Colorado Rockies

I am not a huge baseball fan (I don't even follow my hometown team, the Toronto Blue Jays, that much) but whenever I am in an MLB city I like to catch a game and cheer for the home team.  Since I was in Denver for the weekend, I decided to see a Rockies game against the Miami Marlins and it was so much fun.  I really like Coors Field and I had great seats near home plate!  The game was really slow at the beginning but then it got really exciting in the bottom of the fourth inning.  All of the bases were loaded and then Arenado came up to bat.  The crowd went absolutely crazy!  He was able to bring Blackmon home for our first run of the game!  So exciting!  Things got really loud again in the bottom of the seventh when Gonzalez scored a home run to tie the game.  It went to extra innings but the Rockies ended up losing 3-2.

Note: Apparently I really like wearing my Beatles shirt to baseball games.  Here I am at a Rockies game in 2012!

U2 in Denver

After graduation Friday night, I packed up my car and left at the crack of dawn on Saturday for the drive to Denver to see U2's Innocence and Experience Tour.  I have driven to Denver with my friend Tony and with my Dad countless times but this was the first time going solo.  Several years ago when Tony and I were driving to a Broncos game, I missed the junction to I-25 and we were in Pine Bluffs, Nebraska before Tony realized what I had done!  He was so mad at me because it was over an hour out of our way but I maintain that it was really his fault because he was the navigator!  Now everybody teases me about it whenever I go to Denver.  Happily, I did not miss it this time (it is really well marked!) and I even got to my hotel in Denver with enough time to take a nap before the concert!  It was an amazing show, one that I will never forget!  I love U2.  I have been a huge fan since the album War came out when I was in eighth grade.  I suppose that the Beatles will always be my sentimental favorite but they broke up before I was born and I never got a chance to see them live.  U2 is a contemporary band with a lead singer who sings about peace and social justice and they definitely fueled both my earnestness and my idealism when I was young.  I practically worshiped Bono when I was in high school and college and, apparently, not much has changed since then because I was incredibly close to him for much of the concert (he even made eye contact with me several times) and I was beside myself, almost like a thirteen year old girl!  The stage was configured with a rectangle at one end of the Pepsi Center and a circle at the other end with a long runway connecting them.  Above the runway were huge screens with a catwalk between them.  My seat was on the second row near the circular stage and I would say that Bono (and occasionally the whole band) spent about half of the concert there.  During the first half, the majority of the songs came from their latest album, Songs of Innocence, which I absolutely love, interspersed with really early songs, such as "The Electric Co." and "I Will Follow," and "Sunday Bloody Sunday."  The concert began with "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)" which is about when Bono first realized that he wanted to be in a rock and roll band.  During "Iris," a beautiful song about Bono's mother, his old home videos were shown on the giant screens.  During "Cedarwood Road," an image of the actual street was projected on the screens while Bono walked across the catwalk in between them.  It looked like he was walking up and down the street where he grew up and it was so cool.  I especially loved the effect of the blowing cherry blossoms.  During "Song for Someone," my favorite song from the album, Bono stood on the circular stage with a single spotlight.  He gave an incredibly passionate performance and it was one of my favorite moments of the concert.  The whole band performed "Raised by Wolves" suspended on the catwalk and then Bono sang "Every Breaking Wave" on the circular stage with just the Edge accompanying him on a piano that came up from the floor.  Bono can still belt out those high notes and it was another favorite moment for me.  After the intermission, they played the old favorites (Songs of Experience?) including "Until the End of the World," "Invisible," "Even Better than the Real Thing," "Mysterious Ways," "Desire," "Angel of Harlem," a powerful version of "Bullet the Blue Sky," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," and "Beautiful Day."  They finished the set with Bono singing "With or Without You" on the circular stage with a spotlight.  Sigh!  For the encore, they sang "City of Blinding Lights," "Where the Streets Have No Name," and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."  I have now seen U2 perform five times (I'm hoping that the tour eventually makes it to SLC so I can see them again) and every show has been an unbelievable experience!  This concert was definitely worth the eight hour drive!

