Dirt Bike Date to Snoopers Rock

Last year (I think), Daniel purchased his first dual sport bike after going several years without a motorcycle. He has several friends who enjoy this sport, so when their schedules align, he likes to sneak off for a few hours in the woods.

But he has always hinted (maybe not so subtlety) that he would like me to go ride with him. He has big aspirations of doing a ride out west some day. Last January we watched The Long Way Round, and I have to admit the adventure of an epic ride like this has some appeal (especially when Ewan McGreggor's wife joined him for part of the ride through Africa... if she could do it, I probably could too).

I guess Daniel has had his eyes open for a specific size bike, and when he found out that a friend was selling a TW200 for a good price, he asked if I would at least try it out.

So I did. I haven't ridden a motorcycle since 2004, but I still have my motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license...

Even though I haven't been riding motorcycles, I did take up riding mountain bikes about ten years ago, and I have been driving a stick shift for the last 15 years. So in a sense riding the TW200 was like riding a bike, I hadn't forgotten. Though I did need a refresher on how to start it.

The new-to-us bike was purchased at the end of September, but I had not been on it since my initial test ride. In the meantime, Daniel has taken it out on the trails several times and really enjoyed it. The bike is geared really low with really wide tires, so it is really forgiving and easy to ride. Perfect for learning how to ride (again).

During Thanksgiving, we had a houseful of guests and Daniel requested that we leave our kids with my family and sneak off for a date to ride in the woods.

And so we did.

To start, I rode around the rocky parking lot to make sure I felt confidant on the machine. The parking lot was small and rocky, but I didn't fall off, so we ventured away from our car.

We started out on a gravel forest road. In hindsight, we probably should have just found some jeep trails. The gravel made me nervous and I fish tailed at least once. I also couldn't muster the confidence to ride above 20mph (mostly 15mph). I did a lot of deep breathing from yoga to stay focused and not freak out. Thankfully I didn't fall.

Then I agreed to follow Daniel down the rocky trail to Snoopers Rock. This was the scariest part of the ride and I had a hard time not riding the brakes the whole way down (and I was relying on the front brake only, which I know is a bad idea, but trying to use the foot brake simultaneously for the rear was a bit much for my brain to handle). Thankfully I made it to the bottom without a problem. I immediately hopped off my bike to a break and walk off my adrenaline rush from being afraid during the ride down.

We walked out to the Snoopers Rock viewpoint and I tried not to think about the ride back up. Daniel gave me a pep talk and told me it would be easier if I went faster and that I just had to trust the bike. Both things I know, but it is so hard to do when you are in the moment.

We agreed that I should follow him back up the trail, and it was much easier than the ride down! We also decided he should lead on the way back to the car. After a nerve-racking, narrow, winding gravel climb, I finally got the confidence to keep up with Daniel on the flat parts, going 30-35mph on the way back.

I still have a lot of riding to do before I will be truly confident on a dirt bike, but it was a lot of fun and I always enjoy doing adventurous things with Daniel. When our boys are bigger, this will be a great bike for them to learn on.

Thirty-Seven

Daniel and I both turned 37 this year. Thirty-seven feels a little anticlimactic. Just a little closer to 40, which is hard to fathom... my brain still feels college-aged but almost two decades of experience as an adult reminds me that I am well past those college years.

We didn't do a whole lot for Daniel's birthday – it was on a Wednesday and he was in the middle of long days and deadlines at work. But one of the perks of homeschool is being able to take the kids to pick up donuts and drop by Daniel's work to surprise him in the middle of the day.

For my birthday, Daniel and I were in need of a night out, so I texted our babysitter and cheekily said that we were due for our "quarterly date." Thankfully she was available on my birthday. Shortly after we made plans to have a sitter come, a college friend invited us to a chili supper at her house. So we decided to drop by as part of our evening away from the kids.

Our date started with being a little too early for the friend party, so we drove up Raccoon Mountain and took in the views of the Tennessee Valley from that side of Chattanooga. The leaves were slightly past their peak, but it was still beautiful.

We arrived at our friend's house in time for chili and visiting. Our friend found a cupcake and "?" candle and had everyone sing to me, which was nice. I honestly can't remember the last time I was sung to by a group for my birthday (my parents and siblings typically call and sing to me on the phone). After my cupcake, we enjoyed a little time around the campfire before continuing our date.

For our third stop, I asked if we could drive up Lookout Mountain to Sunset Rock for a different view of the city. It was a pretty drive up mountain #2, but the Sunset Rock parking lot closed at sunset and we didn't want to get a ticket, so we settled for driving down Ochs Hwy for a beautiful view of downtown Chattanooga. It was dark and the lights of the city were twinkling and the moon was full and stunning over the city.

We drove downtown to get hot chocolate and dessert #2 at The Hot Chocolatier. Thankfully it wasn't too busy and we were able to sip our decadent drinks in one of the booths in the back. When we left the Hot Chocolatier, I requested we make one final stop before heading home to our boys.

So we drove up Signal Mountain (duh), but stopped at one of the parking areas on the Brow to look at downtown Chattanooga and the Valley from yet a third perspective. Three mountains, three views of Chattanooga for my birthday. We live in a special place and feel incredibly blessed to call this area home.

Anniversary Getaway

In the last five years, Daniel and I have only been away from our kids overnight on three occasions. And each time we were not actually alone.

Our first night away was for a church retreat when Jack was around Isaac's current age. On that trip, the girls and guys were split up, and we slept in bunk beds.

The other two times involved me being in the hospital – first for pre-term labor with Isaac and then for Isaac's birth at 40 weeks (so technically Isaac was there). None of these trips were remotely romantic in nature.

Daniel and I agreed that we were long past due a night to ourselves, but trying to work out an overnight sitter for one night (or more) for our anniversary that falls a week before Christmas can be challenging. Thankfully it worked out that Daniel's dad and his wife were able to come to our house to watch the boys, but they were only available during the week. It's a good thing Daniel has a lot of vacation time saved up.

For our time frame, I thought we should just stay in town, preferably with a view of the river. Daniel agreed. So he booked a night at the Bluff View Inn – a historic bed and breakfast in the art district of Chattanooga.

The inn is part of a property called The Bluff View Arts District that encompasses 1.5 blocks of historic significance including the oldest bed and breakfast in the city, the oldest artisan bakery, an art gallery, and also three restaurants: Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria, Rembrandt's Coffee House, and the upscale Back Inn Cafe – which unfortunately for us is closed on Mondays.

Our room was upstairs in the Martin House with a balcony that offered views of the Tennessee River below, a view of North Shore and Signal Mountain to our right and the city of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain back to our far left.

With reservations for Monday night, we were a little concerned when Isaac developed a fever on Sunday and spent the day snuggling with us. He seemed to bounce back on Monday so we decided to keep our plans.

We left our boys in good hands and headed to town to check in. We started our evening with dinner at Tony's Pasta Shop then headed across town to The Hot Chocolatier. We have dined at Tony's on numerous occasions but The Hot Chocolatier was new to us. It did not disappoint! Daniel had the Raspberry Hot Chocolate while I tried the Smore's Hot Chocolate and we split a slice of their Squirrel Cheesecake. It was all incredibly rich and delicious! I actually couldn't finish my hot chocolate. I can't wait to go back and try more of their offerings.

Tuesday morning we enjoyed sleeping in (which never happens at home!) before walking over to Rembrandt's Coffee for our complimentary breakfast. On the weekend, the Inn has breakfast in their Maclellan House, but during the week Rembrandt's is where you get breakfast. Rembrandt's is one of our favorite local coffee houses, they serve a good breakfast as well.

After eating, we wandered through the art gallery before heading back to our room to sip coffee on the balcony, waiting to the last possible minute to check out at noon, and head back to reality.

Our night away was a long time coming and reminded us that we probably need to do this more often than once every five years! Hopefully for our 15th anniversary (next year), we will do more than one night away!!!

Date Night: Escape Experience

Being a week shy of 14 years of marriage with two young children at home, Daniel and I are in a life stage where date nights continue to be a bit elusive for us. Finding time and energy to go out is just hard right now. So most of the time we don't. We still enjoy each others company, but our outings almost always include two little ones.

We have been trying to make more of effort to go actual dates, so we jumped at the opportunity to join up with friends for a group date on Saturday night. We met for an early dinner at Clyde's on Main before heading over to the Escape Experience to try our hard at their hardest escape room: C-Block.

We have never done this type of thing so we really didn't know what to expect. One of the couples has completed several rooms, so they were helpful in guiding us through the process.

I'm not going to give away how we escaped (though we did escape with  five seconds left on the clock), but basically you are locked in a room for 60 minutes and you have to discover clues to help you escape. We started our challenge with all six of us handcuffed together, which meant we had to find a key before we could proceed to break out from our cell and subsequently the jail. You have the option to ask for three clues during the time you are locked up, which we did. As the time ticked down we went ahead and requested a few additional clues since we knew we weren't going to break any records.

It was down to the wire and Daniel was able to complete the very final task as the clock ticked down. I'll just say that his engineering knowledge came in handy at the very end! It was a fun experience and we are both glad we had the chance to go out with friends (without the kids). 

The Escape Experience is a little pricey at $28 per person, and you probably want to plan to go with a group of people you know since you have to work together to figure out how to escape (up to 8 players), but it was a lot of fun and I would recommend it if you have the opportunity.

It wasn't a quiet, romantic dinner, but it was more reminiscent of the type of fun we had before we were married. And sometimes you just need to do something different.

Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar

Daniel and I are in a season of life where date nights are hard to come by... our last official date was in March, which is a far cry from the year we intentionally went on more than 52 dates. This is partially because we have not committed to finding a reliable babysitter, and partially due to Daniel's work schedule. 

I know there will come a time when we will date more consistently again, but for now we will continue to make due with family date nights and be grateful for the evenings we can slip away, just the two of us.

Thanks to Daniel's dad and his wife, Friday night we had the opportunity to go on an actual date. While our boys enjoyed pizza with grandparents we went to the Rock Creek Outlet to shop without distractions, and then grabbed a bite to eat across the street at the Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar.

We arrived around 6:30 and had a 20-minute wait. The first available table was on the porch overlooking the water. which was perfect for us. 

Porch fans and misters kept us cool even though it was a hot summer evening. We had a view of the Bluff District and North Shore with the sun dipping behind Signal Mountain in the background. 

Daniel tried the Trout Almandine while I had the Extra Large Grilled Shrimp (they were really huge!). Both were served with a side of olive fries (fried in olive oil) and a cabbage slaw in sesame oil. 

We finished up by sharing a slice of decadent Key Lime Pie. It was all delicious. 

With good food and a lovely view we didn't want to leave, but we had two little boys waiting at home.

We love our boys, but every once in awhile it's nice to enjoy a meal without having to discuss things like Paw Patrol...