question about his plans. That in itself was very special; he knows me well enough to know that I'd fully enjoy the mystery and the clues. Then on Saturday, when I'd had enough, he told me our destination: the Louisville Zoo. Sometime in the past I'd mentioned that "someday" I'd like to visit a zoo without any kids with me so that I could sit and watch the gorillas for as long as I wanted. He researched and found that Louisville has a spectacular gorilla exhibit!
We drove down to Louisville (about 3 hours) on Sunday late afternoon, checked into our hotel and then scouted around for dinner. We prefer local places over national chains and we found a great one: http://www.johnesrestaurant.com/. I had a petite fillet and Dr. Love enjoyed a ribeye.
Monday morning we headed for the zoo and went straight to the gorilla exhibit. I wasn't able to take any pictures....the gorillas were inside and I couldn't get anything through the glass. I don't know how long we stayed there but I was thrilled to just sit & watch them. They all seemed to be particularly taken with the thousands of cheerios scattered around....they picked through all the greens & veggies to pick them up, one at a time. The male gorilla was appropriately named Timmy! After the gorillas, we alternated between taking the tram and walking through the rest of the exhibits.
We left the zoo in the late afternoon and drove by Churchill Downs so that Dr. Love could see it, but he had no interest in the museum. We also drove through Old Louisville and looked at the architecture-something else I enjoy. We decided to travel through French Lick on our way home and stopped at this great place in Leavenworth, Indiana for dinner http://www.theoverlook.com/. From our table we watched barges going up & down the Ohio River as well as a flock of about 20 goldfinches at a feeder all at once! We both had their fried chicken and homemade biscuits and we shared a homemade blackberry cobbler with ice cream. So good!
We stopped for the night at a tiny wayside motel in Paoli and then came on home yesterday morning. It was so fun to get away together and I feel so very loved and cared for by Dr. Love!
I have a few more pictures from the zoo that I'm saving for Pink Saturday this week so be sure to stop back by then!
4 comments:
Oh Leslie. How wonderful is that. A surprise vacation? What a deal. I too love the gorillas, their faces are so inticing. You wonder what they see when they look at us? I hope you put together a special photo album of this special trip together. It is so nice to have memories. Stop by and say hi. Country Hugs, Sherry
Aren't God's animal creations absolutely brilliant?? Between that and flowers...{and newborn grandbabies!}, I'm not sure which captures me the most. Hmmm...I'm going with the new grannybabies, yet there is something absolutely mesmerizing about a Zebra's stripes! Don't cha think?
What a fun time....what a sweetheart your hubby must be to plan such a trip. Thanks for visiting me.
Thanks for this post. It reminds me how important it is to really listen to people. If I just listen to my kids, I could plan a fun surprise like yours, for them. The hope would be to leave them feeling the way you did, loved and listened to!
Rebecca
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