This weekend was a bit of a surprise. We had known for a while that Brian had a work training thing in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend. The original plan was for him to head out Friday afternoon, attend the training all day Saturday, then drive back to Des Moines Saturday night (it’s just under three hours).
Thursday night, we remembered that we still had quite a few points left on one of our credit cards. Having never been to Lincoln, we booked the room for Saturday night as well and decided to make a weekend out of it!
We got in Friday night and ended up going to a pre-reception event for Brian’s work. He was at the training from about 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, which meant I had a day to myself in a new city. It may sound crazy, but I love exploring new places by myself while Bri works.
This time was a bit different, since I did have a crochet project I needed to get a good start on. But I did manage to get to the gym (hooray for the YMCA being right across from our hotel). I headed back to work on a project for a bit, but did take some time in the afternoon to grab tea and a scone from a cute little shop down the street, then wandered around downtown Lincoln for a bit.
Thankfully, Bri was done by 6:30, so we headed out for dinner. We found a little Irish pub right around the corner – I lucked out and had some of the best corned beef I’ve ever had. Since we always try to find a local brewery, we did some walking around and discovered Boiler Brewing Company. One of the best parts was their beer list – you could order any of their beers in a 2 ounce, 10 ounce or 16 ounce pour. It was a fun way to try a few more brews than we would have if you could order only one size. Plus, the teensy 2 ounce glasses were adorable!
I had bought some fancy chocolate earlier in the day on my adventures, so after a few beers we walked back to the hotel, snacked on some chocolate and watched some HGTV (some things never change, no matter what city we’re in).
The best part of the weekend was that Brian didn’t have to drive by himself Saturday night, and we had all day Sunday to explore. After a big breakfast at the hotel this morning, we loaded up and headed to a local trail head since we had packed the bikes.
It wasn’t a long ride, but it was a beautiful day and allowed us to move a bit before getting back in the car for the ride home. Plus, I was able to wear my birthday present from Brian (one of the many downsides of a winter birthday – I have to wait forever to use any summer-oriented gifts)!
We had passed a pretty fantastic looking outlet mall on the way out there, so we decided to swing by on our way home. Neither of us are big shoppers (unless you put me in a hardware or craft store) but this outlet had a Columbia, North Face and Under Armour store so it was right up our alley. I’m glad we stopped – we both scored a few items that we’ve had on our “grab someday” lists for a long time.
Overall, it was a long weekend… I’m actually writing this from the car on the way home. But it was fun and will definitely be worth the exhaustion tomorrow!
My original plan for the weekend was to get a head start on packing. That means I’ve got to get my tail in gear this week! We have some boxes on hand, packing tape on the way from Amazon and a list of items we won’t need right away so we can pack them now – all the ingredients for a successful week of packing.
How was your weekend? Any other impromptu trips out there?
