The Wedding Weekend: Cindy's Perspective

Crested Butte is beautiful.  The town of 1,503 permanent residents (this is true, I looked it up) is magical.  This mini-town is nestled in a valley surrounded 360 by towering mountains, that just happened to be covered with wildflowers throughout the summer.

Did I mention it's really cool (as in temperature)?   This is critical since I check the Tucson weather each day, hoping it's really hot, so I can gloat about our decision to leave town for the month of July.  I'm pretty sure there's a diagnostic code for this compulsion. 

We went straight to our hotel, located at the ski resort, after our exhilarating "ride the rapids" adventure.  A hot shower and Valium nap were top on our list of things to do.  I must also mention that the cutest little wedding bag was in the room awaiting our arrival.  It contained details of the wedding, lots of snacks, two mini-bottles of champaign, and tylenol and Alka Seltzer packets.  Too cute!

Once refreshed, I met the boys, Jordyn, and friends for a drink in town, where they kindly issued an invite to join them in the morning for a "Zipline Colorado" adventure. There was not enough liquor in the entire bar to entice me to say yes to that plan!  I politely declined this kind offer, as a root canal sounded more enticing.

They appeared to have a great time being dangled 40 feet (or more) off the ground, wearing harnesses that came dangerously close to preventing me from seeing any future grandchildren, shoved off a platform, and catapulted 200 yards across tree tops.  Geez, am I sorry I passed up that opportunity!

Please note: Another recreational event requiring helmets and release of liability forms!

We attended Kyle and Colleen's wedding the next day.  The boys were both in the wedding party and cleaned up quite nicely!  Jordyn looked lovely as usual.

Before reception pictures

Tony and Jordyn in the church

The reception was held at a midway point of one of the ski runs.  The "warming house" provided us with an amazing view of the Crested Butte valley.  The "cabin" and reception tent also gave us a quick escape from a refreshing rain storm.  Food, music, toasts, dancing, and general carousing were so dang much fun.

We were the last group to leave the reception, this seems to happen a lot in our family we feel it's only polite to stick around and help the hosts scoot everyone out.  Oh and did I mention, we all had a BLAST at the reception?

Nick dancing his heart out!

Jordyn dancing her heart out!

The pictures of the reception are all a little blurred.  This could be because the camera operator was also "partying hearty"  malfunctioned.  It is also difficult getting good snap shots of my kids because of their inherent shyness (they got this from me) as evidenced by the pictures.

Wedding over, recuperation complete, my next post will chronical our ride home.  Can you hear the racking sobs?   While I missed my friends, family, and home, the idea of 108 temps, humidity, and no rain makes even zip lining look like fun!

P.S.  In my defense from Cheech's last post:

• I do not purchase the "extra large" size of Pepsi.  I go for the one labeled "Just about enough to fill a small swimming pool".  It's such a great bargain!
• I do not ask to stop every thirty minutes for a rest room.  I can go at least 35-40 minutes between stops.  Geez, Cheech is such an exaggerator.
• I don't always ask for a recap of the book on tape.  Sometimes I just make up the storyline I missed.  I often like my version better anyway.  

Boise to Crested Butte, a recap by Cheech

This blog is a perfect microcosm of how things work in our lives.  When I suggested we do a blog about our trip the response from Cindy was lukewarm.  Sure, she would give it a try.  She promptly put it on her list of things to do and every day she would ask me if I had written something because she had and wasn't this fun and we should do this every vacation we take.  In the meantime, I haven't touched the computer in a week and clearly don't care if I never do another post.  Cindy has kept you up to date on our daily travels and though like I said she never let's reality get in the way of a good story, she can be amusing.

A note about driving:  I do all the driving.  We are both more comfortable with that.

