K called me the other morning at school and announced, "We now have tickets to Les Mis." I was SO happy! I had never seen it live on stage before! So for my twenty-sixth day of summer vacation, we headed to Cedar City for the annual Shakespeare Festival. I loved Fantine! I loved Eponine (sp?)! I loved Jean Valjean! The performance brought some emotions to the surface and for me, that's what makes a great book/movie/musical/conversation, etc. It's that emotional connection, just like they teach us at park ranger school.
First, we had business in Cedar. I take classes through SUU and my school district, and SUU has had my name wrong since I married. No, not my last/married name, they changed that without question, but my middle name. So, I took a boat load of documentation to the registrar's office and they fixed everything. Appearing in person does wonders as opposed to emailing, calling, and faxing. All for a middle initial, mind you!
We next scavenged the campus for Anna's mural. Anna is Ranger Anna to us, my favorite yodeling ranger of all time. She graduated from SUU with degrees in art and outdoor recreation. We asked around a little in the student center if anyone might know where her artwork is permanently displayed, but they couldn't help us. We went to the library and asked if they had a list of artwork on campus (we hadn't seen it and we didn't know the title of it, just Anna's name). They tried, but failed. They were just about to send us to the art building when Linda the Librarian said, "What's the artist's name?" When we told her, she said, "Oh! I know Anna. I used to join the hikes she led for the outdoor recreation department. I'll walk you over to it." Fortuitous.
While walking around in the student center, we ran into Linda Wills, my former assistant principal who is now a principal at another school! Hugs were exchanged and we found out through our chit-chat that we would all be attending the same performance in the afternoon. Nice, nice.
We dined in at Arby's for lunch and as we were leaving the parking lot, we noticed a certain van in the drive-thru with a certain bumper sticker with a picture of the Earth and three words: Love Your Mother. K asked, "Hey, isn't that BJ's van?" Why yes, it was! Ranger BJ took me to the Shakespeare Festival for my first time last summer. We stopped right next to her and her family. We waved. We honked. We called out. They were extremely focused on the menu and ordering their food. Understandable. So then we waited for them to leave the ordering area and move further through the line at which point we pulled up next to them again repeating the above mentioned antics. No luck.
We headed for the theatre and found our seats. The show was sold out and the place was packed except for one little empty seat right next to us on our row. Who showed up? Linda Wills! Can you believe the connections we were having? So it was lovely chatting with Linda even more. She is such an ace.
After the show we headed up Cedar Canyon. It was starting to rain. The fog rolled in. We were going to camp at Navajo Lake, but found a better spot lower down. The showers were off and on, so we thanked Heavenly Father for sending the moisture we so desperately need, even if we were pitching our tent right in the middle of it. And that sort of concludes my twenty-sixth day of summer vacation. I'm not counting Saturdays, remember? Because most people who work full-time get two days off a week anyway, and since those are often Saturdays and Sundays, they don't count as a summer vacation day in my little Jody's Book of Rules. However, we had such a glorious day today, that I must continue!
We headed for Cedar Breaks National Monument. This was my eighth July in a row of visiting Cedar Breaks during their Wildflower Festival. It was threatening rain. The fee booth and VC weren't opened yet. We decided to walk the Columbine Trail (my name for it) from the VC to the campground. Magical. I'd be happy to take you there. The elevation is 10,000 feet and the flowers just do their thing--my little flying columbine! We decided to head back due to the rapidly changing weather and ended up sitting in the car for the worst of it. We donned our rain gear, swiped our annual pass, and headed for the VC, which by the way, has been remodeled! A bunch of rangers were crammed in there without much to do. One lady did walk in and innocently asked, "Will the Wildflower Festival still be going on today?" Such an innocent question. You see, the festival IS the flowers. It's going on for as long as the flowers are willing. I guess what she wanted to know may have had something to do with the guided walk at 10:00 a.m. She got a little frowny-faced when she heard about that. She was already soaking wet. I think she thought there would be some great big indoor auditorium or something...
We've hiked all the trails there multiple times and this wasn't a day for hiking, so we headed for Parowan.
Next we headed for Cove Fort, a place I had never visited, but K had some years ago. If you get the chance, go. We had the nicest time. Elder and Sister Perry from Oregon, walked out to the parking lot to meet us! It was only sprinkling, so we joined them for a personal tour. We started off with a 15 minute video in the cabin and then they took us to the fort. I loved everything they said. I loved the symbolism they used. The four of us had such pleasant conversation that I asked to take their picture. We are planning to serve a mission together someday. I hope that dream comes true.
Next stop was Fillmore. The missionaries told us about a place called Cluffs. We are so glad we asked! I had the Phillmore (get it? Fillmore?) Philly and K had the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger. Our server was dressed in a black shirt and Tony the Tiger Frosted Flakes pajama bottoms!
From Cluffs, we headed back down the main drag to the Territorial Statehouse. We sure pack in the museums and historic sites and this was an interesting place. They have all these framed pictures of Millard County settlers, etc. and I found some pictures of some Beckstrands (they were all in alphabetical order) and of course, some Hinckleys.
And for our last stop...we dropped a little money at The Red Barn in SOUTH Santaquin, not Santaquin proper, but South Santaquin. All I can say to my wonderful husband for another amazing outing is, THANKS, SWEETIE! The brightness of the fruit is the color of my happy heart.
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