We spent this 4th of July evening at my sister Marie's house. She and her husband Nathan had a dinner where we roasted hotdogs.
Smore's with a Reese's Peanut Butter cup! Yum.
Marie and Nathan's baby - Jack. He's a cute one.
Liz enjoying some food.
Jack had a water gun and was squirting it at everyone. Here he's threatening my dad.
Om nom nom nom.
My family and a bit of Nathan's family was there. It was pretty good, then we did fireworks. Nathan had a bit of fireworks, and I also brought some fireworks to supplement them.
A cops and robbers set. The robbers sped away and the cops weren't able to catch them.
A cute turtle firework.
A laptop firework. With me being a programmer I only thought it appropriate. The first part of the firework it has some sparks coming out of the keyboard, doing one key at a time. At the end there was a whole bunch of sparks coming out of the top of the screen portion. The end was definitely the best part of it.
A haunted mansion firework. This was a very fun one. It starts out sending sparks out the chimney, afterwards another part of the house starts sending out sparks, and then a third. After that, a flickering light illuminates the mansions windows. It was a very fun one. Also, later some other fireworks set the mansion on fire and it burnt down to the ground. Luckily there was no one inside at the time. ;)
The fireworks were fun. Though with Utah's new laws permitting more powerful fireworks, neighbors would be setting off big aerials that would capture our attention more then the smaller fountains that were being set off at our get together. But it was all a good time.
Time for another vacation report. Puerto Rico and a cruise in the Southern / Eastern Caribbean.
Sat, Apr 2nd: We had 3 US Airways flights from SLC to San Juan. I am not impressed with US Airways. They separated Liz and I on 2 of the flights. We got in late. Stayed at the Best Western at the airport.
Sun, Apr 3rd: Taking a taxi from the hotel to Old San Juan, we dropped off our luggage at the cruise ship so we could spend the day exploring Old San Juan. The buildings there reminded us of Antigua, Guatemala - all brightly colored, flush to each other and their front all the way to the street. The streets were a bluish cobblestone and really hilly. We made it to the main fort (El Morro). In front of it were huge grassy areas where tons of people were flying various kites. We saw a lifelike shark, butterfly, dragon and a red baron airplane.
The fortress was pretty impressive. It had 5 major levels and walls that were 17 feet thick. We had lunch at Ben & Jerry's - we had some very yummy pizzas made on pita bread. We also went to the other major fort in Old San Juan (Fort San Christobal). It was pretty big as well. - We then went to our cruise ship - Carnival Victory. It was themed after the 7 seas.
Mon, Apr 4th: St. Thomas - US Virgin Islands. We had a snorkeling expedition. The tour loaded us up on a small boat and took us to a tiny nearby island named Buck Island. What was really cool was the tour rented us a waterproof digital camera. For underwater, it took really good pictures and we were able to see what we were taking pictures of. We first snorkeled in one bay that had some turtles. We then went around the corner to another bay. At that one there was a sunken very rectangular shipwreck (barge like). We saw a bit more coral there with some more fish.
We had put on plenty of sunscreen, but when we got back we saw that we were super burned. After dinner we went to a stand up comedy show. Then to the mid-ship pool on the Lido deck (9) where they had a huge outdoor screen and we watched Toy Story 3.
Tues, Apr 5th: At sea. We didn't do too much today as we were hurting and trying to recover from our sunburns. It was a formal night, so we got dressed up and got our pictures taken. After dinner we went to a dancing show called 'City Of Lights' - it was New York style broadway songs. We went to another standup comedian, then went back to the huge outdoor screen and watched a little of The Last Airbender.
Weds, Apr 6th: Barbados. Our excursion took pretty much all day. We sailed on a catamaran for about an hour before we got to the first place we were to snorkel. Unlike the last snorkel excursion, they didn't give us fins on this one. We saw about 6 turtles, but the water was pretty murky.
We sailed to a beach where people could either snorkel or enjoy the beach. I snorkeled for a bit. This place had more coral and fish then the previous location earlier in the day. I then enjoyed the beach for a little bit. We then set sail back for port. At which point my limbs were pretty white. When we got back to the ship, they were pretty red.
Normally the cruise ship leaves Barbados at 5 PM, but one of the passengers suffered a medical emergency and passed away. We had to wait 3 hours for the locals to unload the body and the family.
