Last week my husband and I had an opportunity to finally use a gift card that our kids gave us over a year ago. The gift was for one nights stay at Big Cedar Lodge. It's about a 4.5 hour drive from our house and we love road trips, so it was perfect.

Our room was lovely, two queen size beds with feather bed mattress, a whirlpool tub, and french door opening on to a balcony with a spectacular view. It was the first time I ever slept in a room that had a deer head hovering over me, or little stuffed creatures sitting on the TV cabinet, but after a while, we didn't even notice them.

From Big Cedar we drove a couple hours east to Dora, MO to see a friend who runs a trout fishing resort called River of Life Farm. We stayed there for two nights, enjoying the scenery and the solitude. My husband built the website for ROLF and is always updating and adding new things to keep it interesting, so while we were there he was able to get some video of a fly fishing class that was being taught by the trout fishing guide who works at ROLF. It was interesting to watch and the guys taking the class had a great attitude about my husband filming them.

All in all it was a lovely weekend and we so appreciated this wonderful gift. Many thanks to our kids for their generosity. And many thanks to our daughter for staying in the "big house" with the our dog. We are blessed!!!