Date Night "U"

Well, well, well.  I finally figured out something fun to do for our "U" date.  After much pondering, along with an unquestionably out-of-character spring day we headed to the city of Utica for an afternoon of hiking.  Hubby is addicted enjoys a drive to anywhere.  I think he must be a castoff of yesteryear when families went for Sunday drives.  My practical self can hardly abide this pastime of his--especially with gas nearing the $4.00 a gallon mark. Beyond that, my aforementioned practical self does not understand this pastime AT ALL.  I find being stuck in the car on a beautiful day depressing.  I want to be OUTSIDE.  So, you have to understand how difficult this was for me--but, since I decided to go with this idea, I had to at least act like I was going to enjoy it!  (Hubby is sensitive like that.  Somehow he's on to me when I sit in the passenger seat, stone faced, only breaking the silence with, "Are we there yet"?)  I know, I know.  My behavior is that of a six year old pouting on 12 hour trip to nowhere.  I'm not proud of it and I don't quite understand it myself.  So, date martyr that I am, I got myself geared up mentally and spiritually (attitude-wise).  Once Hubby knew what we were doing, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  Which led to this conversation:
Hubby:  "Are you sure you want to do this?  I don't want to go if you're going to hate it."
Ouch
Me:  "I was trying to do something unusual ~ so I thought I would try to be more understanding of your love for day trips".  (A martyr needs her due recognition.)
Hubby: "Wow, that is truly unbelievable".
So funny, that guy is.
Anyway.
Utica is the home of Starved Rock State Park and we've hiked there before so we knew we'd enjoy the waterfalls and the first signs of spring.  (Hiking I enjoy, it's the preceding drive.....)  Since spring came SO early this year, we actually saw wildflowers!!  This is no small thing--their website has a Spring Wildflower walk as an activity to do the first week of May and we were there the second week in March!

 I'm not sure what it is about a waterfall, but they are awesome!


We finished up the afternoon with going to into town to have lunch and driving to a few nearby antique stores.  What's a day trip without antiquing? (Something Hubby would say--not me)

 Hubby also loves to take pictures of old barns and we stopped all along the way home to indulge in that pastime.







I wish I could express how much this is all NOT me (with the exception of hiking) but it was fun to see him enjoy doing all the things he loves. And that, in turn gave me joy.
(Well, that, and the fact that I was rewarded with my car being washed inside and out, and vacuumed!  There was even carryover into the next day--My kitchen was sparkling clean when I woke up!)  Seems to me that someone (ahem...me) should have paid better attention when I read Gary Chapman's book, "The Five Love Languages".  Clearly the guy is on to something!
If only I could remember this valuable lesson for the next Sunday drive/antiquing/and take pictures of barns day trip~~which in all likelihood will be sooner than I think!

                                         “Love is a choice you make everyday.” 

                                                                            ― Gary Chapman