Thurs, Apr 7th: St. Lucia. We went zip lining today. To get there we were taken by bus through steep narrow winding mountain roads. The bus driver was going twice as fast as was safe. There was also construction, pot holes and pedestrians. The zip lining was something like 18 lines. There was a swing rope we had to go over and there was also a platform we got lowered from. For me, they sent me down in more of a free fall. The zip lining was lots of fun. We went into a jewelry shop to enter a raffle, and Liz really liked a blue topaz necklace, so we got it. Tonight was another formal night.
Fri, Apr 8th: St. Kitts (Actually St. Christopher - I don't know how they shorten it to Kitt). We took a personalized island tour in a mini-bus taxi. There was only one other couple. We stopped at a place where they made fabric designs by putting wax on and then dying the rest of the fabric. we went to a fort on top of a hill called Brimstone Hill. The island was split between the British and the French, with the British in the middle, and the French on the ends. We saw where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean. We did some shopping, then went to some more standup comedy in the evening.
Sat, Apr 9th: St. Maarten. This island is split between the French and the Dutch. It was divided by having 2 men race and when they met was where they divided the island. While there are markers where the division is - there are no customs nor border guards. We went on a tour of the island. Along the way they put us on a boat where we sat in the bottom of the boat. It had windows under the water so we could see the ocean floor. There was a bit of coral. They also sent down a diver with some fish food, so a ton of fish swarmed him.
At the main town - Philipsburg, we went to the beach which was a very nice looking sand beach. We also enjoyed the water for a while. We also said goodbye to a family from Minnasota that we had talked with throughout the cruise. Then we had to pack up.
Sun, Apr 10th: We had breakfast on the cruise ship before dis-embarking. We then caught a taxi to the airport so that we could rent a car (because none of the car rental companies would pick us up and we had to return the car back to the airport). They gave us a Ford Focus :(. We traveled east and visited the Yunque National Rain Forest. It was treacherous because the road was really windy and not designed wide enough to be a real 2 lane road. We stopped off at a waterfall off the side of the road called 'Coco'. We then stopped of at a watch tower that you had to take a ton of spiral stairs up to the top. We also took a hike down to another waterfall called 'Mina'.
We then had a series of unfortunate events that almost made us miss our last excursion. We stopped off at our hotel - the Fajardo Inn, before heading to the Marina Del Rey. At that point we got on a boat that took us on a bumpy ride to the neighboring island of Vieques. When we arrived they took us in vans to a restaurant for dinner. Then we got loaded up on a school bus that took a super rough path. We eventually got to a beach where we met a boat (it was night at this point). We got out to the middle of the bay (surrounded by mangroves) and got into the pretty warm water. When you moved your limbs it would cause micro-organisms to combine 2 chemicals to emit light - causing a short glow. It's called a bio-illuminecent bay. If you moved slowly you could get smaller numbers to glow. They would look like stars flowing down your arms. The glow was very short, but the experience was super awesome. We then got back on the boat, back on the bus, back on the vans, back to the other boat, back to Puerto Rico where we drove our car back to our hotel in Fajardo.
Mon, Apr 11th: Drove back to San Juan and took 2 United flights back home. It was colder back home, but luckily we had missed the snows while we were gone - constant 70-80 degree weather and only a couple short rains.
Note: For more pics from our vacation, click on the pics in this post.
We just got back from our Hawaiian vacation. Let me give you all a rundown of what went down.
Thurs, Apr 22nd: We got to take a non-stop flight straight from SLC to Honolulu. It was nice that unlike previous vacations, we were actually going with the timezones, so in Hawaii we were 4 hours earlier (3 PM Hawaii = 7 PM SLC). Made for us being more or less awake for 7:30 excursions. We actually met a family from UT that we saw every single day of our vacation (and not because we were trying to, it just happened that way - weird). We got to our hotel in Waikiki with some daylight left, so we asked the front desk what there was to do. The attendant said that we could take a 20 minute walk down the road to Diamond Head park (next to the ocean). So we set off, but after about 40 minutes, and realizing we were only halfway there, we decided to turn back. We ate dinner at a place called "Cheeseburger in Paradise" where we watched the sunset over the ocean. Yum.
