This post is written in collaboration with Homeaway/VRBO.

About a month ago, we met up with some friends for a long weekend in Leavenworth, WA. It's a charming Bavarian-style village nestled in the Cascade Mountains, right in the middle of Washington state, and it's especially beautiful in the winter. The plan was to meet up with two couples from Seattle that we really miss, for a weekend of catching up and relaxing. We booked ourselves a great Homeaway/VRBO right on the river, with mountain views, a hot tub, and a giant table for games. The place was truly gorgeous. But weellll, everything else didn't exactly go accordingly to plan. I told Ben this weekend was like that game "fortunately, unfortunately." You'll see...the story just keeps going on and on (and I'm going to tell you the simplified version).

Fortunately, Ben took a couple days off work and we were going to meet up with friends we haven't seen in awhile! Unfortunately, the week before, Emmett got sick with a high fever and flu symptoms. Fortunately, he got better just in time for our trip and his temperature was back to normal. Unfortunately, one of our friends (who is in grad school) had to stay home over the weekend to catch up on an overwhelming load of schoolwork. Also, our other friends' dog started having seizures the day before so they weren't sure if they'd make it. We were feeling really disappointed...but we figured that even if no one else showed up, we'd still get to have a family vacation. And fortunately, our vacation rental was really gorgeous and in a great location.

Unfortunately, the first night there Ian got sick. Throwing up, diarrhea, the works. :( Fortunately, by morning he seemed to be fine and happy. Our friends' dog was also better so they decided to come. We went into town and explored a little. Things were looking up!

this cute little walk-up counter had great coffee.

Our friends arrived, and we all hung out, chatted, and played some games. Unfortunately, that night I started to feel a little queasy. I went to bed early, hoping that would help, buuuut I threw up in the middle of night. Fortunately, I felt much better after that so I thought maybe I just had a quick bug.

Unfortunately, I threw up again in the morning. We decided to go home. Fortunately, the kids were being total troopers in the car and Ben and I were having some good conversation (we always have good talks on road trips). Unfortunately, we got stuck in standstill traffic due to a semi that had rolled over and caught on fire earlier that day, Turns out, traffic had already been stopped for two hours by the time we got there and the road still wasn't cleared up. Fortunately, we were near an exit and Ben was able to get off the freeway and find an alternate route. Unfortunately, by that time the kids were breaking down crying and I was feeling nauseous again. By the time we got home, everyone was exhausted. Fortunately, we made it safe...but unfortunately I was sick for the next two days.

the view from our Homeaway

And THAT is the long story of the most dramatic and ill-fated vacation I've ever taken!!! We tried so hard to stay positive, but it just wasn't meant to be. I have a few photos from the first day we arrived to show you how lovely this area is. I will say, if you're going to get sick on vacation, at LEAST have it be in a beautiful vacation rental with a view!!!

And multiple bathrooms, lol. I can only imagine if we had been stuck in a tiny hotel room...it would have been SO MUCH worse!

Even though things didn't go quite as I planned, I still enjoyed parts of our vacation. Our Homeaway/VRBO was awesome, with tall ceilings, a gorgeous view of the river, a fully stocked kitchen, a hot tub (that I never got to enjoy, but at least Ben did!), and plenty of space for our whole group. It was pretty affordable too, especially once we split it three ways. We love staying in vacation rentals instead of hotels if we're meeting up with friends, because we can put the kids to bed and have a common area for the adults to all hang out in. Having a kitchen always saves us money too!

big helper in the kitchen ;)

What's the craziest vacation you've ever taken? Does my story take the cake, or do you have one that'll make me feel better??? Ben and I usually have good luck on vacations; we tend to get sunny weather even if the forecast called for rain, and our kids overall behave pretty well on trips. But man, this one was a doozy, if I'm being honest!!!

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