To celebrate our eight year anniversary, I planned a couple of surprises. First was a banjo for Michael, he has been wanting one for quite some time now, and the opportunity just presented it so I grabbed it. I surprised him with it on our anniversary which occurred this year on a Friday night. We had planned to go to dinner and so after work he came home to get ready and he hopped in the shower. This presented me with the perfect opportunity for launching a surprise, so that when he came from the shower it was on the bed. He did not notice at first but I was hiding in the room and got to see he initial reaction; the smile on his face was so beautiful to see, I could tell he was immensely pleased. Looking forward to him starting lessons!
We went to dinner and tried a place called El Tapatio on South Cushman. We started with a shrimp quesadilla that was amazingly delicious, I enjoyed a glass of Horchata that may have been the best Horchata I have had since I used to get homemade Horchata in Mexico back when I lived in Southern California. For dinner I had an awesome and huge seafood burrito and Michael had Halibut fajitas.
For Saturday I had planned an ADVENTURE. This involved outdoor playing in the snow, and I really wanted to go snowshoeing, something I have not done in nearly 9 years since I left Colorado. I have dragged my snowshoes in my moves from Colorado, to Florida and all the way up to Alaska, and thought it was time to get them out. I had planned to rent shoes for Michael, but the local shop did not have some for a guy of his size, and as luck with have it I found a pair of snowshoes for Michael on craigslist just in time for our adventure (no easy task since he is a big man and needs shoes for over 250lb) and surprised him with them on Saturday morning.
We went to breakfast at Sam’s Sourdough diner and while I found I did not like their sourdough pancakes, and the Spanish omelet was pretty unexceptional (I really prefer the Five Alarm omelet at the Diner, located downtown by a long shot), it was an adventure and I wanted to try something new.
We then went and got him some trekking poles, and then headed up to Wickersham Dome Trail, just 28 miles past Fox which is very close to where we live in Fairbanks. We really had a great time, and spent over 3 hours on the trail.
Of course, I had to try to adventure off the trail and I quickly fell and got myself stuck pretty early in our adventure. Sometimes I even amaze myself and the predicaments I can get myself into!
We made it to the Ski Trail Loop crossing, and even ventured up that trail a bit, which was a really nice change from the much groomed trail that we spent most of our time on due to the snow machines that went on the main trail.
Looking at the map it is obvious we have a lot to explore and I hope we can get out there again before the snow melts this spring but April is a busy month for me…..
All in all a great day, with only moderate soreness from the adventure.
Full pictures can be found here