Fri, Apr 23rd: As part of our package we had a tour of Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, but it did start at 6:40 in the morning :P. They drove us around showing us a lot of places: cemeteries, gov't buildings, king's palace, et cetera. The Pearl Harbor area had some replicas of weapons (torpedos, missiles, gun turrets) and the like. We got to take a ferry over to the USS Arizona memorial. Not much to see - 2 rusted out gun turret platforms. I had talked to 2 different people about when the tour would finish (so I could plan on how to get to the Polynesian Cultural Center - on the other side of the island). The first person said it was ~4 hours long, and the second said it would end 11:30~noonish. So I had purchased transportation at 12:25. When we got on the Honolulu tour, we were told that we would be getting back later then that. Unfortunately the PCC transportation wouldn't give our money back. Fortunately the family from UT were renting cars to go to the PCC, so they gave us a ride. We ended up getting back from the Honolulu tour at ~2:10 (there was horrible traffic on the only way back to Waikiki). When we got to the PCC, we only had time to see 2 small parts of the 7 villages - watched someone climb a tree for a coconut and have it husked, and watch the Tahiti dancing. We then went to the luau (where they bring out a pig that had been cooking underground and do some hula'ing and stuff. The shredded pork was really good, and there was some purple biscuits that were alright. We then went to the PCC's night show. In the show, they follow a man from birth to adulthood, and along the way it's as if he moves to the different island nations (they do a little bit of cultural stuff from each of them, like the different dancing). One really cool thing was when they had a few guys come out with grass skirts and there was some squares of flame on the ground. They would sit on the fire, and something about their skirts would make it so they wouldn't get burned. They also had regular fire dancing. The PCC show (Breath of Life) was great.
Sat, Apr 24th: In the morning we went to the International Market - a lot of little tiny shops. We then went to our cruise ship - the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL): Pride Of America. Just a little bit of a comparison from our Carnival cruise - NCL seemed to be a bit older crowd (and some of the activities were targeted to that generation). There were a few younger people, but nothing like our Carnival cruise (would have been nice to have some more people our age). On Carnival there were a few juices that were free anytime (juices and lemonade). NCL only had a couple juices for breakfast, the rest of the time I had to stick with water (not as tasty). Our stateroom was really tiny (it was an inside room), I think our Carnival balcony room was bigger. Overall, I think they are fairly comparable, but I think I liked Carnival just a little bit better.
Sun, Apr 25th: Today we ported at Hilo, Big Island. We went on a tour that started with the a waterfall called Rainbow Falls. We were only able to take pictures, no swimming there.
We then went to the Volcano National Park. There wasn't any flowing lava to see there, and all we could see there was a crater with some smoke coming out of it. We did go to some old lava flows that we got to walk on. The roads all have curbs made of lava rock, and someone actually hit the curb with their car and popped their tire while we were there :-P. We also got to walk through a lava tube - where lava flowed at one time. We went to Mauna Loa Macadamian Nut Plantation. Not a lot going on there, but we did get a bag of Hershey's Kisses with macadamians, they were really good - we ate the whole bag that day. We also went to the Akatsuka Orchid Gardens, there were a ton of really cool looking flowers.
Mon, Apr 26th: Normally the ship spends 2 days in Maui, but the ship had originally been scheduled for drydock during this time, but the drydock got pushed back. When NCL decided to cruise this week, their Maui dock space for today had been taken. So instead, we got to cruise off the coast of Molokai. The sea cliffs on Molokai are supposed to be the tallest in the world. While we were on the ship Liz took hula dancing and sarape tying classes. We also went to a kukui nut lei making class. Today was Liz's birthday, so we dressed up and went to the Liberty restaurant onboard. We had some awesome banana cheesecake. Yum.
Tues, Apr 27th: The port was Kahului, Maui. We took another tour. This one took us to a place called Ioa Valley, though there was no valley - just a kind of canyon with big mountains on either side. They then took us to the Maui Tropical Plantation. They took us on a little tram tour, where they had little patches of different crops (pineapple, coconut, sugarcane, coffee, et cetera). Overall, not that impressive. After the tour, we took a shuttle to Walmart (looked inside at some souvenirs) and had lunch at Panda Express. Really authentic, eh?
