howeverbrief (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
howeverbrief) wrote2014-05-09 11:43 pm
howeverbrief) wrote2014-05-09 11:43 pm
Entry tags:
Utah Spectacular
I keep meaning to update about Utah, but my sinus infection has come back full force (with prednisone completely out of my system and round seven of antibiotics finished on Monday), and I have felt pretty tired and awful. Still, here's a start to that. If I don't end up finishing it in one go (and you're still interested), come back for edits and updates. (Also, if you're friends with me on facebook, you'll have already seen the avalanche of pictures. Haha, oops.)
Thursday: We left the house early in order to pick up a pie from Mike's freezer as a thank you to my sister for always taking us to the airport. We promised to take some slices when we got back, as she was insistent she wouldn't be able to eat all eight slices by herself. She took us to the airport, and we checked the bag. We also found out that you can't get wheelchair service to the gate in Reno for some reason, so that was fun. Good thing it's a small airport.
When we got to the gate, we ran into Stephanie, a pseudo-cousin of mine who has worked for Southwest Airlines forever. It was nice to see her (and also not to have to explain my predicament, as she immediately gave us the handicap sleeve).
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Vegas was stupid, per usual. (I had a few people give me dirty looks... for being in a wheelchair I guess? Also no one cares to get out of the way, even if you're obviously in a wheelchair/pushing a wheelchair. Poor Mike. I hate everyone.) When we got to Utah, Katie and Jeff had gone to a school tea with Riley, so we talked with Mike's parents until they got home. Then we all went to dinner at The Wild Rose, which was fancy and tasty.
Jim Gaffigan's Obsessed was pretty entertaining before we all headed to bed.
Another nice part of the trip was the fact that Katie had gotten an actual queen mattress for guests to sleep on, which was much better than the air mattresses we slept on last time. We are such yuppies these days.
Friday: There wasn't too much time to spend before we had to head to Zach's graduation, so Katie had suggested going to the Capitol Complex in the city. (Because I can't get away from work ever, haha.) We ended up going to lunch first at Oasis Cafe, which was kind of slow because it was packed. Still, while we were waiting for lunch, Mike and I were able to go into the bookshop next door and get a graduation card (because we forgot to put something together before we left home) and a cookbook to help Mike's diet. Also, even though lunch was ridiculous, we had just enough time to buzz through the capital building, where I took too many touristy pictures because the building was beautiful. After that, we went home to get ready for the graduation.
Zach graduated from Utah Valley University. It was very interesting to me, as the ceremony was held inside an auditorium and at night, plus it was a limited group of graduates. (All the college graduations I've attended in Nevada have been outside in the morning and lasted forever because all of the majors graduated at the same time.) The graduates also received gifts related to their majors after they picked up their diploma sleeves! (Automotive majors got jumper cables; digital arts majors got messenger bags; construction majors got hard hats; chefs got a cutting board, chef's hat and cookbook signed by all their instructors, etc.) I felt kind of gypped! All I got was a piece of paper and a flimsy education! ;)
For a celebratory dinner, we went to Thai Drift, where I found typos in the menu (which Mike found encouraging, saying, "It probably means they are more authentic!") Zach told me that the owners had a similar restaurant in Thailand and used the money to come to America and open this restaurant, which had expanded and was doing very well! It's nice to hear stories like that. I guess it goes without saying that it was amazing.
On the way back, we stopped to see Zach and Jenn's basement apartment, which reminded us how much space we have because holy wow. They have done a good job of making use of the space they have (putting up cabinets and curtains, painting the walls, storing things away when not in use and other things), but I don't know how they do it. We are very spoiled.
Saturday: We went to lunch at Market Street Grill, which Mike raves about all the time. I wore my "I loaf bread" shirt, which Mike pointed out was mean given his low-carb diet. Haha. I didn't even think of that when I packed the shirt. Anyway, I had a pretty delicious crab and avocado sandwich and Mike's favorite dessert.