In our regular life, Cindy wakes up at about 5am, jumps out of bed and goes absolutely non-stop until about 10pm when she hits the bed, falls to sleep in 10 seconds (no lie, once she fell asleep in the middle of a sentence.  I looked over to see why she hadn't finished what she was saying and she was sleeping!) and does not move once the entire night until 5 o'clock arrives the following morning.  Since we're both home together most of the day I will sometimes suggest that we lie down for a rest at some point in the afternoon.  She tries valiantly to do this but within 5 minutes jumps out of bed to pursue whatever activity she was doing prior.  She just cannot stop.

Here however, is what happens when we travel:  Sure enough, she is up at 5am ready to go.  We have coffee, breakfast, whatever, pack up and hit the road.  Within 5 minutes she is snoring.  She sleeps all morning until  we have to stop for gas.  We fill up and continue our journey and since we had been listening to a book on tape all morning, there s a definite gap in her understanding of the storyline.  So she turns off the story and makes me recap 3 hours worth of story.  Then, when she is happy that she is caught up with the story she turns it back on.  5 minutes later, she is sleeping again.

At the gas station, prior to the story recap, she runs in and buys the biggest diet pepsi they sell and immediately downs about a third of it.  We hit the road, she falls asleep as expected but now her kidneys, god bless them, have been activated and so from now until days end, we will be stopping every 1/2 hour so she can pee.  At least her constant vigilance about where the next rest stop will be keeps her wide awake and so I don't have to catch her up on the story we are listening to.

The story about the wine in Utah is true.  She did say "OK mom" to this young waitress and I didn't drink the wine.  Mostly because I wasn't in the mood for wine anyway but in the back of my head I was thinking this waitress must be related to the police chief in a town this size and I wasn't going to spend a night in jail because of Cindy's attempt at humor.  By the way, the waitress didn't laugh.

I'll write again after the wedding which is today at 2pm.  I'm not saying how long after the wedding, just that I'll write.

White Water Rafting in Crested Butte

Let me start out by saying that I FIRMLY believe that NO recreational activity should necessitate a "release of liability".   In my humble opinion, release of liability forms should be reserved for open heart surgery, emergency appendectomies,  and liver transplants.

Cheech gets a  call from Nick at about 9:00 am asking us if we would like to join the "group" for a river rafting trip about 20 miles from our campsite.  I vigorously shake my head in the "no" motion, Cheech responds to Nick: "Ya, that sounds great!  Just tell us here and when."

As a coping mechanism, I immediately think - "lazy river" experience.  I picture a leisurely float down a meandering river, splashing myself with cool water as I sip a mint julep.  I jump on the river rafting website and see TONS of pictures (with 3 years olds on the rafts).  This verifies my fantasy.  O.K., cool, I'm glad we are doing this.

We get to the rafting company storefront and...

• First, I see about 45 pictures of people falling out of overturned rafts.  (Wait a minute I think.  How does this happen on the lazy river?)  
• Second, they hand me a release of liability form.  (Whoa, just a minute here.  Why would I need this for a lazy river trip?) 

Me:  "Excuse me miss.  Why would I need to sign this liability form for a trip that three year olds can take?  I've seen the pictures on the website."

Counter Gal:  "Mam, the pictures you saw on the website were from our family adventure."

Me:  "Yea, well that's what we're doing."

Counter Gal:  "No 'mam, your group is signed up for the two hour "ride the rapids" tour.  It an "exciting" 2 hour trip through class 3 rapids."

(Please note here, I did not sign up for excitement, I signed up for relaxation.)

Me:  "Wait a minute, wait just one minute here.  Are those pictures of people falling out of overturned boats perhaps from your 2 hour "ride the rapids" tour?"

Counter Gal:  "Well yes, but that doesn't ALWAYS happen."

Me:  "Seriously???  That was NOT reassuring."

(Picture me fighting the rising tide of panic with increased apprehension here.  I'm at the crossroads.  I can do it, hide my panic apprehension or I can back out right now while the going is good.  This is a tough decision for me, after all I have been a member in good standing of the "Chronic Pansies Club" for about 20 years now.