Weds, Apr 28th: Instead of docking at a pier, the ship had to anchor and send us ashore in tenders (actually the ship's life boats) at Kona, Big Island.We went on Captian Zodiak's raft and snorkel. Basically they take us on this inflatable 20 person raft to a place called Kealakekua Bay. On the way we saw some wild dolphins swimming in the ocean. At the bay we got to snorkel for an hour or so. It was really cool how the ocean floor sloped pretty steeply away. There was a good amount of fish and coral. There were even some sword looking fishes. I really liked this one, one of the best things we did in Hawaii. On the way back, the guides pointed out a black sand beach where there was supposed to be turtles. There was also supposed to be a free shuttle to the beach. We started out trying to find the shuttle, which we never found. We just kept walking. After about 2 miles in thongs, we decided to give up (big blisters on our feet). So we were able to catch a ride back to the pier.
Thurs, Apr 29th: This was the first of 2 days at Nawiliwili, Kauai. We went on the Jungle Mountain Trek at Kipu Ranch. They took us on this covered trailer pulled by a tractor up into the jungle area. We then took a hike through the jungle. For lunch we stopped at this pool that had steep sides and a wooden platform built on one side. You could jump off it into the pool, or hold onto a stick on a zipline and zip/fall into the pool. It was really fun. They then took us on 2 regular ziplines. I only wish we had more time and more runs on the zipline. When we got back to the pier, we shopped a little, then went to a beach in front of the Marriott hotel where there was a sheltered cove. There I tried to do some body surfing. Was a little hard as the waves were right near the beach, didn't have a lot of room to do it, but I had some success.
Fri, Apr 30th: We went on another snorkeling excursion - Sea Fun Beach Snorkel. This time they actually hooked us up with wetsuits (though i didn't like the mask/air tube as much as Captain Zodiak's). They took us to 2 spots right next to each other. The guides had us stick together, but it made it so we kept running into each other. It was also quite a bit rougher sea then normal, but it was still fun. At the second area, we saw a bunch of sea turtles. A baby one even swam underneath me. We couldn't touch them though (against Hawaiian law). We only had half a day on shore, so we went back to the boat, where Liz had her Hula class graduation.
For the afternoon the ship cruised off the coast of Na Pali, Kauai. The wettest place on Earth is there, a mountain that gets 450~500" of rain a year. We saw a double rainbow.
Sat, May 1st: Disembarked the boat back at Honolulu. We got a shuttle back to Waikiki and stored our bags back at our original hotel - Waikiki Resort Hotel. We went to a shopping area called the King's Village, but most of the shops weren't open yet. We went to a store in Honolulu called Hilo Hattie - a Hawaiian clothing and souvenir store. When we got back to Waikiki, we went to a little park where they were celebrating May Day - Lei Day. They had some performers who hula'd and sang. At the end they gave some flower leis to a few people in the crowd, Liz being one of them. We went back to the International Market. Then had dinner at the Cheeseburger in Paradise again. Then we went out on a rocky jetti at the beach before heading to the airport for the very long trip home.
Synopsis: We really enjoyed Hawaii. I wish we had more time to go swimming (like at Waikiki beach). We liked having the cruise where we were able to visit a bunch of different places. Our favorite things were the snorkeling and the jungle pool / zipline. It had snowed back home, so it was nice that we missed out - being in 82 degree weather. We were very glad that we were able to go.
As most of you can tell, I have been a pretty big slacker as far as keeping my blog up-to-date (the position of Personal Secretary is currently open if anyone would like to apply). So, I am going to do a quick rundown of what's been happening with us since my last post. Home Improvement We finally got a sprinkling system for our lawn. No more spending hours each night going out and moving the hose 8 times a night. Also no more lawn dying when we go on vacation. Even though is was installed later in the season, our lawn has shown marked improvement in the green department. We had a soft water / reverse osmosis system installed in our home. The installer said we had even worse water then Magna (for those of you who haven't drank Magna water, you will probably live longer). The system works okay, but after I gave the salesman our credit card # over the phone, they've dropped off the face of the earth. They have yet to give me a receipt of sale, manuals for the equipment (so I can take care of it) nor the package bundle of soap / detergent that they promised us. I've never been able to get someone to answer the office phone and the salesman (who is next to impossible to contact either) when he answers says he's sorry that we haven't got the missing items and promises to get back to us about getting them (but he never does). It's now been a month and a half and I've submitted a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. As of right now, I highly recommend you do not do business with Alpine Water Systems of Utah. When our soft water system was installed, the installer said we should try out our dishwasher with it as it's supposed to help the dishes come out cleaner. We had used the dishwasher probably twice shortly after we moved in - but as I recall there was soap gunk left inside the dishes on the upper rack. As it's just Liz and I, we've just hand washed all our dishes because it's easier for our situation. I tried to do a load of dishes in the dishwasher, but after it was done, I opened it up and all the water was still in there. We tried to figure out what the issue was, but put it down to the dishwasher being broken. We just barely bought a new dishwasher and my dad and I installed it, and after the first wash, it didn't drain either. We eventually discovered there was a blockage in the drain tube. Now that it's been cleared up, it works just fine. I switched out our regular light switches in our house with the big flat ones. In several areas like bathrooms and our bedroom I put in the ones that illuminate when the light is switched off so it's easier to find it in those early morning bathroom runs. I also trimmed the bushes that were getting out of control (but you probably don't care as you haven't seen our bushes). I also finally gave in and got cable TV so that I could watch my BYU Cougar football. It is the one sport I actually like to watch. The cougars have (for the most part) had a pretty good season. I think they have a good shot at taking down the U for our final regular season game.