Note:  This is not the first time I've gone to Denver just to see a concert.  I flew there to see Bruce Springsteen at the Pepsi Center and Tony and I drove to Red Rocks Amphitheatre twice to see Journey and Sting!

I Heart Road Trips

Recently, I took my car to the dealership for some routine maintenance and the technician recommended that I replace all four of the tires.  Since I replaced all four tires less than two years ago, he thought that they would certainly be under warranty...until he looked at my mileage!  The poor man was incredulous that one person could put so many miles on a private vehicle!  I wasn't surprised in the least.  I absolutely love going on road trips.  There is something so invigorating about taking to the open road for an adventure.

In the span of one year, I've driven to southern Utah three times (for a spring break trip to the national parks, for a leadership conference at Dixie State University, and for my annual trip to the Utah Shakespeare Festival), to Denver twice to see the Colorado Avalanche play the Boston Bruins and the Calgary Flames, to Las Vegas to see the Cirque de Soleil show Love, to Montana for an incredible week at Yellowstone National Park, and to South Dakota to satisfy a whim to see Mount Rushmore, not to mention all of the weekend trips here and there.

I suppose my love of road trips stems from my childhood.  My Dad thought nothing of making a few sandwiches, playing the Beatles as loud as he could, and strapping us in for extended adventures.  Just about every summer we would drive to Canada (it takes three days there and three days back) to visit my Dad's family and we would always stop anywhere my Dad thought noteworthy (Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Wall Drug in South Dakota, the Corn Palace in Nebraska, just to name a few).  Oh, the memories and the stories I could tell (ask me about the Canadiana Motel).  I guess my thirst for adventure was inherited!

The school year is almost over (seven days, but who's counting?) and my car will soon have four brand new tires so I am itching to get out on the road.  I have a trip to Denver planned (to see a U2 concert and the Colorado Rockies), I've registered my new SBOs for the leadership conference at DSU, and I just bought tickets for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  I may have a few more trips in the works and I couldn't be more excited!  Now, can anyone give me a good deal on tires?

A Weekend of Hockey in Denver

I absolutely love watching the Colorado Avalanche play at the Pepsi Center!  My dad and I try to go to at least one game every year (last year I went to three; two with my Dad and one with my cousins).  A couple of weeks ago we chose to go the game against the Calgary Flames (we try to pick a Canadian team so we can hear "O Canada" at the beginning of the game) on Saturday night and we invited my cousin Blaine, who lives in Denver, to go with us.  I counted down the days because I was so excited.  We drove to Denver (about an eight hour drive) and met my cousin Blaine downtown for dinner.  He picked a great place called My Brother's Bar and I ate one of the best burgers I have ever had!  Then we went straight to the Pepsi Center.  I like to get there early because I like to smell the ice (Blaine thought I was weird at first but then he said that you actually could smell the ice) and watch the practice skate.  That gets me really amped up for the game!

It was an incredible game!  The Avalanche are still in the hunt for a playoff spot so they started the game very aggressively!  They got a lot of shots on goal and it was so fun to watch!  At the end of the first period, the Flames really tightened things up and started shooting more.  During the second period, the Avalanche went on a power play and Alex Tanguay got a nice goal.  Just a few minutes later Ryan O'Reilly got a goal which electrified the Pepsi Center.  In the third period, the Flames scored two goals but John Mitchell (with an assist from my favorite player, Matt Duchene) got one of the prettiest goals I've ever seen and, luckily, the play that led to the goal happened right in front of us.  My dad always gets the good seats!  The last five minutes of the game were really tense but Semyon Varlamov (who stopped 29 shots) had an amazing save which got the crowd chanting, "Varly, Varly, Varly!"  I loved it!  The Avalanche won the game 3-2, which was thrilling for me because they lost the last two games I attended.  I loved every minute of this weekend!

Colorado Avalanche road trips are the best!

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Weekend Camping Trip

The mild winter we have been having in Utah has given me a serious case of spring fever!  I have been itching to go camping so Marilyn and I planned this little weekend getaway to our favorite KOA in Fillmore (ironically we had the biggest snowstorm of the year last week).