On the way back, Mike's nephew Alex was talking about how he couldn't wait to get home so he could take a shower because he woke up with a sore neck. He then said, "Take off my pants and make it happen!" Everyone was kind of shocked until he explained it was a misheard song lyric. (Flashdance, I guess?) Oh boy. As soon as we got back, half of us piled back into the car to go look at houses in a new development because Mike's parents keep toying with the idea of moving back (though they love Albuquerque and didn't really buy into the idea of moving to Nevada even if we gave them a grandkid when Mike mentioned it during the drive to Zach's graduation). By the time we made it back to the house and checked into our flight, we were all kind of tired and cranky, so it was naptime before the murder mystery party.
When the time came for dinner and the murder mystery party, I changed into my not-so-culturally-sensitive Indian outfit (because it was the 1800s and I was "Runs Like A Deer"). The party itself was pretty fun, if not slightly awkward because such social events tend to be a little awkward. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, though, and it turned out Mike helped kill the poor prospector but didn't get his gold in the end because his boss was a greedy railroad rep who didn't get to build her railroad either. I also prevented the Iron Horse from running through the ancient burial grounds and helped Mike's niece Riley who was like a daughter to me in the game to get her dad's land as well as the lode her father had found before he was killed. Also the judge was a crook, and Mike's dad cheats at cards but loves the old saloon matron. And the deputy sheriff had a crush on Riley, but he's actually her dad, so, yeah. Lots of other stuff happened, but all in all, it was a good party, I think.
We also watched Frozen, and though I knew the twist because the internet likes to spoil everything, it was nice to see some context to a lot of the popular culture surrounding the movie right now.
Saturday: We had a pretty low-key morning. Mike slept on the couch because he's still having trouble with his machine/I was sleeping badly, and I was able to use their exercise bike and do my physical therapy exercises before he woke up. We had a nice breakfast and lunch between packing and trying to play a game with Alex and Riley (which was way confusing and hopefully will make more sense if we try again in July when they visit). Then it was time for the Nelsons to go to church and us to go to the airport. Again, the trip was pretty uneventful (though we had more luck with wheelchair service in Utah... only to have the chair which was waiting for us in Vegas stolen when we grabbed dinner because the plane was delayed, per usual).
When we got home, we were able to split up the pie, though Mike ended up dropping a piece on Siobhan's floor then the other two pieces on our floor when we got home. Sigh. Oh well. Overall, it was a very good trip.
EDIT: And wow, I think that's pretty much it.
Thursday: We left the house early in order to pick up a pie from Mike's freezer as a thank you to my sister for always taking us to the airport. We promised to take some slices when we got back, as she was insistent she wouldn't be able to eat all eight slices by herself. She took us to the airport, and we checked the bag. We also found out that you can't get wheelchair service to the gate in Reno for some reason, so that was fun. Good thing it's a small airport.
When we got to the gate, we ran into Stephanie, a pseudo-cousin of mine who has worked for Southwest Airlines forever. It was nice to see her (and also not to have to explain my predicament, as she immediately gave us the handicap sleeve).
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Vegas was stupid, per usual. (I had a few people give me dirty looks... for being in a wheelchair I guess? Also no one cares to get out of the way, even if you're obviously in a wheelchair/pushing a wheelchair. Poor Mike. I hate everyone.) When we got to Utah, Katie and Jeff had gone to a school tea with Riley, so we talked with Mike's parents until they got home. Then we all went to dinner at The Wild Rose, which was fancy and tasty.
Jim Gaffigan's Obsessed was pretty entertaining before we all headed to bed.
Another nice part of the trip was the fact that Katie had gotten an actual queen mattress for guests to sleep on, which was much better than the air mattresses we slept on last time. We are such yuppies these days.
Friday: There wasn't too much time to spend before we had to head to Zach's graduation, so Katie had suggested going to the Capitol Complex in the city. (Because I can't get away from work ever, haha.) We ended up going to lunch first at Oasis Cafe, which was kind of slow because it was packed. Still, while we were waiting for lunch, Mike and I were able to go into the bookshop next door and get a graduation card (because we forgot to put something together before we left home) and a cookbook to help Mike's diet. Also, even though lunch was ridiculous, we had just enough time to buzz through the capital building, where I took too many touristy pictures because the building was beautiful. After that, we went home to get ready for the graduation.