Activities Halloween was pretty fun. The day before Halloween (Friday) my work had it's annual Halloween day. It's pretty much a day where not too much work gets done, but there is dressing up, decorating of the office, costume contests, and trick-or-treating for the employees families. I really liked the team that dressed up as Mario characters (Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach, et cetera). They also decorated a whole room like a Super Mario 3 dungeon (complete with all the square blocks and rotating flame thingies) and had the game playing on an old school Nintendo. Being as I am part of the Activities Committee at church, I helped out at the Chili Cookoff (Halloween evening) and the Trunk-Or-Treat in the church parking lot afterward. I was surprised at the number of people that came. I ran out of candy halfway through and had to run home (impossible to get the car out at that point with that many people) to get another bag of candy. It was pretty hard to run in my costume and I got some funny looks. Speaking of our costumes, I bought Liz and I our costumes for this year. She had no say in what I got her (though I gave her the option of returning it and getting something else - but she kept it). I was a giant penguin (mostly because my guild in WoW is the "Order of Angry Penguins", and because Linux's mascot is a penguin, and also because penguins are just downright awesome). Liz got to be a giant hotdog. I know - you may think it's silly (and what Halloween costume isn't?) but there is a history here. One of her favorite phrases to say (like when she just remembered something) is "hotdog". So I thought it appropriate. We went to 2 Halloween parties. The first was at my Cousin Brice's home. They did silly things like "donut on a string" in which Liz and I just about tied in eating the donut off of the string. There was also pin the face item on the pumpkin, bobbing for apples and stuff. We also went to one of my co-worker home for a party. There we played rockband. I tried the singing part, but my voice was thrown off a little bit by my allergies to the cat (when I mean a little bit, I mean very much so). I also went to a BYU game with my brother-in-law Mark. It was against Colorado State. The beginning was a little tense, but they eventually won the game. We went to a campout with our ward at a place called Aspen Meadows. It's a pretty nice place (a building for bathrooms, a pavilion, amphitheater, volleyball court. I spent most of the night trying to tend the cobbler - which took forever to cook. We also helped out with the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. We were ushers, helping people take the tour of the temple. Liz also volunteered a few times as medical personnel (in case someone had any medical issues during the open house). I have gone a couple of times rock climbing with some friends at Momentum. I used to go climbing quite a bit when I was in college, but time and people to go with became scarce when I moved up to Salt Lake. I've been going with my cousin Brice and some co-workers. It's a great way to exercise!
Addition And Deletion My sister Marie had her baby. His name is Jack. He is the first child of either Liz or my siblings. The father of one of my college friends (Jenny) passed away. I flew out to California to help out with the funeral. It was kind of sad, but he had been dealing with health issues for some years (and had even outlasted the doctor's life estimate).
Conclusion Well, to conclude, I must say this has been a pretty long post. I know most of you never made it here. For those of you that did, I'm sorry - no refund on the time you lost reading this. I am sure that I haven't covered everything we've done, but at least I got in a few highlights. Some of the things (such as climbing and Halloween) I am planning on posting pictures when I get time to do it. Anyhow - ta-ta-for-now!
The following is a story of intrigue, deceit and suspense. Some material may not be suitable for squirrels (like Saran Wrap, but they still try to eat it).
