We'll Always Have Paris

So I fell off the Blogging bandwagon but for good reason, I've been on one of the most awesome road trips ever. I'll start where any story should start, at the beginning. This event has been in the making for awhile. We've had this weekend blocked for some time and we're so very happy it worked out. Two of our friends had a Commitment Ceremony in Zion National Park in Utah. Other key characters in said story are: Alix & Adonis, aka Lex and Spin.

So last Monday, 5/21/07 began a rigorous work week (it may have only been 3 days but it consisted of getting A LOT of work done, along with meetings in the evenings, packing and prepping for our 3 state trip, well 4 if you count our own). Monday went off without a hitch, got work done, got through a meeting early, cleaned out my car and did some laundry. Tuesday I really started to feel the pressure. I had to make sure I had all of my camera equipment, film and other vital parts. Work seemed to be getting busier rather than lighter. I had to do my best to get as much done as possible seeing as how when I got back, I would only have 3 days to close the month and most of you know how bad my "end of the month" is already. Wednesday found me pounding caffeine, after energy drink, after caffeine to get through my day, I got a lot accomplished but I wished it had been more. At 4:01pm I found myself flying down the highway to Burbank Airport to pick up Lex and Spin. I arrived right around 5:30ish. I was wandering around in the wrong area for a few minutes. After calling Lex and figuring out there was more than one sign that said "Terminal A Baggage Claim" we found one another. I gave my old friend a big hug and shook hands with Spin. We headed back toward Bakersfield with a short stop in Valencia at BJ's for some pizza.

Arriving at the house, we sat around and talked for a bit. Erin had to get to bed since she had to work the next day and I had a lot of errands to run. Thursday morning consisted of running all over town, packing and picking up Erin in Arvin at 12:30pm. We stopped at Jack in Box in Tehachapi which they do not have back East, so Lex & Spin enjoyed it very much. Spin decided to fashion "Honey Mustard Coutour" on his shirt. This became a running joke all weekend as we quickly found, Spin is somewhat notorious about getting stains on his shirts. Fast forward to State line where we stopped at the Outlet to spend an hour in Old Navy before finishing the last leg of our trip for the day. Checked into the Stratosphere then headed to the Palms to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3. The theater had reclining seats and lots of yummy popcorn. We wandered around the hotel after the movie then headed to bed because the next day was the next leg of our trip to Utah.

After some breakfast, a trip to Best Buy to get Erin a DS and some last minute directions from Shay, we were back on the road. We traveled N on the 15 toward a corner of Arizona, then into Utah. Which may I add, loved the 75mph speed limit! Stopped to get snacks, gas and Krispy Kreme donuts along the way. I really am glad I carry 900 songs on the iPod, I was in heaven listening to so much music this trip. We got to the Majestic View Lodge, checked in, saw our friends, got ready and became confused. None of us knew we were now on Mountain time, lesson learned. So we lost an hour, went downstairs pool side to meet some family and friends. Had a really good time and enjoyed the specialty: Thai Peanut Chicken Pizza! It was super great. Since bottles weren't allowed in the pool area people had to make trips to the back of the car to drink or bring back little plastic cups full. Everyone turned in fairly early. I tried to be sleepy but night time is my time, so I stayed awake watching TV.

Next thing I know Erin is getting us up to get ready to hike. After some miscommunication, Lex, Spin and I caught the shuttle to the park and met Erin on the Shuttle that actually went into the park. Erin happened to pick the trail that was the very last stop and where we would be later in the day for the ceremony; The Temple of Sinawava/Narrows. The trail was really easy and a lot quicker than we thought. Sidebar: I bought a Pokemon game for the DS and had been playing the night before, one of the first things you learn in the game is to "Stay out of the tall grass or wild Pokemon will attack." So here we go into the trail and not 5 minutes in and I'm kind of lagging behind because I'm too busy looking around and off to my left is some tall grass and I start giggling to myself because I'm thinking, "I wonder if there are wild Pokemon in there." So I'm laughing harder and doing my best to be quiet but Spin turns around and catches me with a big ol' cheesy grin on my face and asks me what is so funny. So when I point over to the tall grass and say, "I saw the tall grass." He knew exactly what I was talking about and immediately started laughing. We all had a good chuckle. It's pretty bad when you relate games to real life but whatever, we're super cool... Back to the end of the hike (cont.) The tricky part was in order to get to the really super cool caves you had to head upstream. You literally had to walk in the river on rocks. We didn't have the right shoes so we decided to try it barefoot. It worked for about 3 crossings, then we came to a fairly big clearing that showed a lot more rocks and water and a turn we couldn't see around to know if that was really the end of it. Time being against us we decided to stop here. We took some pictures, acted a little silly (well that was pretty much the whole time) and headed back. We were all starving and opted to eat at the little cafe and let me say they make a hell of a bacon cheeseburger. We rushed back to the room, 4 of us got ready in 40 minutes and headed back to which we had just come. Luckily, we were only 5 minutes late. However, we weren't last.

Shay's mom and some of her aunt's were MIA. No one knew where they were, the last anyone knew they had stopped about 1/2 way up the hill for lunch and then they were suppose to be on their way. Kate even went so far as to have a driver dispatch to all the shuttles looking for "4 elderly women" not my words :) Different people walked part of the trail, thinking they might have tried it but no one really thought they would try to go all the way. Now when I say that, not only did they finish the entire trail but they walked in the water and rocks just as we had! Good job women! Thankfully, an hour later, red faced and a little winded they came walking up. No one was hurt, just a little thirsty.