I decide to go for it by channeling my friend Shelly.  She will do ANYTHING, and then say "Geez, that was a blast!"  I spend the next 2 hours channeling Shelly in preparation for my "ride the rapids" afternoon.

We get to the launch area, they give us helmets.  What the f*** helmets!  The guide explains that they are necessary should we fall out of the boat.  "The area has a lot of big boulders that could kill you if you hit them head on."  (Picture me at this point with a tic in my left eye and mumbling to myself- "Pretend you're Shelly, pretend you're Shelly, pretend you're Shelly).  The guide looks at me and says "Are you o.k. 'mam?

We get fitted for life vests, booties (because our feet will be wet and cold for 2 hours) and the helmets.  Now it's time for the terrify your customers safety talk:

• Here's what you do if you fall out and can't grab the boat. (You mean it's possible to not be able to get back in the boat???)
• If you fall out and can grab the boat, please know we will need to dunk you deep into the water to allow the floatation devise to help us lift you back in.  (Let me be sure I understand this.  I'll already be choking on 40 degree water and then you'll be dunking me back in the river...hum I don't like the sound of that at all!).  
• Here's what you do if you get trapped under an over turned boat.  (I just figured that at this point my life would be flashing before my eyes.)  
• Here's what you do if you get thrown against a large log.  Be sure not to get trapped under it.  This could drown you.  (Well gee, could they have been a little more specific about HOW not to get trapped under a log?)

We get in our boats and on the river.  The story ends like this-  We had a great guide (who looked and sounded like Matthew Mcconaughey), the "ride the rapids" was exciting but not too scary, I had a great time, and I am forever grateful that I was able to channel my friend Shelly cuz "It was a blast!"

First Two Days of Actual Camping: Cindy's Perspective

After bidding a cheerful goodbye to Price City we headed down highway 50 towards the Colorado border.  Having not experienced enough of that "Utah hospitality" we decided to take a 111 mile detour to Arches National Park.

Arches is amazing.
Arches is beautiful.
Arches is a sight seen nowhere else in the world.
Arches is HOT - 100+ degrees in the summer!!!  (It was a great reminder of why we left Arizona for the month of July.)

Note the scorching sun.

After seeing the Arches Park Service movie (in a very fancy-dancy theatre), touring the rock formation road, and having lunch in Moab, we headed back to highway 50 and on to Colorado.  We were acutely aware that all the camping areas in Arches were full.  I had to wonder how desperate, ill-informed, or just plain crazy people must be to camp in 100+ degrees with no shade.  So we vowed to stop at each and every camp site in Colorado until we found an open space.

Hooray!  About three hours later we found a lovely spot in the Black Canyon National Forest.  We wanted to set up camp before dark and we surely didn't want to miss the evening ranger presentation!

Our ranger was quite wordy thorough in his presentation about the history of the park service and the distinction between national parks, national recreation sites, and national historic sites insert snoring sounds here.  The presentation put me in the mood for bed...perfect.

Cheech packed pads for us to use under our sleeping bags.  We drew straws and I got the one that was 100 years old.  It had the thickness of a flour tortilla and worked just about as well in offering me some padding.  I got 2.5 hours of sleep that night (and that was after I moved to the front seat of the car... where after all, I do some of my best sleeping).

I woke grumpy  bright eyed and bushy tailed and determined to find the nearest store that sold inflatable mattresses.   We packed coffee, but no pot to boil water - another great reason to hit the stores.  Here's a little formula for novice campers to keep in mind:  No sleep + no coffee = very rough morning.

After hastely packing our gear while I drooled on myself from lack of sleep  we headed towards the park visitor center.  Here we "discovered" that we were camping on the crest of a HUGE canyon.  Our mental acuity is clearly on the decline.  Not sure how we missed the fact that we were camping on a canyon at least half the size of the Grand Canyon.  I can only imagine that it was the same process by which we miss a 2 million acre national park just a few days ago as a result of poorly executed signage.  (The park service REALLY has to work on this!)

