Our Natey was out of town for the weekend and the Hubs and I finally celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. Yes, we are a month late, but I didn't want to have to take any books, notes, etc related to M1 year with me, so I petitioned for a post-semester vacay...
Anyway, we stayed this weekend at Oak Ridge Manor Bed & Breakfast in Creal Springs, Illinois. It is about a four hour drive from Indianapolis, and close to SIU Carbondale. The "town" is REALLY small, but VERY beautiful. The bed and breakfast is one of the most beautiful and comfortable places we have ever stayed. It is a 6300 square foot mansion that sits on 98 acres of land with stables, a pool, and beautiful gardens and trails...Our room was a huge jacuzzi suite and very comfortable! Although I love living close to a big city, it was so re-invigorating to be driving in mountains, untouched forest, streams, and miles and miles of farmland - it was the stuff movies are made of. It definitely made me feel so close to God surround by such beautiful scenes in nature....
On Friday afternoon, we checked in and then went to a popular BBQ restaurant. I had a beef brisket sandwich, and the Hubby (being the brave man he is) decided on the Champions feast. It was a hearty selection of FIVE different meats.
Along with the natural beauty, Southern Illinois is most famous for all of its unique vineyards and a number of winery trails. So, Saturday, after a gourmet breakfast provided by the B&B, we went on a wine tasting tour - which was really cool because we learned about the wine making process, saw huge fields of grape vines, find out what types of wines we prefer, and got to eat a lot of good food! We even made some new couple friends, also staying at our B&B, that have been married a year also and are from St. Louis. We ended up meeting up with them at the start of our tour and we hung out the rest of the day...It was VERY fun :-D After the winery tour, the hubby and I had dinner at a nice Asian bistro where we both had a version of soft shell crab - I had it in my sushi, and he had it as a main course.
This morning, we woke up to another deliciously prepared breakfast, and got ready to hit the road. Although we both wished we could have stayed longer, we are so thankful that we got the opportunity to get away for a great weekend and we are definitely planning on coming back - maybe next time with a group of friends!