My sister Angie and her husband Mark planned a trip to Yellowstone, and invited their relatives to go. Liz and I decided we should go (we hadn't been camping since the first month we met each other). There were some emails that went out before the trip about where to meet and what to bring. One of the emails had the coordinates of the Madison Campground (where we would be staying). Unfortunately there was something funky about the numbers. I looked on Google for the Madison Campground in Yellowstone, and it gave me 3 different places. I decided to go to Yellowstone's website, where they gave coordinates for the campground. Though, the coordinates they gave me was NOT to the campground, but to the southern entrance of Yellowstone (shame on them). So I put those coordinates in my Garmin and we set off for Yellowstone. I had seen a map on Google on how to get to Yellowstone, and it showed a path through West Yellowstone (the north west corner of the park). Just north of Rexberg my Garmin instructed me to turn onto 1200 N. It was only a 2 lane street, but it was 45 mph and there was nice rolling green hills. I figured because the coordinates had the campground at the southern entrance, that the road was probably some local's route and that the sourthern entrance wasn't visited as much as West Yellowstone. After a while, the road turned from paved into unpaved, and not only that, but with a ton of small rocks. There was a speed limit sign that said 35 mph, but just going 15 mph was kicking up rocks and dust. I once again figured that it was only going to be a short ways and then we would be back onto better roads. About the Idaho / Montana border the road did get better. There were no longer the tons of rocks. We stopped at a beautiful lake to take a picture - but hurried back in the car as 1.7 bajillion mosquitoes started attacking us. We drove past a sign for a scout camp and a reservoir. We had only passed a couple vehicles on the road. All the sudden (10 miles before the main road), my car suddenly started making this high-pitched, metal scraping metal sound. Not good. I stopped the car at once. After a little investigation and having Liz roll the car a little bit, I determined that the sound came from both front wheels. I figured it was something very bad (like an axle breaking loose or something with all those rocks and bumps). There was no cell phone service, nor did we see any signs of life/civilization on our journey. I was afraid that we might have to try to hike out to the main road to get help (at this point it was 9:30~10:00 at night). Kind of scary. I started to get out the jack to take off the wheels to see if I could identify the problem. Just then, a suburban with government plates came down the road. Turned out to be a BYU intern (named Trace) overseeing a night construction crew on the road just south of Yellowstone. The night was pretty slow and so his supervisor let him go do whatever, and he decided to try to visit a friend which was up at a scout camp up the road. He had never been up that road before. He offered to give us a ride to the campground (which we still thought was at the south gate of Yellowstone). We took some stuff (like our tent, sleeping bags, clothes) so that we could camp overnight at the camp and then hopefully come back to the car. Well, it turned out that the Madison coordinates were completely wrong. The campground was much closer to West Yellowstone. Trace offered to drive us up until we could call our party and have them come down to get us. We finally found some cell service, and the only ones that picked up was Angie, who with Mark had left really late themselves, and were only to Rexberg. They said that the others at the campground didn't have cell service and in fact had to drive to about 5 miles of the west entrance to be able to call them. Trace offered to drive us all the way to our campground and Angie txt'd us with what numbered sites were supposed to be ours. We got there about midnight, then had to set-up our tent in the dark. It was a pain. The next morning, my sister Marie offered to let me drive her car until I got cell service to call my dad to ask him what to do. I did that, and he got me some numbers of tow companies in Jackson (the closest town to where I broke down). I called one of those places and arranged to meet them at a place called Flagg (near where the unimproved road met the main road) at about 11:00. It was about 9:45 when I talked to them. When I got back to camp, the others had some breakfast ready, so I ate some. Then on the way south, there was a herd of bison blocking the road. Then near the south gate there was road construction with a huge wait. Finally, at about 12:45 we got to the meeting spot. After some searching I was able to find the tow truck driver. We drove out to my car, hitched it up, and drove back to Flagg - all the time, telling me about how his competition gorged their customers, and that he was the only reasonable tow service around. When he got back, he got under the car. He found out that there were rocks stuck up somehow in something that was pushing something somewhere. Long generic sentence short - he took out the rocks and my car worked okay again. What was the bill you might ask? $450. Yeah, it hurt. But at least I didn't have to get towed to Jackson, find out that it was a huge broken thing and be stuck there for days. I drove back into Yellowstone and was able to meet up with the rest of my party. Everyone else had already seen Old Faithful, so I didn't get to see it. But we saw many different kinds of geysers and mud pots. Some were a lot cooler then others. The rest of the party was pretty cool. We all took turns making breakfasts and dinners. Liz and I did stew in bread bowls. Megan (Mark's sister) made fajitas. Marie and Nathan had us make omelets cooked in boiling water in plastic bags (wounds weird, but they turned out really good). All together we were gone Thursday - Sunday. Not all of the park stuff was good though, occasionally there would be some type of animal that would get within 3 miles of the road, and people driving on the road would stop their cars in the road and watch, or they might pull their car off the road, and then stand in the middle of the road to watch. It infuriated me to no end. Although I am not that into gawking over any little animal, I can understand that some do. But there is no excuse to block traffic. They can pull off the road and stand on the shoulder like sane, considerate person. Sigh. I digress. Anywho, here's a link to our pics http://picasaweb.google.com/seymor42/Yellowstone.