Zach graduated from Utah Valley University. It was very interesting to me, as the ceremony was held inside an auditorium and at night, plus it was a limited group of graduates. (All the college graduations I've attended in Nevada have been outside in the morning and lasted forever because all of the majors graduated at the same time.) The graduates also received gifts related to their majors after they picked up their diploma sleeves! (Automotive majors got jumper cables; digital arts majors got messenger bags; construction majors got hard hats; chefs got a cutting board, chef's hat and cookbook signed by all their instructors, etc.) I felt kind of gypped! All I got was a piece of paper and a flimsy education! ;)
For a celebratory dinner, we went to Thai Drift, where I found typos in the menu (which Mike found encouraging, saying, "It probably means they are more authentic!") Zach told me that the owners had a similar restaurant in Thailand and used the money to come to America and open this restaurant, which had expanded and was doing very well! It's nice to hear stories like that. I guess it goes without saying that it was amazing.
On the way back, we stopped to see Zach and Jenn's basement apartment, which reminded us how much space we have because holy wow. They have done a good job of making use of the space they have (putting up cabinets and curtains, painting the walls, storing things away when not in use and other things), but I don't know how they do it. We are very spoiled.
Saturday: We went to lunch at Market Street Grill, which Mike raves about all the time. I wore my "I loaf bread" shirt, which Mike pointed out was mean given his low-carb diet. Haha. I didn't even think of that when I packed the shirt. Anyway, I had a pretty delicious crab and avocado sandwich and Mike's favorite dessert.
On the way back, Mike's nephew Alex was talking about how he couldn't wait to get home so he could take a shower because he woke up with a sore neck. He then said, "Take off my pants and make it happen!" Everyone was kind of shocked until he explained it was a misheard song lyric. (Flashdance, I guess?) Oh boy. As soon as we got back, half of us piled back into the car to go look at houses in a new development because Mike's parents keep toying with the idea of moving back (though they love Albuquerque and didn't really buy into the idea of moving to Nevada even if we gave them a grandkid when Mike mentioned it during the drive to Zach's graduation). By the time we made it back to the house and checked into our flight, we were all kind of tired and cranky, so it was naptime before the murder mystery party.
When the time came for dinner and the murder mystery party, I changed into my not-so-culturally-sensitive Indian outfit (because it was the 1800s and I was "Runs Like A Deer"). The party itself was pretty fun, if not slightly awkward because such social events tend to be a little awkward. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, though, and it turned out Mike helped kill the poor prospector but didn't get his gold in the end because his boss was a greedy railroad rep who didn't get to build her railroad either. I also prevented the Iron Horse from running through the ancient burial grounds and helped Mike's niece Riley who was like a daughter to me in the game to get her dad's land as well as the lode her father had found before he was killed. Also the judge was a crook, and Mike's dad cheats at cards but loves the old saloon matron. And the deputy sheriff had a crush on Riley, but he's actually her dad, so, yeah. Lots of other stuff happened, but all in all, it was a good party, I think.
We also watched Frozen, and though I knew the twist because the internet likes to spoil everything, it was nice to see some context to a lot of the popular culture surrounding the movie right now.
Saturday: We had a pretty low-key morning. Mike slept on the couch because he's still having trouble with his machine/I was sleeping badly, and I was able to use their exercise bike and do my physical therapy exercises before he woke up. We had a nice breakfast and lunch between packing and trying to play a game with Alex and Riley (which was way confusing and hopefully will make more sense if we try again in July when they visit). Then it was time for the Nelsons to go to church and us to go to the airport. Again, the trip was pretty uneventful (though we had more luck with wheelchair service in Utah... only to have the chair which was waiting for us in Vegas stolen when we grabbed dinner because the plane was delayed, per usual).
When we got home, we were able to split up the pie, though Mike ended up dropping a piece on Siobhan's floor then the other two pieces on our floor when we got home. Sigh. Oh well. Overall, it was a very good trip.
EDIT: And wow, I think that's pretty much it.