We drove to Utah to attend Lexi and Jordan’s wedding. The drive was long, but as Partaks, we made it fun. There were lots of puns and quips but nothing that had us laughing more than the conversation about what to do when one has to poop outside. Mason had some crazy ideas about what people should do including leaning back to back while in a squatting position and then he thought it would make for a more meaningful experience to face each other, holding hands while still squatting to poo! Oh lordy! Whose kid is this?
We did some essential shopping while in Salt Lake City, most noteworthy was my stop to Gigi which is an awesome bakery supply store. Dave got to visit one of his favorite game stores while Mason also got to shop at one of his favorite stops, Smith and Edwards. Friday evening we went to the wedding and it was magical! We had a great time visiting with family but we were also excited to have a weekend adventure on our drive home through Nevada, and boy oh boy, did we ever have an adventure!
Our first stop on our way out of Utah was breakfast at Cracker Barrel, Mason had never eaten there and they always have fun things to see in their store. From there, we were off to the Dugway Geode Beds. We have a neighbor whose grand daughter lives in Delta, UT and she suggested it would make a fun side trip on our way home from the wedding. Where do I start with this one? First of all, it is located in the middle of nowhere - truly, the middle of nowhere in Utah. We registered online with the people who own the claim, paid our $30 and off we went. Once we got there, the question was, “Now what?” There was no map, no guide, no instructions on where to go or what to look for. Clearly, we executed that we would be digging for geodes, but with miles and miles of wide open space, where should we dig? Keep in mind that my visit with our neighbors grand daughter was over boxes of gorgeous crystal geodes, she has little kids and she said they found many of them without even digging. It was with this information that I expected we would be coming home with lots of rocks that we could then break open to reveal pretty crystals. NOPE! We were there for hours and we found one geode that when we broke it open, only had the very early makings of what might one day become a crystal. After more than 3 hours of driving to get there and almost as many hours to get out, Dave said it best, ‘This just might be our stupidest idea ever!” It was disappointing to be sure, but even in the moment, we were able to laugh and recognize that as a family, we have some serious fun.
Along our drive through Utah and Nevada, there were several old, dead trees with shoes in them, lots of shoes. I don’t know why and there was nothing noting any significance, but I found it interesting that there were two of them in really different locations. I suppose it’s just one of those things you see on a road trip that makes the scenery more interesting. We also came upon Petroglyphs State Park in Nevada and we made time to stop. Again, it’s in the middle of nowhere, but I suppose all of Hwy 50 going through Nevada qualifies, yes? The park was pretty cool, we did the mile loop through the park & took lots of pictures.
Not long after leaving the park, we were making our way to our next planned stop, Eureka Nevada where we had hotel reservations in an early 1800s hotel. Along the way, we got pulled over by the Nevada Highway Patrol for what else? Speeding! The officer was very nice and Dave admitted to knowing he was doing 65 in a 55 zone so while the officer went to look Dave up I suggested we put on our wax lips and mustaches. Dave said no and poo-poo’d me. I started to giggle and said, “Come on, it will make him smile.” As the officer approached the car, he started talking to Dave about why he was giving him a ticket and finally he noticed us in all our silly glory! He started laughing and told us we made his day. Dave still got a ticket, but it was for a far lesser charge.
We were off and running again. After a night in a haunted hotel, Okay, I don’t know if it’s really haunted, but it had that spooky vibe to it, we were back on the road headed for our last stop, Virginia City Nevada. We had fun visiting the museums, Mason bought some rocks and we took the mine tour - this is a stop that really deserves a whole day. We didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked here as we were ready to get home to Spencer a good nights sleep in our own beds. All in all, the weekend was an adventure to be sure and all we can think about is in less than one week we are off on another one - our Disney Cruise!
That dream with a bit of action turned into reality! We just returned from the cruise in the Bahamas and I have to say, this experience so far exceeded my expectations. The ship was gorgeous, it looked just like it looked on the program we watched on the travel channel. Our stateroom was completely comfortable - from our beds to the way it was completely dark and night, and amazingly, it was totally sound proof. The only time we could hear our neighbors was if we were both out on our room decks with our doors open. Mason’s birthday was acknowledged numerous times with a birthday cake, a card and certificate, and our housekeeper even gave him a Disney plush toy from one of his favorite Disney cartoons. Our dining room staff stayed with us the whole trip as we moved between the different dining rooms, it impressed me to no end that these amazing people could remember our names, how we like our coffee or tea, and so much more! The whole cruise was non-stop activity, there were things to do from 7:00 AM until 1:00 AM for both adults and kids. Mason had more freedom than he’s ever had in his life. He had on a bracelet that was preprogrammed so he could come and go from the different kids clubs, to the swimming pools, the water slide and the movie theatre and we didn’t have to worry about him getting in trouble. Dave and I had as much fun as Mason and maybe even more! We saw the live shows - they were as good as live on Broadway, we saw a movie, took in a comedy show, sat in the adults only hot tub that has a glass bottom and side so you sit in it and you are looking into the ocean from two sides! As a family we played “So You Think You Know Your Family?” a live game show, Dave and Mason played MidShip Detective, an interactive mystery game using the artwork on the ship and we participated in the live deck parities with music, drama and fireworks. What we know for sure is that it would be impossible to have done everything that was available for us to do! We had a day in Nassau and another day on Disney’s private island Castaway Cay, both days were fun and brought activities all their own. We were all sad to see the cruise come to an end, but we had two more days planned in Orlando. It turned out that Mason and I both caught a bit of a belly bug so we had some down time. We stayed at a water park resort not too far from the airport so we just took it easy and laid by the pool for a few days before heading home and back to real life. I can’t say enough good things about our Disney cruise experience, even Dave who wasn’t all that excited about the trip to begin with said he had a really good time, he even went as far as to say he would like to take another cruise sometime. All in all, the vacation of a lifetime!
