Ain't love the sweetest thing?

Apologies for the delay in posting since Chicago, but we've been a bit distracted. Daniel told me he had a surprise for me in Hershey and I couldn't wait to find out what it was.

The dogs were getting restless as we were driving so we looked up dog parks to give them a chance to run around and burn off the steam they built up during our stay in Chicago. We found a place in Indiana with an agility course and decided it was well worth the twenty minute drive off the expressway to go check it out. We pulled up and it looked amazing! We were relieved that no other dogs were around and as we surveyed the area we saw lots of pretty scenery surrounding the park. We got the dogs and headed to the gate. They were very excited and could hardly contain themselves. We tried to open the gate and it was locked.  We looked around for another entrance and didn't see one. Then we saw the sign. Apparently we found the most exclusive dog park in the country. You have to pay for the tag that opens the gate. We considered jumping the fence but thought better of it when we saw video cameras. We were sooooo disappointed but made the best of it and walked the dogs around the pond.

An hour later we were back on the expressway. We knew the dogs weren't completely worn out but the weather was getting bad and we didn't have many options. The weather got so bad that we wound up stopping at a steak and shake just to let the worst of the storm pass. We definitely were not making great time! We realized that we spent about 10 hours going the 6 hours to Zanesville, the first city with a motel 6 after Columbus. When we got there, the motel 6 was sold out. What?!?! We didn't want to drive farther in the darkness and rain so we stayed at a Best Western. After our motel 6 streak, it really did feel best!

We woke up a little later than intended and we rushed to make it in time to Hershey for whatever it was he had planned. We got to the Motel 6 in Hershey and were disappointed to find that the entrances to all the rooms were inside and that we would be on the third floor. There is nothing quite like bringing two wound up Mastiffs through the hallways of a motel.  We got a weird vibe and the staff seemed super nosy. We were told that we couldn't leave the dogs alone in the room if they were going to bark. We didn't like the way this was going and although they usually don't make much noise, we considered trying to find them another place. We didn't have much time and decided to hope for the best.

We dropped them off and got back in the car. It was surprise time! I don't know what I expected. A meet and greet with a bear, elephant, monkey...that all crossed my mind given our zoo theme. I was really thrown for a loop when we started going down all these little backroads. Now I started to wonder if we were heading to see some long lost friend or family member. Then we come to a little fork that says the barn is one way and the inn was another. I felt a bit of relief when we headed toward the inn.

We were greeted by the owner and given a tour. It was beautiful and homey at the same time. By now I was extremely confused since it was way too early to be in a rush for dinner. I didn't ask questions. I couldn't. He immediately started putting yummy homemade treats in front of me. She showed us our room. Our room??? Now I'm really confused since we just left the dogs at the motel 6. There are roses, chocolate coveredstrawberries, and all the Hershey candy you can imagine scattered throughout the room. The bed was covered in silk rose petals.

We only spent a few minutes in the room before we were wandering around the grounds. ...of the farm! One path led to a pretty waterfall and coi pond. The other path led to a barn where we could feed horses, alpaca, donkeys, etc. I'll spare you the other details of our walk, but I am one lucky lady!!

A few minutes of walking around and the phone rings. It's Motel 6 yelling at us for leaving the dogs alone, letting us know the dogs are digging up the carpet and we need to get back there immediately so we can get them and leave. Uh oh. We apologized profusely, agreed to pay the fee to replace the carpet, and yet they were particularly nasty about the incident and decided to belittle us. They even asked if we were first time dog owners. They let us know they were going to report us to corporate for the damage and now we might be blacklisted from all Motel 6s (at least under Daniel's name). Here is a picture of what the dogs did:

We found a really cheap motel down the road where we left the dogs for the night after running them back and forth a few times to tire them out.

After that fun episode, we made our way back to the inn and fed the alpacas and the horses.

Then Daniel said it was time for the rest of the surprise and went into romance mode. He's a regular Casanova when he wants to be. He led me back to the room where I was quite startled to see someone else in there. A young woman was sitting in the corner by the fireplace and began to play the harp. She was playing All of Me and we began to dance. All of a sudden, he was down on one knee and holding a ring in front of me. He said some amazing things and I said yes, of course! Here is our first post-engagement picture:

We danced for a few more songs and then headed to a cute Italian restaurant in the Hershey Hotel for dinner. We were both so emotional during the actual proposal that we had to repeat the entire conversation over dinner since neither of us remembered it!! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and they surprised us with a little dessert when they caught wind of our engagement.

We headed back to the inn... and I'll spare you the rest of the details of the night too!