I love how the brits calls it a “holiday”. So Bridget Jones.

With CFA 2 behind us, Bry and I were in dire need of a holiday. Last year, we celebrated by going to Vegas and this year, we decided to stay a little more sober by joining the Nash’s for a weekend of fun in Lake Chelan.

Bry picked me up from work around 3:00 pm and we loaded the Jeep.

• Overnight Bag – 1
• Pillows – 2
• Bottles of sunblock – 3
• Bags of Gushers – 20

Oh! And I finally purchased some white Chuck Taylor’s, i.e the ULTIMATE summer shoe. Maybe it stems from my lifelong crush on Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez from The Sandlot.

We picking up KC (Bry’s older brother) and dispensed necessary + nutritious road-trip eats.

A couple hours later, our tummies grumbled for more healthy snacks.  So we wisely stopped at Rusty Burger to re-fuel.  Bry and I split a burger even though I was craving a corn dog hard. Am I the only person who loves corn dogs? Ohmygod Zips!

We later discovered that KC mistakenly ordered the double-meat-double-cheese burger. #happyaccidents

We arrived at our condo in Wapato Point and were warmly welcomed my Mom and Pop Nash.

Vacations with Nash family, I’ve come to realize, are basically as close to perfect as you can get and are vastly different from a typical Danielson vaca.

Nash Family: Activities are planned, not with crazy itineraries, but a general idea for a sequence of events is considered.

Danielson Family: A very loose idea of a few things are thrown out there the morning of. Fighting ensues.

Nash Family: Meals are planned and tables reserved or shopped for in advance. Mom and Pop do the cooking and often times, the cleaning up.

Danielson Family: Vacation too hard and too long. Give no thought to meals. Reservations never made and last minute decisions lead to discovering the place is closed. Fighting ensues.

You see the pattern here?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my weird little family and our lackadaisical attitude…at times.  However, when traveling with the Nash’s I know I won’t, a.) Go hungry b.) Be bored or c.) Go hungry.

So when we arrived at the condo in Wapato Point, what did we do? We ate.  A lovely spread of bruschetta was thoughtfully arranged for us on the patio and an array of beverages including G&Ts and Coronas. I obliged. We decided to have a friendly game of putt-putt to kick off the weekend festivities and help KC digest his Rusty’s burger in time for dinner.

Lemmejustsay, boys get competitive no matter what. We could be playing barrel-o-monkeys and there would be bloodshed. KC eked out a win over Bryan, but it was a battle.

For dinner, we enjoyed salmon and steak with a yummy salad and corn with a bottle of red wine.  We had strawberry-rhubarb crumble ala mode for dessert and then promptly passed out.

The next morning, Bry and I went to the Starbucks in Lake Chelan and waited in the longest line of all time.  Then we took our venti misto and cinnamon chip scone down to the water and strolled along the path, gulping in delicious coffee, the beautiful surroundings and each other’s wonderful company :).

Arriving back at the condo, we were fed the Nash signature pancakes and bacon which I die for.  Then we discovered the best part about the trip – the Mary Poppins bag.  Bryan’s mom had thoughtfully packed a large tote full of everything you never remember to bring on vacation, yet always wish you had.  Items like frisbees, horseshoes, floaties, various balls and maybe even a lawn dart or two! Seriously Mary Poppins.

The condo also came equipped with one of my most favorite lake pastimes – puzzles. Bry and I selected a “junior” puzzle, obviously and 20 minutes later had killed it:

We decided to blow up 2 floaties and were going to head down to the rec center to inflate them, when I discovered a random hidden talent of my fiance.  It seems Bryan may have missed his true calling as a tuba player, as he can inflate a floatie in mere minutes.  Here I was, turining purple in the face and Bryan is already surrounded by a fully inflated rainbow floatie. So much for 1o years of band.

Then, we loaded up the cooler with necessities like beer, sunblock and Gushers. Have you ever applied sunblock when it is slightly chilled? OH law, it feels nice. The same goes for Gushers. When eaten while cold, they turn into little nuggets of sweet fruity magic. In yer mouth.

And can I just say, what is better than laying on a floatie?  Ours had a headrest and cup holder, I mean COME ON.  We all took turns on it, drank Bud Light Limes and dutifully applied sunblock to our pale, Seattle-tinted bodies. I was sad to reach the final pages of a book I cannot recommend enough, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. So. Good.

After a delicious lunch of paninis with COUGAR GOLD we took a walk to the point and I practiced my cart wheels, pulled my hammy, then headed back to the condo and got ready for a little wine tasting!

Since we were technically in E-WA, I knew it was time to poof up the hair a little.

First stop: Vin du Lac

I was excited to try out this winery since I have enjoyed many glasses of this wine at Maison de Nash.  We were able to sneak in a few tastes of delicious whites before a truck-load of twenty-something gals in maxi dresses and big sunglasses swarmed the place like the shoe department on the first day of the Nordstrom half-yearly. Needless to say, we drained our glasses and jumped in the car for Benson Cellars.

Benson is situated up high on a hill (was a lonely goatherd) and the view is quite remarkable. Sweeping views of the valley, the sparkling lake and of course the vineyards are perfectly complimented by the beautiful tasting room and yummy wine.  As it happened, there was a wedding taking place! We gawked at the party guests, gave our opinions on the color scheme (brownish-red for a summer wedding?) and as we pulled out of the parking lot, made our final assumptions as the bridal party arrived in a stretch Hummer. Oh, E-Wa!

Last on the list was Tildio, which also boasts amazing views and really tasty wines.  We sampled the whites, snapped a few pictures and decided to head on back to the condo for appetizers  + drinks and maybe another riveting game of putt-putt.

Bryan, KC and myself ended up toting our red solo cups with a 1/3 of a bottle of wine each down to the mini golf course. I improved by a couple a strokes but my skills were becoming decidedly worse with each game.

Dinner that night was an Ina recipe, called Greek Panzanella salad. MUST re-create at home. Basically you chop up a bunch of veggies, dress em up with a vinaigrette and throw in some homemade croutons (which I’m already obsessed with making) and little feta. Opa!

Our final day in Chelan was a sad one.  We all wanted to trade in our Mondays for more BLL’s, sunshine and guacamole.  We concluded the weekend with more beach time and of course, a third round of mini-golf.  And yes, I continued to get worse if that is even possible.

We waved goodbye to Lake Chelan as I tried to convince the boys to “pool our money” and buy a house on the lake.  Instead, Bry promised me we would go back for a longer trip that involved s’mores. Because what kind of summer is complete without s’mores?