Dinner & Bed & Breakfast

Whoosh! And five years go by just like that.

After alternatingly planning our successive anniversary celebrations (she the even years, me the extremely odd), we decided that every fifth year we would plan the event together to make sure we both actually wanted to do the thing that the other one would hopefully want to have had done to and or with them (hello, year of putt-putt!).

So after reading/hearing about The Inn at Little Washington being one of the ten best restaurants on the planet, and only 60 or so miles away, we arranged for a night out on the little town. Ainsley's mom was ubergracious enough to offer to spend the night with Ryan, giving Ainsley her first overnight away from her son. And my four hundred and twentieth.

A quick search of local bed & breakfasts led us to the Middleton Inn (c. 1840) as the nicest choice (and a little more reasonable than staying at The Inn). We had the little cottage on the right to ourselves. Just lovely accommodations.

Dinner was elegant and delicious, a six-course affair at a table where we sat side-by-side on a pillowy couch looking out on the back patio and koi pond. Two water boys came out and filled our glasses in unison, the wine dude took my glass order (since I was drinking for three), then the inappropriately boobed waitress took our orders, which, given the luscious options presented, were difficult to select.

Itty bitty appetizers laid out on white spoons (including "the world's smalled baked potato" the size of a grape) started us out, then Bulgarian Sylviya brought us a heavily accented "wahrm soup wit meent and peace." The three courses were brought out, in unison, on different opulent plates, very small portions (ravioli as big as postage stamps), but beautifully arranged and extremely tasty. Dessert was the biggest course of the night, with Ainsley getting the Trio Chocolate Delight and me choosing the four layer southern butter pecan ice cream cake.

Saturday we came home by way of the top half of Skyline Drive, through the Shenandoah Forest. Some pretty views unfortunately marred by a hazy day, and we only got up to about 3000ft, which is about 3000ft underground if you're living in Colorado Springs. But Ryan did okay with his grandmother (if Ainsley got nary a wink of sleep worrying about him), and I think we pulled off enough of a nice evening for Ainsley to go ahead and stay married to me for another five years...