{Recap} Mini Vacation to Hot Springs

I didn't get my Week 20 photo update posted last weekend because I was out of town, so this week will have to be a two-fer. Michael and I spent four days with his family in Hot Springs for a mini vacation over our Thanksgiving break. It was so refreshing to get away! Here are some highlights.

 First off, the drive up was simply gorgeous. I've mentioned before how lovely this fall season has been for me, but I'm positive that pregnant or not, I would've thought the colors of the leaves were divine anyway. Due to a scheduling conflict, we met Michael's family up there a day later. It was nice to have several hours of just "us time" to drink flavored coffee, listen to great music, and talk away.

This is the hotel where we stayed. I tried to capture all the unique antique features built within. However, they just didn't have the same aura of mystique on my camera. This hotel was built in the early 1900s, with much of the original architechture still in place. It reminded me of two things: 1. the Tower of Terror at Disney, and 2. The Shining with Jack Nicholson. Needless to say, I did not walk down long corridors by myself :)

Have I mentioned the vibrant colors of the leaves? Yes? Ok, well they deserve mentioning again. We took several hikes through mountain trails to witness the golden fire of these beauties. One particular hike took longer than we expected, and I was worried we weren't going to make it off the mountain before dark. Scenes of Deliverance kept running through my mind (anybody notice a pattern of my over-reactive imagination?). After M and I raced (literally) back through the woods, we fortunately made it down with only minutes of daylight to spare. In fact, I was rather proud of myself for getting back through those trails so quickly being 5 months pregnant! Maylin is a trouper!

Here's a picture from a lookout we drove to our first afternoon. No need to worry about getting down the mountain from this one!

Shopping the downtown shops was one of my favorite things to do, and we ended up purchasing Maylin quite a collection of things from an authentic toy shop. In fact, most of our purchases on this trip were for Maylin. Imagine that!

Overall, it was a great trip. We were able to spend quality time with his parents and sister, and quality time with each other. It's nice to take some time out of a normally busy schedule to focus on relationships in a fun place.