My Pre-Birthday Bash

It sure left its mark on us, we sure left our mark on it.
We let the world know we were here with everything we did
We laid a lot of memories down, like tattoos on this town.....

I didn't get much of a 21st birthday.....I don't have all the stories to tell, the memories to smile over, and really nothing to say about the day I turned 21. Because of that I've told myself for years that I would ring in my 30th with a bang. We decided to do it a little early this year because for my actual birthday I'll be camping with family for Thanksgiving vacation and while that will be more than nice....It wasn't quite the adventure I was looking for.
A couple of months ago we put together a plan and this weekend we put our plan into action. Thankfully we had the boys' Nana here to watch them and A and I were on our way.
We reserved a fireplace suite that was more than just nice. It was AWESOME!

We had a nice cozy fireplace inside with a huge king size bed and a loft with a pool table. Who needs more?? Well we had more! Outside on the balcony we also had another fireplace that sat right next to the hot tub that was just perfect during the nights when it hit a frigged 26 degrees!
Saturday morning we woke up when we were ready (and yes, it was still 7am)...No alarms, no children crying, no little 5 year old sneaking into our room saying, "Mommy, is it time to get up yet...."
We dressed and headed to our first adventure~Ziplining the Nantahala Gorge.

The ziplining was incredible!!! Look at the drop! The speed.....and it helped even more to have a great crew to go with.

We left there with an exhilarating high and contemplated going back to the room to watch some football.....We looked at each other.....Nah! Let's go out on the town!
It's not to often that we're near a casino so we decided to head there. If you had seen us walk in we stuck out like a sore thumb. We roamed the casino glaring at the old ladies with their oxygen tanks hooked up while smoking their cigarettes. We spotted the folks who had their frequent flyer card in the machine yet looked like they may be wondering where their next meal would come from. The smoke was so heavy in the casino that I wondered how on earth I would be able to stand this for even 5 minutes....And then, we found our seat at the bar.

We got to know our bartender who happened to be a Georgia fan....We made some quick casino friends, played a little poker, and actually had a pretty good time.
After cashing out our vouchers (and yes, Aaron did win us a little something at poker) I could tell he was ready to head back to the casa.....Not without ONE more stop though. I wasn't going to be satisfied unless I came home with my final tattoo before turning the big 3-0.
I could tell he wasn't very enthused and after looking through book after book after book I thought we'd walk out with nothing. I had saved on my phone what I wanted and was fortunate enough that the artist was able to draw something very similar. Once I laid down to get mine, Aaron came around and found one of his own. While I was about ready to take a nap durning mine....I would about have to compare it to getting a massage....I couldn't help but find the misery Aaron was in a little funny. ;)

And well....That's about the end of our trip. We woke up this morning with smiles remembering our awesome day. We stopped for a great breakfast and picked the boys up a sweet treat before picking them up. To describe the trip as "fun" would be an understatement. There aren't any words to describe. It was so nice spending the weekend with just my husband. We laughed at things we otherwise would have never thought were funny. We took in every single minute of our day and relished in it. This pre-birthday bash to celebrate my 30th could have honestly not been any better! Happy Birthday to me!