Sunday, May 24th: Just before Memorial Day, Liz and I (Stephen) went on a 2 week vacation to Southern California. At the last minute Liz's mother (Brenda) decided she wanted to go on vacation as well. We picked her up in Nephi on the drive down to California. The plan was that she was going to stay with some relatives that live in Huntington Beach, while we stay with a friend of mine from college. When we went to drop Brenda off, no one was home. So we took her with us. My friend Jenny, her husband Mike and 9 month old baby Andy live with her parents, JoAnn and Larry in Huntington Beach. Their friend JP also lives there (he has 2 kids, Adrianna and Luke). Jenny and Mike came with us for a lot of the stuff we did, so did JP, and Brenda did for some stuff as well. Brenda ended up staying with us for a couple days until she was able to get ahold of her relatives. She flew back to Utah after week a week. Staying at Jenny's house was nice (except they had a cat, and my allergies occasionally gave me grief). Monday, May 25th: On Memorial Day there was a big picnic in a nearby park. Then that night we went to Medieval Nights. Basically you sit in this oval theater and eat dinner, while performers put on a show with horses and jousting and fighting in the center area. For dinner they served roasted turkey, soup, baked potato and garlic bread. The thing was, they served it 'medieval style' - i.e. no utensils. The show was cool. We got to sit on the front row. The knight that represented our section was the Black & White knight. He was the best actor, though the was the first one to get killed off. Tuesday, May 26th: Brenda went with us to the Newport Beach temple. Then afterwards we went to the beach. I went body boarding for a little while. But then I got caught in a riptide (again) and the lifeguard tower on the pier told me to swim away from the pier to get out of it. I don't know why riptides are so attracted to me. Then we went to a street fair on Main Street in Huntington Beach. One vendor sold some pretty good caramel popcorn that had been created in such a way as to not have any husks or shells. Wednesday, May 27th:I hate LA traffic. We had to drive through it to go to Universal Studios. It was kind of neat seeing how they did some of their special effects. They had a 'Mummy' ride that was a roller coaster in the dark. I didn't like that you had no indication of where you are going at all. The ride we liked best was the Jurassic Park ride (kind of like Splash Mountain at Disneyland). The backlot tour was also kind of neat. Thursday, May 28th:We went to the Longbeach Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a pretty big place (2 levels, outdoors and indoors). One of the really cool things I liked was that in the main hall, it's a big ceiling. They have windows, but occasionally all the windows would have shutters that would close on them and make the inside dark and they would show movies on the inside walls. There were all sorts of cool sea animals. Even sea lions and stingrays. Nearby the aquarium, the Queen Mary (an old cruise ship) is docked. It is now a permanent hotel. There is also a Russian submarine docked next to it. We then visited with some relatives of Liz that live in Huntington Beach. Ammon actually works on a sea launch platform that they take to the equator and launch satallites for DirectTV. Friday, May 29th:Knott's Berry Farm was next on the list. Though I did not see any berry farms anywhere around there. There were some pretty fun rollercoasters - like one that uses electromagnets to shoot you up a really tall vertical track. For dinner, JoAnn and Larry met us there and we ate a restaruant there that serves some pretty good chicken dinners. Saturday, May 30th:California Adventure had some fun things. They have the Tower of Terror where you sit in an elevator and it drops you a couple of times from a height. The Xcelerator was another electro-magnetic rollercoaster, but both Liz and I really enjoyed it. Sunday, May 31st:We took it easy. We went to Jenny's church. Then we relaxed for the rest of the day as our feet were pretty sore from all the walking. Monday, June 1st:Jenny and Mike went with us to Disneyland. Though before that we met with one of their friends who works at Disneyland. We ate at IHOP in exchange for him getting them into Disneyland for free. Our first ride that we tried to go on was Space Mountain. We got to the front of the line and it broke down. We came back later and did it though. Space Mountain was one of my favorite rides. We also tried to go to Indiana Jones - it broke twice when we went, but the third time was the charm. Matterhorn