June 11, 2006

Photo from the honeymoon suite

My husband and I so rarely travel without the kids that for our long weekend we decided not to bring the tent but to treat ourselves to a nice hotel. (I sleep great in a tent but Spouse is a light sleeper who very much prefers a bed.) Unfortunately, when you plan your vacation around a place with great hiking trails, you can end up in the middle of nowhere, where nice hotels are scarce, or even non-existent. The room we were given when we arrived on Thursday night in Town Named After Dead Animal Parts looked nothing like the photo we had seen on the internet. The bed was a cross between a broken trampoline and a medievel instrument of torture.

We decided the next day over breakfast to complain to the owner of the motel about the bed that seemed designed to cause backaches. The owner turned out to be a very excitable man who was horrified that we were thinking of checking out of his fine establishment. He gave us a long speech about the type of customers he usually gets – by his account, boorish party types who sometimes arrive with kegs and who spill chicken wings on the bed -- and he kept saying things like, "Yeah, that bed's probably 20 years old." At least he was honest. And an optimist as well. He followed his tirade about what horrible things customers do to the beds with the hopeful line, "Did you notice that the TV is new? Brand new TV."

Finally, he walked us over to another building and offered us his "honeymoon suite." I’m not sure why it was called a suite, since it was just one room, but it did have a king-size bed with a firm mattress, big mirrors, nice wallpaper, and a jacuzzi in the corner, a huge improvement over the dark little room we had stayed in the night before. Both the teenage girl who was cleaning the rooms and the owner's wife had trailed along to see how we would like the honeymoon suite, and they kept smiling and winking, and saying, "Oh, you'll like it."

Since my husband and I are in our mid-forties and have been married for 22 years, I doubt anyone thought we were actually on our honeymoon, but we saw no reason not to graciously accept the upgrade. The teenage girl with the cart of mops said as she left, "Didja want me to close the drapes for ya?"

It was a cold, grey morning with a drenching rain, so we abandoned the idea of an early hike in favor of enjoying the honeymoon suite. I did wonder what to do with the digital camera, since I had planned to take a whole bunch of photos while we were hiking. I had promised my readers a photo, so I had this sense of obligation. I offered to take a photo of my husband in the jacuzzi, explaining to him that my blog audience was almost all women, they would just love such a shot, and he could be the first man to post nude for the blog. He turned down my generous offer to make him famous, and offered to take a photo of me instead. The tub was slow to fill so he snapped a photo of me balanced on the edge, waiting impatiently for the water to be high enough so we could turn the jets on and see how it worked. Then we put the camera away for the rest of the morning.

jacuzzishot

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! You look so strong.

Xtin said...

Day-um, jo(e)! The steam is fogging my laptop monitor! *passes the begamot bath oil*

Willow said...

In honor of your photo I found this poem from sikhwomen.com

http://www.sikhwomen.com/Sexuality/BeautifulWomen/spiritualstrength/astrongwoman.htm

Here's to all the women of strength.

jo(e) said...

Thanks, Willow.

Oh, Friday Mom, perhaps we should make this a meme ....

BrightStar (B*) said...

Jo(e) is a hottie!!!

Terminal Degree said...

{whistles}

Yankee, Transferred said...

Fabulous. Great photo, great husband, great jo(e). Love it.

timna said...

I think this was the picture you wanted to stage at 4C's! much better tub and only the wine glass is missing!

Liz Miller said...

You look like you could be your daughter.

Anonymous said...

Yowza! Bold and Beautiful!

And a meme? Like hell!

Flavia said...

I second all the lovely-woman remarks. . . but what I'm REALLY wondering, some 45 minutes after first reading this post, is--what kind of dead animal parts could a town be named after??

Leslee said...

I'm sure your husband enjoyed!

Rev Dr Mom said...

What Flavia said! LOL!

jo(e), you are an amzing woman. Thanks for sharing your life with us.

nancy said...

Hubba
Hubba!

jo(e) said...