We left in the afternoon on Friday but we hit some massive traffic on the way out of town so we didn't arrive until late in the evening (Fillmore is about 150 miles south of SLC).  The wonderful people who run this KOA know us personally because we camp here so often!  They told us they were getting worried about us!  They asked us why we weren't in the motor home, if our parents were with us, and if we brought the dogs!  I guess we do camp here a lot!

We love staying in the KOA cabins!  They are so comfortable with heating, air conditioning, and mini refrigerators.  They have nice beds (you bring your own linens or sleeping bags), a desk, and some chairs.  They don't have their own bathroom but there is a communal one nearby with really nice showers.  Friday night felt like a sleepover because we watched movies and ate treats all night!

Some views of our cute cabin. I especially love the porch because it is really relaxing to sit out there and read.  The weather was a little bit chilly but I still sat out there for quite some time!

Saturday was absolutely perfect because we literally did nothing but relax!  We read and sat around the firepit for most of the day.  Sunday was basically a repeat of Saturday. There was nothing that I had to do and that felt so good (especially after a few stressful weeks at school).  Camping (even in a cabin) definitely recharges my batteries and I hope I get to do a lot more of it this spring and summer!

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Mount Rushmore

I have really wanted to go to Mount Rushmore for the past little while!  I'm not entirely sure why.  I've been there several times before because it was a frequent stop on our annual road trip to Canada when I was young but I still wanted to go again.  I actually couldn't stop thinking about it and I even researched different routes and found a KOA (my favorite place to stay) nearby.  I had originally thought about going during fall break, which is in a few weeks, but the KOA closes for the winter at the end of September.  Last Friday was a day off for me as compensation for parent teacher conferences so I spontaneously booked a cabin!  All of my friends thought I was crazy!

This was my little cabin for the weekend.  I really enjoy staying in KOA cabins and this campground had a lot of fun amenities (all you can eat pancakes for breakfast, for example).  I spent a fair amount of time sitting on that swing reading.  It was so relaxing!

I spent all day Saturday at the monument.  I didn't do anything else in the area because I just wanted to see Mount Rushmore.  It is quite impressive!  I was able to go on the Presidential Trail (which I had never done before) to get different views.  All of the people on the trail kept laughing about taking a picture every 20 steps!

I did everything there is to do at Mount Rushmore!  I had lunch in the café, but I was a bit disappointed when someone didn't pretend to shoot me (North By Northwest is one of my favorite movies of all time), I toured the sculptor's studio, I watched the film, I had some of the famous ice cream (I don't know why it is famous but it was really good), and I even came back for the evening program to light the monument.  It was a great day!

I loved this view, which you can see as you leave the monument!  I'm so glad I went on this spontaneous trip!

Note:  The drive is ten hours each way which seems a little bit crazy.  However, I actually like driving long distances because it gives me a chance to think!  I have a great road trip playlist (the Beatles, the Eagles, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison) and I sing at the top of my lungs!  This is the farthest I've ever gone on a road trip alone!  I was pretty proud of myself until I pulled into Little America with my gas light on only to discover that the power was out.  Since I couldn't get gas, I was basically stuck there (gas stations are few and far between in Wyoming) for three hours until a waitress went all the way home (20 miles away) to get a gas can full of gas for me! I think she is quite possibly the nicest person on the planet!  When your Dad tells you not to let the gas get below a quarter of a tank, listen to him!