We walked down a little ways and found a nice log for everyone to sit on. I had my cameras out in full force, trying to capture everything I could. Sidebar: I'd like to thank my shelf assistant, Erin and my lens/camera assistant Spin to whom made taking pictures that much easier. Thanks guys :) It was a very impromptu ceremony and I think that contributed to it being so special. I can honestly say I've known these two from the start and it was super awesome to witness something so simple and special... congrats again, girls.

We were all pretty hungry at this point and piled on some shuttles and headed back to the lodge to grab some dinner. It was all super yummy! Everyone was pretty tired and headed back to their rooms. I laid on the bed listening to my iPod, the other 3 laid around playing their DS's. It was nice to just relax. About 9ish my phone rang, Kate wanted to know if we wanted to tag along for some karaoke. 3 of the 4 agreed, what the hell, why not? Spin had been a sleep for an hour and pretty much didn't wake up till the next morning. So we went to the only bar in town to find out there was a "membership only" rule in Utah in order to function as a bar. WTF?!?! However, they can sell us a "temporary" membership. Okay dude, see we are from the West Coast, not some remote city with a population of 104, it's called a Cover Charge. Sheesh. Anyway, it cost us a $1.00 a person. Um, okay mister Utah man, we'll find some way to wrangle up $8.00. *rolls eyes* So we got some drinks, played some pool, listened to a fairly decent band and enjoyed our time out. We were back in the lodge by 10:30pm. I was wide awake and bored. I decided to clean the room up, pre-pack for tomorrows trip back to Vegas, then get online and find something to read. Finally, at 1:40am when I finished my latest Alex Tryst story I went to bed.

8:30am and I was awakened by that damn Sun. Don't get me wrong, I know we need it to grow food and all that crap but it's so damn bright! Worse, I was hungry. If I get too hungry, I get cranky. No one wants that. Erin got up and we left the kids to grab some breakfast. It was super yummy and I was ready to be back on the road. We loaded up and were on our way. Stopped for some fresh water and more donuts and rolled into Vegas about 12:30pm. Since check in wasn't for awhile, I had some film to drop off and we went to the outlet mall for a bit. Bought some random things and I bought my second camera bag for the weekend. Turns out the one I thought would be perfect was too small but my old standby, Ritz Camera, had exactly what I needed. They even had dropped the price of the Nikon D200, ooh la la. Soon. I'm waiting for their 2 new releases and then it will go down to the price of the D80. Woohoo! Anyway, we headed back to pick up the pictures and they came out pretty good. I had a couple of favorites.

We checked in to the Paris, lugged all our crap upstairs to a labyrinth of rooms and I grabbed my "lazy" clothes and took a shower. I pulled out the picture Cd's from Costco and started loading them onto the computer to add borders and such. Spin had found "Charm School" on VH1, it was a marathon. I had never heard of this show. Most of you know my availability to watch TV is of Not. So I was introduced to Mo'nique and her "students." Holy shit. I watched/listened to the show and I can't believe how tacky these girls are. What "charms" are they learning? That is truly my only question because really all I saw was a lot of cat fights. Although, it really was funny and channels have to get ratings somehow. Spin was so awesome with mimicking these chicks, it was damn hilarious. Let me just say, everything is better with Spin'isms. My back seat and road trips will never be the same having ridden with Spin & Lex. Their banter is simply hilarious, always having to one up the other, you're constantly laughing.

So we were in Sin City and for 3 hours we laid around, watched Charm School/played with DS's. Wow, what wild animals we were. Finally, around 7:ish I finished up with my stuff, called Shay and met her and Kate to show them the pictures. I came back up to the room and we decided to walk down the strip. With no real plans we decided to take the kids to their mecca: Gameworks. First, we stopped off this to eat in the little Mexican Restaurant. I decided drinking fast was the way to go. Good choice, I was happy and ready to play. We spent a good couple hours at Gameworks then headed back to the hotel at Midnight since they closed. Erin went up to room shortly after gambling a little. The 3 of us wandered around a bit, decided we wanted something, walked outside and headed toward a 7-11 to get some Slurpee's and snacks. Finally making our way back upstairs, I'll never forget sitting there watching Spin & Lex argue which hallway our room actually was in. We spent our last night together in Paris and it was wonderful.

Erin was up early, the rest of us slept till about 9:30am. We packed up our stuff for the last time and headed downstairs. This time, Erin and I went to the car alone. Spin and Lex dropped their luggage off in Kate & Shay's room and we headed off to breakfast. That was an event within itself. The 6 of us together for the last time. Lots of laughter, lots of teasing about math, Erin choking because Shay was trying to kill her by saying she didn't use math everyday, everyone giving me shit because mimosas are my new water and someone *coughs Lex* not liking ham. There was so much more and I wish I could remember everything but this is long enough.

We trickled back to the top and gathered in a small circle. 5 days prior I held out my hand to shake Spins. Now, in his embrace, I didn't want to ever let go. Two years was way too long since I last saw my sweet little Lex. Thankfully, Kate and Shay moved to Northern California about 2 months ago and we'll be seeing them more. We're planning a trip to Yosemite in October, that should be awesome!

I'm glad everyone is home safe. I miss "the crew" so much. I can't wait till it's time to see everyone again. I will upload some pictures soon. I have to go have more discs made, they messed up my order, amateurs.

Thanks for the great memories everyone. You've reminded me of truly special things in life and an even more special place for them to happen in.