Friday Mom: Okay, now I am curious as to what might happen with this meme.

And for everyone who asked: the name of the town is Horseheads. I suppose they could be living horseheads but I always picture dead ones ....

Thanks everyone for all the nice compliments. If I had known readers would say such nice things, I might have posted a nude photo of myself sooner.

jo(e) said...

Friday Mom: That is sooo cheating! (I was expecting a naked-but-for-the-cowboy-boots shot.)

Shelly: Crispier? I do get a dark tan later in the summer ....

Readers do always ask how old I am. I turned 45 in April.

an American placed among the English said...

My parents just did something of that nature--a trip away from the family... I must say, though--my mother's figure just doesn't compare to yours! Kudos to your bravery.

Girl said...

Beautiful!!

Jo(e), I pray that someday my daughters will grow up to be as confident in themselves as you are. And I pray that my sons will respect the women in their lives and encourage their confidence. I can only imagine, that your family is much like that.

Jennifer (ponderosa) said...

I am *so* jealous of your weekend away ... and the fact that you found time to see each other naked! Little kids are death to intimacy.

And I echo what the others said about the pic!

jo(e) said...

Shelly: Oh, good catch. I would prefer crispy over matronly any day. The matronly characters in Victorian novels were always dreadfully mean and kind of asexual ....

Girl: I so wish that all women could feel good about their bodies. I hate what our culture does to women's self-esteem.

Friday Mom: I am so rooting for you to get those boots now.

Jessica said...

Jo(e) - you are my hero.

Anonymous said...

Go jo(e)!!

Dr. Virago said...

Yay Jo(e)! How odalisque-like! How lovely!

Camera Obscura said...

Jo(e) is right: the town is named for horse skulls:

"September 24, 1779 - this date hallmarks the time and hallowed ground where lie the true relics and sun-bleached skulls of the American Military Pack horses of the armies of Major-General John Sullivan. These peaceful servants of General Sullivan and his officers, with about 5000 “ragged rebels” (as expressed by King George III) brought forth a gallantry in the American Revolutionary War’s western campaign against the Six Nations of Indians (Iroquois)."

comebacknikki said...

Whoo-hoo! You go jo(e)! :)

Sarah said...

You are my frickin' hero!

And... Dead Animal Part Town? I'm curious. There is a place in Delaware called Slaughter Neck, near Slaughter Beach. I would SO never go on vacation there.

Jody said...

You know, between the camping and the family and the hair and now the body, the jealousy is going to CONSUME me here! You are gorgeous!

Sue said...

Great picture jo(e)! I'm glad you're weekend turned out so well.

Will we ever get a nudie picture of your sweetie?

jo(e) said...

Camera Obscure: Thanks for the local history. It's a bit chilling, isn't it?

Sue: My husband is a pretty private person. I think it's safe to say that a nude photo of him will never appear on my blog. For that matter, I don't think a clothed photo of him has even appeared on my blog. His hair is short so I don't have many faceless photos of him.

Anonymous said...

Jo(e), I was thinking about how you have not shared a picture of your husband after seeing your picture last night. Maybe you could get a multigenerational picture of the men in your family, similar to the picture in the pickup truck a week or so back. Or maybe backs of their heads silhouetted against the campfire light at camp this summer.

kabbage, 45 in less than a month, but not as "well-preserved" as jo(e)

see-through faith said...

wonderful :)

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

Beautiful and confident.

Sally said...

:) brave lady- great post !

Autumn said...

Gorgeous shot. I hope I look that good in twenty years!

Dr. Peters said...

20 years??? I wish I looked that good now at 28!
I am very tempted to participate in such a meme, though...

Anonymous said...

I'm 22 and I'm about to get married. I came across this googling for honeymoon suites. I really hope I look that good when I'm in my forties. Thats so awesome for you. And you are still hiking and stuff. Go you. Srew in my forties. I wish I looked that good now. : )

fuquinay said...

This looks exactly like me.