My 49th birthday hiccup getaway

I was a little mysterious about my birthday plans with my son because we head out of town.

It really was a spur of the moment plan. Rather than presents and dinner, I really desired to run to my favorite resort for one night instead, so I made a few calls. But it was too too expensive. I couldn't do it.

After some further brainstorming, I made a few other calls. Turns out if you go midweek, the price is slashed dramatically! My son wasn't going to school the next day anyway, so we sealed the deal and took off ON my bday.

Hiccup #1. The room I felt I could afford wasn't so hot. No patio, no view. Augh.. After I hung up, I went online to see what I could find out. Well... for $20 more, we could have a lake view with a patio! No contest. Another call and $20 later, we got one! NOW I was excited.

For you see, we went back to Harrison.

(you can read about our first stay HERE)

Honestly? If I don't live there one day I'd be very surprised. The little town of Harrison Hot Springs and it's surrounding beauty seems to call me pretty consistently.

Hiccup #2. After we dropped the dog off at a kennel, we fully expected to dine at an all you can eat buffet right in the hotel. Except it was closed. There goes the dessert table and my potential cake... :(

Plan B became the best burgers in town from the local pub in a dining room on wheels. With a killer view of course. :)

As for a cake? My son INSISTED we had to do something, so we head back to the hotel room and put together a few goodies we'd just picked up on our way in.

It's called a choc muffin peanut butter cookie special.

Hiccup #3 was fear of lighting the candles in the room. I didn't like the look of the sprinklers in the wall, so I insisted we do the candle thing on the patio. In the rain. Well, it was windy too so the candles never got lit. But my son was a total trooper for trying! He sang to me from the other side of the closed patio door. In the rain. LOL! Boy I love him!

So we hung in there until Survivor was over, then head to the hot pools.

Harrison is known for their natural hot mineral pools and this hotel knows how to do it well. My night photos didn't turn out so here's a net one showing one small pool out of 5 to choose from. (2 indoor, 3 outdoor)

The total. absolute. perfect. getaway. I could barely see around us the mist was so thick. There is nothing like a hot pool on a cold snowy/rainy night.

And boy did we sleep! Would you like to see the view we had?

Hiccup #4. These trucks were rolling by until well after midnight. One after the other in parade fashion. I worried I'd never get to sleep, but I got knocked right out from the magic of hot tubbing. Didn't hear a thing. But I smiled when I saw them bright and early in the AM once again....

No matter.. it was time for breakfast.

This magical room deal involved an all you can eat breakfast buffet. This is the fruit salad my son scooped up for me. (check out that real whipping cream he smothered it with!!) It was divine alongside my homemade omelet they whip up for you while you watch.

After booking out of the room, we learned we could use the pools for the rest of the day if we wished!

So, we put on the cushy white hotel robes once again and head out.

Right... all the pics were taken with my little point and shoot this round.

The cedar fragrance of this walkway leading to the pools was amazing.

Check out that steam! It ended up being a gorgeous sunny day, the first in... months?!?

Now, imagine this big pool as warm as a hot tub. Every pool had different temperatures so you could pick the one that suited you. What an outstanding way to relax and unwind!

After the longest soak in history, we were ready to go, however not before we took a walk around the sunny grounds. Our growing season hasn't yet started so there aren't any blooms or leaves yet, but there's also magic in bark and branches. Isn't this arbor incredible?

You can also rent cottages on the grounds and this was the view they had.

By then it was lunchtime, so we head to a nearby lakefront cafe for some fish and chips. No dieting this trip!

While this was the view we had during lunch, a visit to Harrison is never complete without hitting the beach on foot.

I haven't been very happy with my son's school photos for the past 2 years so I decided to shoot a few today. I'm now convinced once my photo studio is done up right that I can shoot my own from hereon out!

On the way home, we hit Rusty's, a cute place that's great for some local junkin'.

This mirror was SWEET. Even the colour was nice. But the price stopped me. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so cheap!

But these little mini shutters were a whoppin' $5, so they came home with me. Something else did too, but the pic didn't turn out. Guess I'll just have to do a reveal with them soon instead. :)

And then it was time to go home and end our wonderful getaway.

Hiccup #5. Funny story. While in the village, we spotted this incredible snow covered mountain and tried to get a good picture, but failed miserably. Too many houses and tall trees in the way, so we gave up.

So what did we drive right into on our way home?

God, you're awesome. :)

My son took these two last pics while we were driving. This is how cold it still is out our way, which made our hot pool escape even more special.

I don't recall feeling this relaxed in a very long time. There indeed must be some magic in those hot mineral pools, because I feel like a million bucks! Even my demeanor feels different.

I didn't want this birthday to happen. I missed my mom. But I'm so glad my son wouldn't hear of it, for my 49th birthday was one of the best to date! Hiccups and all. :)

Can you recall one of your most favorite birthdays? What did you do?

The parade concludes on Friday. Click .HERE to see who's up next each day.