All You Need Is Love

Fifteen years ago I went on a girls trip to Las Vegas with my friend Candi.  During our stay at Treasure Island we saw the show Mystere performed by Cirque du Soleil.  I had never seen anything like it before and was mesmerized by the acrobatic, aerial, and trapeze performances accompanied by fabulous live music (I especially liked the taiko drums).  I absolutely loved it!  Several years ago the Beatles collaborated with Cirque du Soleil to create a similar show called Love using the recorded music of the Beatles (their long-time producer, George Martin, gave Cirque du Soleil access to original Abbey Road Studio recordings so the music is absolutely amazing) at the Mirage.  I immediately wanted to see this show!  Since I loved Mystere so much, I figured that a Cirque du Soleil show featuring the music of my all-time favorite band would be an epic experience (it was).  I have wanted to see this show for so long (I tried to see it on my spring break trip to Southern Utah but for some reason it was dark that entire week) but I finally made it happen last Friday while I was in Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival (Las Vegas is a two hour drive from Cedar City).  I loved this show so much!  Every single song and performance was amazing but a few of them stand out in my mind.  The stage is in the round and, at the opening of the show, it is divided into quadrants by blue scrims.  Four performers dressed in blue slowly began climbing ropes suspended from the ceiling to "Because," a slow song sung a capella.  In my opinion, it was a bit anticlimactic.  Then the scrims fell and "Get Back" played while men and women bounced perpendicularly on bungee cords.  The women seemed to drop straight down from the men and it was incredible!  I also loved the performance to "Something."  A man wearing black performed an acrobatic routine while four women dressed in white flew around him on trapezes.  He interacted with them but they all seemed tantalizingly out of reach.  So beautiful and atmospheric!  During the song "Within You Without You" a group of children played on a bed in the center of the stage.  Then a huge white parachute spread around them and throughout the audience, literally covering most of them.  I don't know what the people covered by the parachute saw, but I was sitting in an upper row and it looked like the bed was bouncing on a fluffy white cloud.  I actually felt like I was floating on the cloud and it was surreal, to say the least.  The very next song was "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and strings of LED lights descended from the ceiling while a girl dressed in silver flew around the theater on a trapeze.  The lights blinked on and off and it literally felt like I was surrounded by stars.  For "Here Comes the Sun," a globe of lights descended from the ceiling and four women dressed in yellow performed aerial dances on suspended ropes.  At the end each woman tumbled down her rope one after the other, perfectly timed to the last four guitar riffs in the song.  It was spectacular!  During "Come Together," four couples danced an acrobatic routine while spotlights flashed on them individually in syncopation with the music.  I was blown away by the performances and I literally had tears in my eyes during the encore, "All You Need Is Love" with images of the Beatles projected on scrims.  Now I want to see it again (I almost bought a ticket to the 9:00 show that same night).  Words do not do justice to this spectacle and I highly recommend Love to anyone who is a fan of the Beatles!

