Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Back From Vacation


The first rule of driving in the state of Utah is: "If you ever, ever, ever look up and see the above in your rear view mirror, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" Do it like your life depends on it, because it does!

Now that I've been back for a few days I suppose I should do a little blogging before anyone starts yelling at me. You know how much that bothers me. I enjoyed my little getaway immensely and was sorry to see it end. Vacations always seem so short. We did a LOT of driving this time so there was plenty of time for talking. I learned a lot about Lisa during these long drives, now I have a deeper understanding of her and greater respect and appreciation for the person she is now. That alone made the whole trip worthwhile.

I got to see a lot of Eastern Utah, and some of the Northern part too (I think). The landscape is extremely different from what I am used to. Barren would be a good word, even desolate would work for some places. It seemed to be mostly dirt and rocks with a few tumbleweeds, straight out of an old Spaghetti Western. It was still quite pretty in it's own way though. The color contrasts between the flat ground, the mountains and the sky, the different colors of the mountains themselves, the multicolored layers of stone and the oddly shaped formations all made for some fantastic scenery. The pictures just don't do it justice and completely fail to convey just how big and open the views actually were. Check out the "Utah Mountains" album if you want to see a few of the pictures I took. Most of them were taken while moving at roughly 80-85 miles per hour proving that high speed photography is indeed possible. Who knew??

We went to a museum which showcased artifacts from the region. There were a lot of interesting exhibits depicting human life throughout early history in what would later become Utah. There was also a lot of dinosaur exhibits. It's a small place but they had a lot packed into it and it was interesting to see. A lot of the pictures we took there didn't come out so well so I borrowed a few from the museum's site to replace them so they'd be more visible. They are in the "Utah Prehistoric Museum" photo album if you care to look.

I also learned that I absolutely made the right choice when I decided to never have kids, lol. 6 hours in a vehicle with 4 boys who all had better things to do was not the highlight of my trip. But I survived!

There's only one bad thing I can think of about the entire trip. I left my last few remaining Godiva chocolates in Lisa's refrigerator!! :( They were my reward to myself for enduring the pain of shopping with Lisa. After an hour in Victoria's Secret I felt I deserved it (just kidding, it wasn't really that bad. Shhhh) Key lime truffles and raspberry truffles in dark chocolate. Shame, shame, shame on me!

Coming home sucked! Drving to the airport, long flights, a layover, losing 2 hours due to crossing multiple time zones then the long drive home. We left Lisa's around 11am, I got home around midnight to find a messy house (grrrrr), then got up and went to work the next day. WtF was I thinking?? Laundry and cleaning the next night insured I'd still not have enough sleep then back to work again. yay Now it's back to life as I know it.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Blogging From The Land Of Mormon

My first ever weekend in Utah is all but over. The mountains and canyons made for a pretty drive from Salt Lake City to Lisa and Adam's place. I didn't get a real good look at them (at 85mph everything goes by pretty quick), but I managed to see a lot. I'm still not used to seeing mountains everywhere I look but I'm getting there. I don't have a camera so sorry, no pics.

The weather has been perfect, sunny and 70ish. Meanwhile at home in PA there was a day of flooding rains then a winter storm dropped 6 inches of snow over a layer of ice. All I can say is hahahahahahaha!! I beat all the airport shutdowns, so no sleeping in the terminal for me!

So far this visit I've done a few things for the very first time. I ate fries with fry sauce on them, it sounded nasty (a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup) but I had to admit that it was pretty good. I saw my first real live (even though they are dead) tumbleweed. I took the four wheeler for a few laps around the yard, that was fun! I managed to avoid hurting myself or running in to anything. We even ended up at a club which was having a swinger party, that was quite interesting. I met some nice people and experienced another first, an Anheuser-Busch product that I actually liked!. I got nailed with a low level migraine which put a damper on the evening but it still ended up being a good time.

Tonight we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire in the back yard, not a first but it has been just about forever since last time I did that.I'm having a great time and am really enjoying my little getaway. It'll be over before I know it but I'm enjoying it while I can. Until next time .....

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Vacation Time!

Reservations for my flights and my airport parking are made and confirmed, the banking is done, the bills are paid, the orchids and other house plants are all watered, the litter box is cleaned, the recyclables have all been dropped off at the collection center, the house is mostly clean and I am all packed. I think I need a vacation from all the preparation for going on vacation! Now I'll probably spend the next few hours driving myself crazy wondering what I forgot... I hate that!

It will sure be good to get away from home for a few days. I leave this afternoon to go spend almost a week with Lisa and family, in Utah this time. Aside from flying over it I've not seen any of Utah so I'm looking forward to it. Plus I know I'll be in good company, so that's even better! I've already been warned that the boys want to fill my luggage with rocks (fossils they've found and collected) so I think I better bring along an extra bag, lol. Let airport security figure that one out.

Here's yet another online quiz for your amusement. I was extremely surprised when I took it. Me of all people, sarcastic? The nerve!! See where you rate.

You're Totally Sarcastic
You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny.
Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue
and you aren't afraid to use it.
And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitude
then too bad. So sad.
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