Happy Pre-Birthday to my Love!

Oh man, yesterday was amazing. AMAZING.

It started out with an early morning wake up call to get on the road by 8am. Josh met me at my place about 7:30am, a little sleepy-eyed, with absolutely no clue as to what we were going to be doing all day. The only thing he knew was that he got the day off of work and was subject to whatever I had planned. He really had no clue what was about to happen when I handed him his birthday present...

"Are you serious?! What!"

Oh man, his reaction was totally worth the 8 month wait! I had bought the Dirtfish Rally School 1/2 day course certificate through Groupon back in February. It was a little pricey but I knew there was no way I could pass up a 50% off deal on something Josh is always talking about wanting to do! I was going to gift it to him for Valentine's Day but decided to wait and use it for a more important occasion, like our 2-year-anniversary. But then when I went to schedule his session, they didn't have any openings until September so I decided to make it his birthday present... I still can't believe I kept it a secret for so long! But I'm glad I did because his reaction was so adorable and his excitement was contagious all day long! :) I love that he was grateful for the collared shirts and Mango Shave Gel [from Trader Joe's that he has been raving about ever since he used my brother-in-law's] but then the look on his face when he was reading the certificate... PRICELESS. 

So once Josh calmed down and I was able to explain exactly what we were doing, we gassed up the car and got some Starbucks to tide us over, then we hit the road and made it to Salish Lodge [which is only 5 minutes from the rally school] by 10am for our breakfast reservation. Josh had Chorizo Con Huevos which was by far the best breakfast burrito I have ever tasted, and I had the Poached Eggs Dungeness, which I had never even heard of but were one of the most delicious explosions of flavor I have ever experienced. BAM.

"fresh Dungeness crab, red and yellow bell peppers, tarragon, 

two poached eggs, grilled asparagus, sauce béarnaise, 

on toasted brioche with a side of breakfast potatoe" - menu description

Overall I have to say, it was probably one of the best restaurant breakfast's that I've ever had and I am so glad I listened to everyone who recommended it! [Thanks Jean and Scot!] A HUGE thanks to Mom who paid for breakfast, as Josh's birthday present. I feel like it's not really fair since I benefitted from it as well but shhhh, don't tell. :) So THANK YOU... from both of us! 

After breakfast, we walked out to the lookout point to get a better view of the falls, which we couldn't really see from in the restaurant, even though we had a window seat...

Salish Lodge

Snoqualmie Falls

After our amazing breakfast, we had some time to kill before Josh's class started at 1pm so we wandered around Snoqualmie for a little bit and discovered the Railway Museum... which I'm sure would have been a lot cooler if it had been open! :) But it still made for some good photo ops of my love: 

I will never get tired of taking pictures of this guy! <3

Finally, after Josh checking his watch every 5 minutes and giving me a countdown of how many minutes until 1pm, we decided to head over to the school...

Checking out the showroom cars.

Then it was finally time! Josh [along with the 7 other students] filed into the classroom for a quick rundown of how things would go and what the basic instructions and expectations were. I was super stoked to find out that I could tag along! I had come prepared with a book and a couple of magazines because I thought Josh would be off in the dirt and I would have to stay in the office. Not so! [Major points for Dirtfish in my book!]

Luckily he found a helmet big enough for his noggin! ;-)

Ready to go rally! 

Then all the real fun started:

Josh's instructor Nate.

He had such a big smile on his face all day! Love it! 

Nate gives Josh's rallying skills a thumbs up! :)

And he got a high five on one run! 

Please excuse my weak attempts at racing photography! We ordered the photography package from the school, they had a photographer down on the course who does this every day so I'm sure his shots will be a LOT better then mine! Can't wait to get them and share with you. For now, here's mine:

One happy racer!

dirty

By the end of the day, Josh was really pushing it. His last two runs in the "Boneyard" were "PERFECT!" according to the instructor that was standing by me. Here's a video of his very last run where he almost got in trouble on the last turn but pulled it off beautifully...

Notice Don, the instructor that was in charge, commenting about how me and the other lady spectator are the "coolest wife and girlfriend ever" because we bought the course as a surprise gift to our men!   :-) And then listen for Don's comments about Josh's driving on the last two turns! 

Josh is one of those guys who takes his time, makes sure that he's doing it right, learns what the instructor has to teach him, and then BAM, he's the best driver there! I loved it! He was the only one who didn't hit any cones or go off the course once! I'm so proud. And a little worried that this is going to come back to bite me in the bum because he's already talking about "next time"....!  

                

me and the birthday boy! <3

And don't worry, he didn't get any speeding tickets or into any car crashes on the way home... :-D