Snowbird

Ghosts of two little sons leaping into the Iron Blosam swimming pool and, years later, a granddaughter with water dripping off of the ends of her pigtails as her mom wrapped her in a fluffy towel.  Yodeling, sauerkraut and sausages, and the trees of the Rocky Mountains turning orange and gold in the fall.  We have owned our September time share week at Snow Bird since the 1990s, and the memories get richer and richer as the years go by. 

We stayed Friday night, September 9, 2016, at Snowbird, so we would have a full weekend there.  We invited Camille's family and Spencer, Naomi, and Kirsten to dinner at our Snowbird condo on Sunday, another family tradition.  Alas, I was so busy cooking the rouladen, rotkohl, and Bavarian cherry cake that I forgot to take pictures!  We fully documented our wonderful Saturday, though, as we got up at dawn, hiked to Cecret Lake in Albion Basin, rode the tram to Hidden Peak for lunch, and relaxed in the Oktoberfest tent.

As we began our hike to Cecret Lake, we could smell the campfires as campers cooked breakfast.  David said it had been 20 years since we'd hiked to Cecret Lake, but I remembered accompanying Michael there during the Wildflower Festival a few years ago.  The hike was just two miles, round trip, but very steep.

The sun filtered through the thick, tall pine trees.

I loved the wildflowers.  Some, like the purple asters, are also in my garden in SLC.

Photos cannot capture the icy beauty of Cecret Lake.  We were at the lake all by ourselves for a few minutes, before other hikers arrived.  We looked, in awe, at the perfect images of trees and cliffs reflected in the lake.

We walked by signs warning of explosives hidden in the hills.  They are leftovers from the explosives used during the ski season to prevent avalanches.

Oktoberfest was in full swing during our weekend.  I always think of my father when I see lederhosen and dirndls, since he so loved Bavaria.

We took the tram to Hidden Peak, where we climbed to the second story of the new restaurant and looked over the canyons surrounding us.

The restaurant on Hidden Peak served excellent German food, including roast beef, sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, and German chocolate cheesecake.

Outside, mountain bikers prepared for their descent.  I asked David if we could bring bikes with us on the tram next time, but he thought not.

We hiked down to the Peruvian ski lift and rode back to the lodge.

We passed more couples dressed for Oktoberfest.

We relaxed in the big white tent, listening to polkas and appreciating other onlookers, in their Bavarian finery.

When I was a little girl, traveling through Europe with my family, I had my own Bavarian hat and I collected pins from all the places we visited.

Shakespeare and the Mob

Dave and I had tickets to four plays at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City over Labor Day weekend, and we also circled down to Las Vegas to check out the new Mob Museum.  It was a lot of violence and drama squeezed into just four days!

Our very favorite of the four plays was "Julius Caesar," produced in the new, 250 seat theater, which surrounds the stage.  The play was produced in modern dress, as a political event.  At the beginning of the play, party organizers led the audience in chanting, "Hail, Caesar!  Hail, Caesar!"  The play felt like a crazy, modern political campaign run amok (sort of like watching Trump on TV and wondering what will happen next).

Two of our plays, "Henry V" and "Much Ado About Nothing", were produced in the new, outdoor Shakespearean theater.

I had never seen "Much Ado About Nothing before", and I enjoyed experiencing one of Shakespeare's strongest, wittiest characters, Beatrice, with her lover Benedict.

I especially enjoyed "Mary Poppins".  I had always thought of it as a charming, frothy children's musical, but this production emphasized the pathos at the center of the story--a rigid father, frustrated wife, and neglected children trying to find themselves, with Mary Poppins helping out.

Our new home teacher, Parry Merkley, was in Cedar City with his wife, Caroline, while we were there, and we ate dinner with the Merkleys at Milt's Stage Stop, up the canyon towards Brianhead.  Parry is the creative director for the Church-affiliated advertising firm which produces ads for the missionary campaigns.  Parry created the "I am a Mormon" campaign.

We spent a day in Las Vegas, with our first stop at the Williams-Sonoma outlet at Prim.  It was a wonderland of cake decorating kits, pizza stones, and linen napkins.  Dave arrived in time to see me at the checkout stand with a shopping cart heaped high and bulging at the seams.  I assured him that the total bill would be less than $250.  It was--and most of the items are for my Christmas table.

The Bellagio buffet was a must.  Someday we will have to take Heidi.  The buffet scared off two of Michael's former girlfriends, but we think Heidi now has a strong enough relationship with Michael to survive the buffet and remain a Spendlove!  (Actually, we aren't sure what caused those break-ups, but they occurred shortly after eating at the buffet)

When we visit the Bellagio, we always check out the garden show in the Conservatory.  This time it had an "under the sea" theme, with fishes made of flowers.  A little odd....

We loved the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas.  It was very interactive, with lots of film clips, including original footage of the St. Valentine's Massacre in the 1920s and a segment on "Mobsters in Hollywood," with clips from films like "The Godfather."

We couldn't visit the courtroom where the Kefauver hearings into mob violence were held because there was a wedding underway!  On the steps of the museum, we saw the wedding party, dressed in mobster suits, including black shirts and white suspenders!  Las Vegas has everything....

At the Cabin with Tom Hanks

After all of the fun wedding parties for Michael K and Rebekah, Dave and I crashed at the cabin during the weekend of August 28, 2016.  We overdosed on segments of "The Pacific", a history of the World War II campaigns in the Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks.  The 10-segment series was first shown on the HBO channel.

I took with me huge piles of ironing, including all the tablecloths and napkins from the wedding showers and parties.  It was a great weekend, ironing and watching movies in a cabin in the mountains.