Best Weekend Ever. Period.

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last little bit, but once you hear what this long weekend entailed, I think you'll forgive me. And I think it's safe to say that this was the best weekend I've ever had. Let's start at the beginning (i.e. Friday), shall we?

Friday
My thesis defense. Over the last two years or so I have been working on writing my M.A. thesis. After a series very aggravating back-and-forths with the University over paperwork which had disappeared ("poof!" gone!), I finally got everything settled and was prepared to defend. Most of the defenses I've been to been have lasted 30 to 45 minutes. Mine ran 1 hour and 15 minutes. But, I passed . . . with revisions. Which means there's still a little work to do, but since I've only ever heard of one person passing without revisions, I still consider it a win for me. Finally! This is a good way to end the week/start the weekend.

A (short) vacation. This is the first vacation I've really had in about 18 months. Oh sure, there's been the trips back to Colorado to see the family during the holidays, but I don't really count that as a vacation as there is not always a lot of relaxing going on. But this weekend was different. My girlfriend, April, and I planned to go down to Bisbee for the long weekend. A chance to actually see my girlfriend and relax at the same time. This almost never happens. You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this! So, we head down to Bisbee, find our hotel, grab dinner at a pretty good "Mexican" (really Sonoran) place, go back to our room, . . . and promptly pass out. We've both had long weeks and are tired. Sleep is good.

Saturday
Wandering around downtown Bisbee. Not that there's all that much of downtown Bisbee to wander around, but it's still fun to just stroll along and stop in any shop which catches our fancy. We even managed to find some Christmas presents for various family members. The weather was kind of grey and overcast. Absolutely beautiful.

Diner at Cafe Roka. Probably considered the nicest place in Bisbee and food certainly supports that. Great food, excellent service, and an absolutely stunning woman. What else could I ask for?

Sunday
A slow start to the day and a little more wandering around town. We then had reservations for the Queen Mine van tour. It was just the two of us and the tour guide, a former miner from Bisbee. We got driven around the area and got the mining history of Bisbee and the surrounding communities. We also had the tickets for the underground mine tour. Naturally, it was very cool - both what we saw and the temperature. It's only about 47 degrees F underground, so I was not overly surprised when, toward the end of the tour, April kind off cuddled up and said she was cold. I do the good boyfriend thing and put my arm around her and try to warm her up. That's when she surprised me. She looked up and then ask, "Would you marry me?"

I said "Yes".

The Rest of Sunday and Monday
Spent in a bit of a happy daze. We had diner Sunday night at the Bisbee Grille, which was a little slow, but we weren't in any hurry so it was okay. Monday morning we got up and had breakfast at the Bisbee Breakfast Club, a little breakfast diner down the road a little bit. Good diner breakfast (which probably isn't all that good for you, but sure was tasty and far better than the fruit and toast they had at the hotel. From there, we headed back to Tucson, wandered around the mall, and had lunch. Unfortunately, I had to head back up here to the Valley.

So, let's recap the weekend:
1. Thesis successfully defended
2. A weekend in Bisbee with April
3. Nice weather for wandering around town
4. A great diner at a nice restaurant, with a beautiful woman
5. A couple of fun tours
and
6. April and I got engaged

Seriously, best weekend ever!