and Splash Mountain were also classics, but we waited forever in line to go on them. Liz found some soft-serve pinapple flavored ice cream that she fell in love with. We went on the Jungle Cruise (a boat ride around where the operator shows you different animals). Everything he said was a pun. Tuesday, June 2nd:Jenny's family owns a condo closer to the beach (even though her house is only a mile from the beach). We went there and swam in their swimming pool. We went to the street fair for a second time. Wednesday, June 3rd:Sea World was great. The Shamu and dolphin shows were neat. In the Shamu show they had these 4 huge TV screens that rotated and moved accross the stage. The animals would splash the crowds and do jumps and flips. During lunch there were 2 downpours that lasted for a few minutes a piece. It was weird. There was a ride called Atlantis that was like Splash Mountain. But after the first splash, there is an elevator that lifts the ride car up to a height to continue the ride. I thought it was a really cool idea. We watched Any while Jenny and Mike went on it. But after the first splash, it broke down and they had to get out. Liz and I went on another ride where you ride a raft down a river. Liz got drenched by a waterfall. For dinner we went to In-N-Out. It was the first time Liz had gone there, but she liked it. Thursday, June 4th:Back to Disneyland for a 2nd day. Liz loved the Finding Nemo ride. You get in this yellow submarine, that takes you around and shows you different parts of the movie. Pirates of the Carribean was also neat. In the dark drifting along, seeing all the pirates. I could have sworn that I had gone to a Pirates of the Carribean ride before. I thought it was a theater type thing in California Adventure. But I hadn't gone on that one before. We went on the 'Small World' ride. I had remembered it as being very short. That song get's a bit annoying after a bit. But Liz liked it. On the way back from Disneyland, Liz conference called her family while her brother David opened his mission call. He is going to Arcadia, CA, Spanish speaking. We then went with Jenny and JP to see the new Star Trek in a movie theater. Jenny hadn't gone to a movie theater since she had her baby. Friday, June 5th:The San Diego Zoo was exhausting. It's like it's built on one big hill. More then that, it never when down, it was always up. I never thought those 'uphill - both way' stories older people talk about were real, but the zoo proved me wrong.Most of the animals were sleeping. The Koolas were fun. The one panda bear was asleep. Saturday, June 6th:Saturday was supposed to be a relaxing day where we would pack and get ready to go home. But we ended up going with trying to go with Jenny, Mikeand JP to a car show. Unfortunatly it was mroe then what we wanted to spend to get in. So we walked around the library it was next to. We also went down to the beach again, where we waded into the water and played some frisbee on the beach. JoAnn and Larry treated us to a restaurant called Claim Jumper. It was pretty good, though more then we could eat. We went to watch / support JP as he went to a coffee shop called the Lost Bean where he played guitar and sing. He is a pretty good performer. I then made my famous Orange Julius drinks. Sunday, May 7th:Did the 11 hour drive back to Utah.
Overall, I think we liked Disneyland the best of all the things we did. We were extremely worn-out after all that walking. I actually had blisters on my feet. I did check my email a couple times to make sure my work hadn't imploded without me. But it was a very fun vacation.
Friday was my cousin Brice's anniversary of his birthdate. So I had them over to my house (Liz had to work so she couldn't make it). We had some Panda Express for dinner and played some Mario Kart Wii. Because he is graduating at the end of the month with his Masters in Public Policy from the Y, I got him a collection of Sim City games to test his training. The part I liked best is that instead of a customary birthday cake (I assumed he would get one from at least someone during the day), I decided to do something a little different. I bought some blue Jello, and the night before spent some time continuing to add layers of Jello. After the first layer I added gummy sharks to the mix. Then added Jello until the sharks were covered. Then I had Brice and Jeanna help add gummy bears, gummy life savers and sticks of gum to create an ocean scene. Some of those bears were in big trouble with those sharks around! Some features include: a whirlpool, a life raft, and bears in life preservers. Check out the pic below (and more by clicking through).