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2014

Last week I had the opportunity to spend three days at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  I had so much fun eating tarts (the cream cheese are my favorite) and seeing all of the plays this season.  It was the perfect way to cap off the summer!  Tuesday afternoon I saw the matinee of Sense and Sensibility.  Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors and I have read this novel so many times that, quite honestly, I did not care for the adaptation.  I kept comparing it to the book and there were many subtle differences.  However, I loved the staging and the performances were outstanding.  There are many journeys by carriage in the story and the way the actors simulated the movement of the horses was very entertaining.  Changes in scenery and the movement of props were effected by actors costumed as liveried servants and I thought this was ingenious.  All of the actors were well suited to their roles but Sam Ashdown was perfect as the rake, Willoughby.  He is very handsome and I don't think any proper English miss could possibly resist his charms.  In my opinion, Bria Sudia stole the show as the silly Charlotte Palmer.  I laughed out loud at everything she said and did.  It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  Tuesday evening I saw The Comedy of Errors outside in the Adams Theatre (an excellent replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre).  This show was easily my favorite!  For this production the setting was the wild West during the gold rush of 1849 and the stage included a saloon, a brothel, and a barber shop.  I usually don't like it when directors stray too much from the source material but this show was hilarious (the spittoon)!  I can't remember when I have laughed so hard!  The actors had to pause several times to wait for the audience to stop laughing!  The story is about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who, unbeknownst to them, are all in the same town and are mistaken for each other with outrageous consequences!  The four actors playing the twins (Chris Amos, Drew Shirley, Aaron Galligan-Stierle, and Misha Fristensky) had brilliant timing and were quite adept at all of the physical comedy.  Definitely my favorite show!  Wednesday afternoon I saw the matinee of Twelfth Night which was directed by one of my festival favorites, David Ivers.  This show also involves twins mistaken for each other and a lot of physical comedy.  My favorite character was definitely Malvolio (David Pichette), who is duped into believing that the lady he serves is in love with him.  The costume he wears to woo her is hilarious and I laughed and laughed when he practiced his smile!  Wednesday evening I saw Measure for Measure, which I had never seen before.  This play is about justice and mercy and I found it to be quite intense and thought-provoking.  Steve Wojtas was excellent as Angelo, a man who judges the act of another man but then commits the same act.  There is a bit of comic relief to all of this seriousness in the form of Lucio (Jonathan Smoots).  He criticizes the Duke (John G. Preston) to the Friar, who is really the Duke in disguise, and then criticizes the Friar to the Duke.  The scene where he gets his comeuppance is hilarious.  Thursday I saw the matinee of Into the Woods, which is one of my very favorite musicals (I am beyond excited to see the new movie coming out on Christmas Day).  The story incorporates well-known fairy tale characters to demonstrate that actions can sometimes have unintended consequences.  I really loved the set!  Backdrops and props looked like original illustrations of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (I especially liked Milky White the cow).  The cast was amazing, including my favorite festival actor, Brian Vaughn, as the Baker.  I especially loved Peter Saide as Cinderella's Prince because he was completely over the top (he was raised to be charming not sincere).  His song "Agony" with Rapunzel's Prince (Kyle Eberlein) had everyone laughing!  Such a great show!  Finally, on Thursday evening I saw Henry IV Part One, a definite contender for my favorite show of the festival!  It was so good!  Sam Ashdown (who played Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) was incredibly charismatic as Prince Hal.  Sigh!  Henry Woronicz was irrepressible as Sir John Falstaff, the unsuitable companion of the prince.  While their naughty hijinx were a lot of fun to watch, the scene where Hal is confronted by his father, the king, was incredibly powerful and left me breathless!  I also thought the final scene was very well staged:  a spotlight with King Henry standing on the balcony and Prince Hal standing below him.  A portent of things to come (the festival is currently producing all of the history plays chronologically).  I really enjoyed my time at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this year!  There are so many things to do in addition to watching the plays like backstage tours, play orientations, play seminars with the actors and directors, a greenshow every evening (I especially enjoyed Scottish night with a piper), and, of course, the aforementioned tarts!  The festival continues through August 30.  Go here for more information.

Yellowstone 2014

When I got home from Jordanelle, I had just enough time to do laundry and shop for provisions before I headed out again for a week at Yellowstone National Park (about a five hour drive north from Salt Lake).  I love Yellowstone and I have been planning and looking forward to this trip since April.  Since I am pretty familiar with the park, I had a plan for my time there.  On my first day I visited all of the geysers and hot springs.

Lower Geyser Basin

Midway Geyser Basin (my favorite feature in the park is the Grand Prismatic Spring)

Lower Geyser Basin (I really love the Sapphire Pool)

Old Faithful

West Thumb Geyser Basin (I liked the Blue Bell Pool)

Norris Geyser Basin (I hiked all around the Porcelain Basin which was about two miles)

On my second day in the park I went on several scenic drives.  It was so beautiful!

The Yellowstone River

The Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  So Spectacular!

I was able to see lots of wildlife!  You're not really supposed to get this close to the buffalo but I just kept walking towards them!  On a Yellowstone trip when I was ten, I walked right up to a buffalo to get a close-up picture and it freaked my Dad out.  He couldn't yell at me to stop because he was afraid of spooking the buffalo.  If I recall correctly, the picture I got was blurry...

I stayed in a cabin at the West Yellowstone KOA and it was so much fun!  The people in the cabins were outdoorsy, adventurous, and very friendly with lots of stories to tell around the campfire.  I enjoyed sitting on my porch reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Yellowstone.  Next time I visit I want to go fishing!

Note:  For two nights I drove into West Yellowstone to see productions at the Playmill Theatre.  On Monday night I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was fun as always, and on Tuesday night I saw Les Miserables, which was absolutely amazing!  It is a small and intimate theatre and the performers lead you to your seats and chat with you for a few minutes.  They all recognized me when I returned on Tuesday (I sat in the same seat both nights); one of them kissed me on the cheek and another one hugged me.  I really enjoyed both shows and I highly recommend them if you are in the area this summer.

Go here for more information and to purchase tickets.