A More Permanent Hell

Pretty much ignored the internet while I was gone, so no idea what coolness may have happened whilst I was away. Point me to it, if you think it be worthy :)

We had a great time, including a float trip down a portion of the Colorado, followed by fishbowl margaritas. Actually, I think tequila and/or margaritas were a constant of the last four days - Nin made her killer ice bucket margaritas twice for us. Survived intact, with no sunburn. My only mishap was late yesterday, when I was wading in the Virgin River back of our inn, and the current got underneath me and tipped me over. Banged up my hip and my upper thigh pretty good when I came down on rocks. Now, we're home, and I'm doing laundry, and getting ready for work tomorrow. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know I Lokied Nin and Jen really good, but will share the full story here at some point. Pictures will also show up soon as well.

Friends arriving from California today, so Nin and I are taking a stay-cation up in Springdale, which is up the road a piece, till Wednesday. So I won't be around much, if at all. If I do pop in, it'll probably be on Twitter. Though I'll try and post some photos here as the week progresses. Everyone have a good week!

Heading for Vegas now to pick strangevisitor7 at the airport! We have midnight tickets to at The Palms in IMAX 3D for that movie I may have mentioned once or twice [g] Expect squeeful posts from my phone around 3am tomorrow morning.

Heading for Vegas now to pick strangevisitor7 at the airport! We have midnight tickets to at The Palms in IMAX 3D for that movie I may have mentioned once or twice [g] Expect squeeful posts from my phone around 3am tomorrow morning.

ninjababe and I actually left the house yesterday, and headed over to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. It's only a few minutes from the house, and I was told about it by a coworker last summer. It's a very popular local swimming hole in the summer. You can jump from the rocks into the pools below as well. Considering how hot our summers are, you can see why it would be popular! It was in the high 40s yesterday, but the canyon felt warmer as it's protected from the wind. After walking a while, I took off my sweatshirt, and was just wearing my shirt.

This is the view from the top, up by the Anasazi ruins. It's a half mile from the campground, most of it up hill.


( More photos and travelogue below.... )

Steph, I think you and the girls would love it! Maybe when everyone is healthy again - there's even dinosaur tracks!

I found out back in July that Alasdair Fraser would be playing in Evanston WY (about four hours from us) in March of 2012. I haven't seen Alasdair play since I lived in California, and haven't been to an actual concert of his in longer than I can recall. Now it's closer to the day, I started looking into it, and come to discover it's The Céilí At The Roundhouse Celtic Festival 2012! Woot! So I'm looking even more forward to it now. Keep your fingers crossed that no new emergencies crop up leaving us unable to attend like past planned events.

I found out back in July that Alasdair Fraser would be playing in Evanston WY (about four hours from us) in March of 2012. I haven't seen Alasdair play since I lived in California, and haven't been to an actual concert of his in longer than I can recall. Now it's closer to the day, I started looking into it, and come to discover it's The Céilí At The Roundhouse Celtic Festival 2012! Woot! So I'm looking even more forward to it now. Keep your fingers crossed that no new emergencies crop up leaving us unable to attend like past planned events.

One of the most popular hikes at Zion Natl Park is Angels Landing - one I'll never do due to the heights. But the park service has put together a virtual hike that's very cool! (This is the park, BTW, that I see from my front porch)

ninjababe and I got out on the road about 3pm on Friday, which normally would have been plenty of time, but we forgot about the hellish road construction between Spanish Fork and Salt Lake. So we arrived a little later than would have liked. We knew the doors opened for the honeyhoney & Joshua James concert at 8pm, and it started at 9, so it was going to be close. The hotel had a shuttle, so we took that, and we arrived at about 9pm sharp. Turned out the concert was sold out, and people actually tried to buy our tickets at the door! We get inside the lobby, and the opening act is going full blast. Now, the State Room is an old movie theater in the quonset hut sorta style, so it's movie type seats in the back half, and open floor space and stage in the other. It's dark, and we think there are no seats left ARGH! Don't really want to stand for an hour+. But we went around the back and up the stairs and looking down, found two seats. We settle in, Nin takes our coats to the coat check as there isn't enough room for them and us, and I get drinks. Finally, honeyhoney comes on stage and begins to play. OMG! They were so good! It was totally worth seeing them live. I love the albums, but live was just a really wonderful experience. I wish I had a recording of the night! I still have the songs in my head. And, they did most of my faves, which was an added bonus. They played for a little over an hour, and then headed to their merchandise table. Nin and I brave the crowd, holding our CD of Billy Jack, their newest, and lo and behold, we ended up meeting the entire band! They were genuinely touched we came all the way from St George to see them, wanted to shake hands, the signed my CD case, chatted for quite a while, despite the fact they were in demand. The guys were wonderful - my velvet paisley blazer was quite the hit - and Suzanne Santo is as lovely in looks as she is in spirit, a really delightful and talented young woman. They all told us we really needed to check out their co-headliner, Joshua James, and that we saw terrific, so we took them at their word, and went back inside. They were right, he was. I didn't think he was 'my sort of music', but he totally drew me in, and his version of 'You Are My Sunshine' actually brought tears to my eyes. We ended up staying till the end. All in all, it was a great night - the staff at the venue was incredibly friendly, the crowd wasn't scary, and we left the theater to find ourselves in a beautiful snow storm. What more could you ask for? And how often does something get me to write long posts like this anyways? [g]

ninjababe and I got out on the road about 3pm on Friday, which normally would have been plenty of time, but we forgot about the hellish road construction between Spanish Fork and Salt Lake. So we arrived a little later than would have liked. We knew the doors opened for the honeyhoney & Joshua James concert at 8pm, and it started at 9, so it was going to be close. The hotel had a shuttle, so we took that, and we arrived at about 9pm sharp. Turned out the concert was sold out, and people actually tried to buy our tickets at the door! We get inside the lobby, and the opening act is going full blast. Now, the State Room is an old movie theater in the quonset hut sorta style, so it's movie type seats in the back half, and open floor space and stage in the other. It's dark, and we think there are no seats left ARGH! Don't really want to stand for an hour+. But we went around the back and up the stairs and looking down, found two seats. We settle in, Nin takes our coats to the coat check as there isn't enough room for them and us, and I get drinks. Finally, honeyhoney comes on stage and begins to play. OMG! They were so good! It was totally worth seeing them live. I love the albums, but live was just a really wonderful experience. I wish I had a recording of the night! I still have the songs in my head. And, they did most of my faves, which was an added bonus. They played for a little over an hour, and then headed to their merchandise table. Nin and I brave the crowd, holding our CD of Billy Jack, their newest, and lo and behold, we ended up meeting the entire band! They were genuinely touched we came all the way from St George to see them, wanted to shake hands, the signed my CD case, chatted for quite a while, despite the fact they were in demand. The guys were wonderful - my velvet paisley blazer was quite the hit - and Suzanne Santo is as lovely in looks as she is in spirit, a really delightful and talented young woman. They all told us we really needed to check out their co-headliner, Joshua James, and that we saw terrific, so we took them at their word, and went back inside. They were right, he was. I didn't think he was 'my sort of music', but he totally drew me in, and his version of 'You Are My Sunshine' actually brought tears to my eyes. We ended up staying till the end. All in all, it was a great night - the staff at the venue was incredibly friendly, the crowd wasn't scary, and we left the theater to find ourselves in a beautiful snow storm. What more could you ask for? And how often does something get me to write long posts like this anyways? [g]