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That's right folks, from 32 to 4! We are getting closer and closer to picking where we will be vacationing after the I Do's!
It's taken us a few weeks to mull over the 8 and get it narrowed down to 4 - and it just happens to be a quirky coincidence that all the remaining destinations have double consonants in them! With no further ado, I give you the two remaining brackets:
KJ made the pretty picture, but I prefer to tie this into our wedding, so I'll call my brackets the PINK and BLUE bracket!
Bracket Pink:
Charlotte, North Carolina
vs
Niagara Falls, New York/Canada
Bracket Blue:
Savannah, Georgia
vs
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
If you've been playing along - you'll notice that something doesn't seem right in these brackets - and that's true! KJ and I made a decision about Nashville/Michigan bracket that was in the Elite 8. When we started our bracket, we had always knew Nashville would wind up in the final four, if not the winner of the entire trip. It's close enough, there are a lot of options, and it's Music City for heaven's sake... perfect for us. But due to the recent flooding and deviation in Nashville, we kind of changed our minds. I want to see Nashville, but I don't want to be disappointed, and it seems like it may be better to let Nashville recover before visiting on a high expectation vacation. (Say that 10 times fast) That being said, Michigan just didn't appeal to us, so we open that bracket up for discussion.
I'm pretty excited about the final four! I have to say, I actually don't know where we are going to wind up going. They are all very different areas and have a lot to offer. Now that Nashville is out, it really is anybody's game!
Where do you think we should go? What was the best mini vacation you've gone on?
I surrender.
I admit defeat to my fancy-pants fiance who has announced our miniMoon's Elite 8 - done in such a pretty layout that instead of even talking about it - I'm just going to refer you to his blog, where you can see the Elite 8 in all of its glory.
In going through 16 hotels and eliminating half down to our elite 8 - I have definitely picked out my favorite, but also the "sleeper" that I think could be a surprise and come on strong in the final four! I'm not giving anything away just yet - but we should have our final four posted this weekend.
If you are playing along at home, now is the time to pull out those red pens and get ready to scratch out the sorry hotels who fell out of the minimoon tournament last night. 4 of the 8 brackets played: Nashville, the Mid-West, Michigan, and South Carolina! Without further ado - check who fell off the bandwagon this week!
Nashville
1 Hutton Hotel
2 Union Station
this was a tough one, after much back and forth Hutton Hotel got the "w" because the rooms at Union Station looked a little like Harry Potter's chamber under the stairs.
3 Renaissance
4 Opryland
Renaissance dominated this game.
Mid-West
1 Branson, Missouri – Chateau on the Lake
2 Niagara Falls – Hilton Niagara Falls
3 Branson, Missouri - Hilton Branson
4 Black Hills (Mt. Rushmore), South Dakota - Powder House Lodge
This bracket got a little busted - we knew Niagara Falls had an automatic bid to the second round, but it came up against Chateau on the Lake which was the favorite of the two Branson Hotels. So, we killed both teams 3-4, and gave 1-2 each spots in the the next round of the tournament.
Michigan
1 Mackinac Island – the Inn at Stonecliff
2 Bay Harbor – the Inn at Bay Harbor
After finding out the Inn at Stonecliff only had rooms for over $300/night left the week of our vacation, Bay Harbor trampled the competition and moved on.
3 Holland - City Flats Hotel
4 Mackinac Island - Chippewa Hotel
Although both City Flats Hotel and Chippewa Hotel looked like ugly step sisters in the field of 16, Chippewa gained the advantage in overtime because of its location in Mackinaw Island.
South Carolina
1 Hilton Head Island – Hilton Oceanfront
2 Charleston – Francis Marion Hotel
In Hilton Head vs. Francis Marion, Hilton Heads dynamic location and more modern playbook earned it a spot in the second round.
3 Charleston/Isle of Palms – Wild Dunes Inn
4 Charleston – Vendue Inn
In what KJ called the "upset" of the night, Wild Dunes Inn put Vendue Inn to rest. Wild Dunes location a block from the beach was just too much for Vendue.
So, it's pretty much decided that we will be postponing an official Honeymoon till a few months after the wedding so that we can save up a little money and make the trip one of the ages. While I am not a huge fan of this idea, I understand saving and being able to pay for the honeymoon so we don't go into debt. In exchange, I've set out a few guidelines to our postponed honeymoon including the stipulation that it must be taken no later than April 2011, must involve a spot with palm trees and a balmy sun, and preferably a location out of this country. Now, that being said, I'm not going to go through this whole planning ordeal without looking forward to some type of R&R after August 14th. The idea of taking a few day "minimoon" came across and it seemed like a good idea.
A few of the initial thoughts on locations include places accessible in a day's drive: Mackinaw Island, Door County, Nashville, and a staycation in Chicago. So I started looking into Mackinaw Island and Door County today, and I am sick to my stomach. All I've seen are family-friendly, floral wall paper, baby bunny decorated, old-fashion bed and breakfast type of places that are making me queasy!!! NOTHING about this says "romantic minimoon". No chic hotels, yummy trendy restaurants to experiment at, spa's to enjoy a couples massage, or sandy beach (sans mosquito's) beckoning me to lie upon my newly gifted Martha Stewart beach towels.
Now I know I'm not going to get tropical rum drinks on this minimoon, but "OH!" the disappointment and FEAR I'm feeling regarding this option when the list of room amenities includes items like "white picket fence room trim" and "ceiling fan"...
...rather than valet parking, plush bathrobes, flat screen tv, and luxourious linens.
I'm not a country girl, I don't like camping, bugs and lakes creep me out, majorly. While I enjoy escaping to places like this occasionally, this is totally NOT what I've envisioned for our minimoon. Needless to say, I'm not giving up my tropical paradise daydreams just yet. Mackinaw Island and Door County... I'm moving on. I'm going to look into Nashville next. While there isn't the beautiful coast that Lake Michigan provides, at least there are some "Luxury" hotel options (and after looking at what most of the options "up north" are, Hampton Inn looks luxury). Oh my goodness, wish me luck...