Black Canyon  

Next stop- Gunnison River camping area at Blue Mesa.  Cheech and I unloaded our gear, set up the tent, and sped off to the town of Gunnison where we promptly found a Walmart.  I bought an air mattress and Cheech bought a pot to boil water.  I was feeling the good camping vibes now!

After a day of sightseeing in Gunnison hard to believe that there's a day worth of things to do there we were ready to relax at our camp sight.  We had wine, crackers, and cheese.  What more can a person ask for?

Well...the answer to that question could be "a pump for an air mattress".  Much to my surprise the air mattress did not come with a pump.  "No problem" I declare after a few glasses of wine with my usual optimistic attitude.  "I'll just blow it up manually."  (No comments here, please)  About 45 minutes later when I was hallucinating from lack of oxygen the mattress was only 1/20 full,  I knew his was probably not going to work.  We tried the bike pump, a Co2 cartridge, the bike pump with tape, etc. etc. etc.

A mere two hours later the mattress was full, I was exhausted, the wine was gone, and the fire was dying out.  Time to fall into "bed".  I have never felt such a comfortable sleeping surface.  I am in LOVE with my air mattress.

Just goes to show what a "mountain woman" I can be.  

Boise to Colorado: Cindy's Perspective

We bit a sad farewell to Boise on Sunday, July 13th (sniff, sniff) and headed straight for Salt Lake City (SLC).  In an effort to plan our day, I consulted trusty old Trip Advisor.  Yikes!!!! The 15 most popular attractions contained the word "temple".  I'm just guessing,  but I think that the Trip Advisor feedback for SLC comes primarily from vacationing Mormons.

There was NO WAY we were going to spend the day driving from temple to temple looking at exterior architecture (because non-Mormons are not allowed to enter).  After careful consideration, we determined that SLC was not the best vacation fit for us.  We stopped for a light lunch and blew right out of there as quick as possible continued on our way (temple sights unseen).

Being the flexible travelers that we are, Cheech and I  decided that this was the perfect opportunity to begin camping.  A quick consultation with the internet gave us our new direction.  Uinta Wasatch National Forest was perfect!  It was kind-of on our route to Colorado, and as stated on Wikipedia, consisted of "more than 2 million acres of forested mountain lands".  Surely we would find the perfect camping spot.

We missed it... yes that's right we missed the whole d*** 2 million acres of forested mountain lands.  Something clearly went went awry (I think the signage was poorly executed).  Before we knew it Uinta Wasatch National Forest was nothing more than an unfilled camping dream and we were entering the town of Price City, Utah - population 8,621.  I'm sure that number was inflated.

Price City has two hotels:  The Pillow Talk Motel, rooms rented by the hour a hotel whose glory days have long since passed and National 9 Price, where you can rent a questionable room for 59.00 a night.    We went with the National 9 Price for 59.00 (breakfast included).

The scenic view from our room

After a quick check-in, Cheech and I headed off to the market to buy some booze (which I REALLY needed if I was going to face National 9 for the night).  Guess what - no booze for sale in Utah's grocery stores.  You can buy a "low-alcohol beer" that has less than a 3.5 percent ability to inebriate the drinker.   Here's what we found... Polygamy Porter.  I took a picture because I was afraid no one would believe me.

Polygamy Porter- on the grocery shelf. 

Polygamy Porter was just not going to have enough alcohol to get me as drunk relaxed as I needed... so off we went in search of a restaurant where I could get a glass of wine.  We found a sweet little eatery (right next to the Sudsy Duz laundromat).  Here's how the ordering went:  

Me:  I'd like a glass of red wine.

Waitress:  O.K.  And what are you having to eat?

Me: Nothing, just the glass of wine...maybe two.

Waitress:  You have to order food.

Me: I don't want food.  I just want wine.

Waitress:  We can't serve you alcohol unless you order food.

Me: Are you telling me I can't just order a glass of wine?  (I'm a little slow on the uptake.)

Waitress: That's right, you HAVE TO HAVE  food with your alcohol.

Me:  Gee thanks Mom, I'll have chips salsa and two glass of wine!

She did not appreciate my attempt at humor.  She brought the chips, salsa, and wine.  Cheech did not drink his glass of wine because he thought I pissed her off she may have misinterpreted my lighthearted humor for biting sarcasm.  He was concerned that as soon as we left the restaurant she would call the police and have him arrested for drinking and driving.  (I think that was a distinct possibility.)

Side Note:  Utah law forbids restaurants from serving alcohol to any person not ordering food.  Apparently the Utah legislature wishes to ensure that alcoholism and gluttony go hand-in-hand.  

So... I had the two glasses of wine (Cheech ate the chips),  I got just tipsy enough to ignore the minor flaws in our room at the National 9, and all was well (except Cheech never did get a drink).  And so goes the story of our first night of camping.  The great adventure continues!

Recap of Boise: Cindy's Perspective

Let me start out by stating that Boise gets a 2 thumbs up rating from me!  It's a fun city with TONS to do.  If you question my judgement, which many people do which would be a mistake, all you need to do is to check Trip Advisor.  They have 145 items listed under "Attractions".

Here's what we managed to do yesterday:

• Biked down the Boise River Greenbelt path - This is a tribute to Boise's city planners.  The Greenbelt is also beautiful, cool in the morning, follows the river, and is mostly shaded.  I was quite terrified cautious throughout the ride.  It seems that my bike crash two weeks ago has forever scarred my biking psyche  has heightened by biking safety awareness.  (#1 on Trip Advisor)
• Toured the Idaho  State Penitentiary.  The "pen" no longer houses inmates it might have been more interesting if it did and is considered an historical site.  I'm pretty sure we selected this activity just because it was # 5 on Trip Advisor.  It was creepy thought provoking and (after this visit) I am quite sure I would like to avoid an extended stay in prison at all costs!  I would not have listed this as the #5 attraction on Trip Advisor... just goes to show what perverted, vicarious thrills the followers of Trip Advisor entertain the differences in people's taste.  
• The Flicks.  This is an "old school" movie theater that also happens to serve gourmet food and  a ton of beer and wine... right up our alley.  We saw Begin Again.  It's a sweet, feel good movie with lots of fun music.  Both Cheech and I enjoyed it.  (#6 in Trip Advisor)
• The Idaho State Capitol Building was not open for tours, thank god darn, but we were able to walk the grounds and take a few pictures (#7 in Trip Advisor).
• We were also able to stroll the Idaho Botanical Gardens.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time there but what we saw was beautiful.  Everything was in bloom, the grounds were well maintained, and there were lots of places to sit.  Had I not just spent WAY too much time come from the Penitentiary I might have stayed longer.  (#8 in Trip Advisor)
• Spent about 35 minutes at the Idaho  Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.  It was a  stop along the Greenbelt path.  This outdoor memorial is both touching and inspiring.  I would highly recommend a visit here.  (#9 in Trip Advisor)
• The Morrison-Knudsen Nature Center was also a great stop along the Greenbelt path.  We did not have this on our list so we considered our "stumble upon" quite a stroke of luck.  It consisted of a lovely nature path loaded with interesting information and a few aquariums.  
• Didn't get to float down the Boise River BUT we did stop and I got to soak my feet in the river's cool, clear water.   Watching young and old alike bobbing down the river (some in costume) was a total hoot.  It's a 2 hour floating experience with a bus ride back to the starting point.  Had we not been "speed vacationing" we might have had time to truly enjoy the river rafting experience.  Next time for sure!
• I visited the Art Museum while Cheech fell asleep on the museum's front lawn sadly declined this opportunity in order to plan our route for the next few days.  It was a top notch museum with some outstanding contemporary art.  So sorry Cheech had to miss this :(

We ended the day totally exhausted and immediately fell into bed upon our return to the hotel a bit tired because we are not as young and spry as we used to be but happy that we were able to enjoy so much of Boise in just 24 hours.  

