A Big Birthday Surprise!

All I knew about the surprise Shan had planned was that I was going to be 'kidnapped' for the day on Saturday. We woke up on Saturday and hung around for a bit. When my brother showed up, I assumed he part of some elaborate ploy to get me out of the house so that there would be some kind of surprise party.

While a surprise party would have been fun, the actual surprise was MUCH better!

Because my brother came to visit, Shan's plan to have the suitcase packed without me knowing sorta went out the window. So, after he and my Mom left, Shan let me know that we had to pack for the surprise. Sounded good to me!

We packed, and had a little surprise of my own for Shan. We knew we'd want to take a laptop in order to check Facebook, blogs, etc. So, while I was packing "my" laptop, I snuck hers into my laptop bag!

The first part of the surprise required that I drive the van toward Texarkana. Once we got there, Shan told me to head for Texas Roadhouse for lunch! Awesome! What was NOT awesome was all the RAIN pouring down.

I asked Shan if any part of the surprise involved being outdoors because of the rain. She told me that the rain might or might not affect things. So, after lunch, we ran to the van, dodging rain. Before we pulled out, Shan handed me a Spongebob folder and told me to open it. Inside were printed tickets to the RANGERS-ROYALS game that night!! Holy Crap!!

So, I point the van towards Dallas and away we go!!

When we get to Arlington, we have reservations at the Sheraton! The Sheraton is about a block (maybe block and a half) from the stadium! Holy Crap! Oh, and this little getaway was just for the two of us - no kids, and a KING-sized bed all to ourselves! Yee-haw!

We hung out in the room until it was time to head for the game, and then we walked together with a group of other folks up to the stadium. As we went in, She noticed that one of the concession stands had Pretzel Dogs. We walked around and found our seats. After we'd been there for a bit, we decided to grab a bite to eat. Our seats were about halfway around the other side of the stadium from the Pretzel Dog place, so we took the trek, looking forward to pretzel-wrapped hot dogs.

When we finally got to the stand, the woman behind the counter informed us that the stadium had not changed her sign. You see, they no longer SELL pretzel dogs! Say what!? Well, we walked away and decided that we could buy hot dogs and pretzels and come close to what we wanted... I have to say, the pretzels were very good, but they were the SALTIEST pretzels I have ever had. In fact, it looked like something out of one of those old-time pirate movies where they had the salt-lick ham... These things were coated in salt. For Shan, it was way too much. For me, it was a lot, and I could feel my heart reacting to the influx of salt, but it was good stuff.

The people behind us were two groups of folks. One group was a family with various-aged kids who basically ate during the entire game. The other group were three guys from somewhere in Asia. We were kept entertained throughout the game not only by the baseball game in front of us, but all the different conversations behind us.

The Rangers ended up losing 2-0, but as we left the game, there was a free concert in the park next to the stadium! We had heard an announcement about it during the game, but didn't pay it much attention. I looked it up, and it turned out that Jack Ingram (country singer) was going to be on-stage! How cool - a game AND a concert!

I have to say, this was the BEST birthday surprise ever!! WAHOO!!

Here are pictures from the game and the concert: