The parents were extremely helpful in balancing Aura's care so Evan and I could get away for three nights - our longest childfree getaway to date. My parents stayed at the house overnight with Aura and Ed and Bonnie gave my parents breaks during the day hours by entertaining Aura at their house.
I knew I didn't want to go anywhere too far because being cooped up in a car would only exacerbate my pelvic pain. The heat of summer was also already in full swing and being stuck in a car for even the 2.5 hours we were managed to give me cankles.
We went in early June, around week 30 of my pregnancy, to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and stayed at the lovely Brampton Inn. Since we were (and still are) in the middle of a pandemic we were pleased to find a place that accommodated our level of caution. We stayed in an independent cabin from the main building, our breakfast was ordered over the phone and then delivered to our room, and masks were required in the main building (we entered once a day to get their delicious afternoon snacks).
On the way to Chestertown we stopped in Annapolis for an outdoor brunch at Iron Rooster. Evan and I enjoyed our meals so much that we cleaned our plates. It's by the far the best meal we've had out in years, in no small part due to the fact that we haven't eaten out much during the pandemic, but mostly because the Iron Rooster is exceptional. We can't wait to go back. More crab cakes for me, please!
Speaking of exceptional, Brampton Inn was a really lovely escape. We had outdoor space with a hammock, a bistro table, and a porch swing. Unfortunately, we didn't get to utilize those things because it was an extremely hot and humid three days and I was already swollen from being in the car. There were also a lot of bugs and spiders so I'm not sure Evan would've been keen to spend much time out there anyway.
Our cabin/room was lovely. We had a little bistro table where we ate our breakfast every morning, a nice living area in front of a fireplace that would be perfect in the cold weather, and we had a nice comfortable bed with a flat screen TV mounted on the wall above. The shower was also quite nice with good water pressure. We all know how persnickety I can be about bathrooms! The breakfasts were quite good, the afternoon sweet snacks even better, and there were even a couple of cats on the property. I only got to interact with one and now her name has escaped me, but she was extremely sweet.
I think the best part of this trip was that we actually relaxed, which is something we tend to not focus on when traveling. We didn't rush or run around, we were purposely low-key. We picked up food and brought it back to our room to eat, we binge-watched the latest season of Master of None in bed, and during the days we either relaxed (read in my case) in the room or we went for drives/explored two wildlife refuges - the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge, new to us, and we returned to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. We specifically rented a fancy camera lens for the purposes of capturing all the amazing wildlife/birds we knew we'd encounter. We also spent a lot of time in the car discussing Iris's name and settled on it before our trip ended. That was a weight lifted and as we know now, the decision stuck!
We definitely needed this time to ourselves as a couple. It's the most time we've spent alone in a long time and we really soaked it up. Unfortunately, as soon as we got back we were slapped with a dose of reality. Aura had a great time with her grandparents and vice versa, but our punishment for going away was that she then refused to sleep in her bedroom anymore. We battled for days and then finally gave up because I didn't have the energy or desire to continue the fight. To be frank, I don't mind sharing the bed but I know that Evan gets kicked/woken up and that's obviously not ideal. I was mostly worried about Aura's quality of sleep once Iris arrived but so far we haven't had to face that obstacle yet. We've been switching on and off, one of us upstairs with Aura, and one of us downstairs with Iris so that the only ones losing sleep are the adults!
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