July 14-17 Olympia

On Monday, we took it easy at Tony and Jordyn's house.  We (Cindy) washed all of our clothes and then we (I) completely emptied the car so we could repack more efficiently after offloading a case of beer and 5 liters of wine.
At some point we (Cindy) decided that what was needed in the house was a new set of sheets so we (really we) went to Target and bought sheets, a blanket and some bottom skirt thingy that hides the box spring.  Don't ask me what it's called, but we (Cindy) said it was necessary.   That evening we went for Thai food and were in bed right after the sun set, about 10pm.  I exaggerate, but not by much.  Sunset was 9:05pm and it's not completely dark 'til about 9:45pm

On Tuesday, we got up early and started our tour of the Olympic Peninsula.  We were in Poulsbo by 7:30am and had a nice breakfast.  "Let's buy a house here" said Cindy.  She wanted to wait until the shops opened on Main Street so we took a hike in a local natural park.  All the city parks in the NW look like they can be the setting for Jurassic Park.  They are beautiful.  When the stores opened we walked up and down the streets and enjoyed the ambience.  This town is the Norwegian version of Solvang.

Next we continued north to Port Townsend.  "Let's buy a house here." said Cindy.  Port Townsend was gearing up to be the major west coast seaport north of San Francisco in the 1890's.  Lots of big, ornate buildings were put up in anticipation of that but the town went bust by 1896 when the railroad decided to stop at Seattle instead of continuing west.  We had lunch in Port Townsend (I had Cioppino and Cindy had blackened salmon.)

We continued to Port Angeles and the gateway to Olympic National Park Hurricane Ridge area.  Miraculously, there was no "Let's buy a house here."  Maybe there was and I just had tuned it out by then.  The 22 mile ride from Port Angeles to the top of Hurricane Ridge is similar in many ways to the ride up Mt. Lemmon, with the exception that towards the top there are steep drop offs and no side guard rails.  We still had the navigation system on as we neared the top and as we were going around a particularly sharp hairpin turn, the GPS said to us "Turn left in 500 feet."  Now turning left in 500 ft. would have sent us over the precipice so I was planning to ignore that direction.  Cindy, who was having a hard time trying to maintain her composure through what I'm sure she considered a near death experience,  lost it completely and started yelling at the GPS:  "What the fuck do you mean turn left?  Are you fucking crazy?"  There's no way we're turning left you fucking idiot."

The views from the top were spectacular.  Here are a few.

On the way back to Olympia we took a different route, this time along the western shore of the Hood Canal on 101.  This is an awesome drive.  Every curve a more beautiful vista of the water.  Every three miles during this 50 mile section Cindy said "Let's buy a house here."    We also stopped at a great water fall.  We only stopped at one, though Jordyn's notes say there are at least 7 along this stretch highway.  We got back to town by about 10pm.

(pictures of the ride home)

Wednesday:  On Wednesday I was planning to take a bike ride and Cindy was going to read all day and then cook up a nice cioppino and some fruit pies with the 90 pounds of fruit we had picked over the weekend (maybe not that much but I am learning from Cindy how exaggeration makes a story much more interesting.)  I was really looking forward to this meal but noticed Tony and Jordyn had no kitchen table or chairs.  We would have to eat on the couches in the living room.  Unacceptable, so we (actually I ) suggested we go out and buy them a dining room set.  It was a nice gesture but it also obligated me to spending 6 hours assembling a table and 4 chairs.  Everything came in Ikea like boxes that fit into the back seat of our car so you can imagine how many pieces it was.  It was at this point we (I) decided we needed to stay another day so I could 1:  take the bike ride I had been looking forward to and 2: eat the leftover cioppino.