to celebrate ross’s big 3-0, we both took the day off from work.  our plan for the day was simple:  i had a secret birthday itinerary and ross wasn’t allowed to know anything about it.

we ended up spending the night at his parents’ house the night before and got to hang out with them and tom and julia, who were also in town.  our day began early:  we left the house around 8:30 after a quick breakfast and it wasn’t until we pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead of Dragon’s Tooth that Ross knew where our first stop would be.  it was a gorgeous day and we (the pups too) had the whole trail to ourselves.

we hiked to the top in record time (background note: during my sophomore year of college, Dragon’s Tooth was my first big hike ever and the first time ross and i had spent time together outside of a really big group.  until that day, i hadn’t hiked Dragon’s Tooth since!), we also took in the beautiful view, had a little snack of some of ross’s favorites, and came back down to move on to our next stop.

Next stop:  lunch.  The Swinging Bridge restaurant is an incredibly unique place, located in the back of a old time general store in the middle of nowhere.  despite their remote location, its a beautiful restaurant with a great lodgy feel and amazing food.  what gives the restaurant its name is the literal swinging bridge that spans across the open second floor – it makes up the fourth side of a balcony gift shop above the restaurant.  i wish i had taken pictures, but we didn’t bring the camera in.

finally, after a few wrong turns, and a scenic ride home, we had just enough time to shower and change before heading back up to roanoke for a big dinner at our favorite restaurant (Montano’s) with the family.  Ross even got to blow out the candles on a huge cream puff birthday “cake.”

So ended part I of the old man’s birthday celebration…