Melissa smiled quietly to herself as she folded their well-loved picnic blanket and balanced it delicately on top of her overnight bag. She and Chris had been planning on getting away for a ‘foodie’ weekend for so long.
Finally, with spring in the air and a pretty easy drive ahead, Melissa could sit back and enjoy the simple pleasure of having to do nothing but watch the countryside pass them by as they headed towards northern Victoria for what she knew to be a celebration of all things Italian – the King Valley Wines La Dolce Vita Food and Wine Festival.
Shortly after, Chris urged the car on from the last set of traffic lights as the highway stretched out before them. With that last shift of gears led them on to the open road, it really felt as though the weekend here and the stresses of weekday work were left behind.
“So, what have we got tomorrow?” he asked Melissa, who had nominated herself as ‘Cruise Director’ for the coming days.
“Oooh. Interested now, are you?” she teased him. “And here I was looking to surprise you!” Chris simply smiled, knowing well enough not to try to jump in on Melissa’s carefully crafted itinerary. “So much to do… so much to see…” she sang while flipping through the festival brochure festival brochure she had printed out, and continued to taunt him. “Mmmm… that looks delicious…”
Chris could see various things circled and lots of written notes, but it was difficult to make out much else. “Uh-uh… Eyes on the road, Jeeves.” She said, and Chris laughed to himself while conceding defeat. Whatever they were going to do this weekend, he had no doubt that, while in Melissa’s hands, it would be filled with the flavours and energy of her parent’s homeland.
Later that evening Melissa and Chris breathed in the fresh air as they walked back towards their accommodation at Lana Trento B&B (She really has thought of everything,” Chris mused).
“So… how did you like the big opening wine dinner at Epicurean?” Melissa asked.
“Fantastic – especially those potatoes topped with King River Gold cheese. I probably could have it for main course as well!”
“Well, I guess you’re lucky we’ll be doing a lot of walking tomorrow,” she said as she leaned in and rubbed his belly, pretending it was larger than it was.
Chris playfully swatted away her hand away. “You’re really not going to tell me anything, are you? I can’t believe you’d hold out on me like this.”
“Not a thing!” Melissa replied. “Like all good things in life, you’ll just have to wait!”
To be continued…
