Tahoe/Reno Part One

We arose on Saturday morning, took the dog around the block (amassing 3500 steps in so doing), and took off for Tahoe for the weekend. The reason for the trip was a work gathering on Sunday afternoon, but Dorey and I decided to make a weekend of it.

It was an odd trip. Usually when I go on a trip, I have planned things out. I enjoy the planning as much as I enjoy the trip. But this trip, we decided to just go, come what may--other than arranging for a hotel room in the beautiful Reno/Sparks area. So we were free, and we acted it. We were little children all weekend long. It was wonderful.

Our first stop was at the outlet malls in Vacaville. Nothing was open at 8:30 a.m. when we arrived, but our intent was not to shop. Rather, it was to walk. We walked a couple of thousand steps around the shopping malls where the old Nut Tree restaurant used to be.

I miss the Nut Tree. We would go there about once or twice a year. I loved the old hot oranges and pink of the decor. I loved the fact that no matter when you arrived, your wait was always at least 20 minutes--even if the restaurant was empty. I loved walking through the shop next to the restaurant--exactly what they intended by making us wait 20 minutes. I loved the fact that even though I picked up just about everything in the shop, I never once bought any of the overpriced merchandise. Once seated in the restaurant, I loved the waitresses who were 100 years old. I loved the fact that we always had about 15 of these 100 year old waitresses serve us each visit. I could never figure the rotation of the wait staff there. And I loved the food--the turkey and cranberry sandwiches, and the fruit plate with marshmallows. I wish I could consume some of the food now.



After completing our steps at this spot--and Dorey not finding an open bathroom--we headed down the freeway to the Pitt School Road exit in Dixon. Despite my vow that I would never walk in Dixon again, I wanted to show Dorey the park where I have been walking on my trips home from Sacramento. So we stopped for gas and a restroom at the Pitt School Road Safeway, and then drove the half-mile to the park.

It was opening day for youth soccer at the park. Thousands of kids were out there in the 95 degree heat waiting to get their pictures taken. There was a deejay announcing that he would like to be out of there by 9:45 a.m. It was 9:43 a.m. Wasn't gonna make it. We walked around the park in the heat and the kids, knocking off about 3000 steps. It really is a very pretty little park.

After this walk, we went to I-Hop for a breakfast/brunch. Whatever walking I had done that morning was lost in the pancakes and Colorado omelet. I told Dorey about a trip to IHop that I experienced when I was a kid. We never went out, but we were on vacation, and someone was feeling generous, so we went to IHop. I ordered pancakes, and proceeded to pour syrup on the pancakes. I did not look at the syrup. It was strawberry syrup. It was terrible, ruining my breakfast. I couldn't say anything, though, because I did not want to seem to be complaining about a breakfast out at a restaurant. To this day, I am always leery of the syrup at Ihop. On Saturday, I must have checked the syrup about 60 times before pouring it on my pancakes to make certain that I did not pour strawberry syrup on my pancakes again.

Dorey talked about her family tradition. Every Saturday night, they would have treat night. Each of the kids were able to pick a treat in turn. Her brother picked root beer floats. Another sibling picked ice cream. Dorey always picked cheetos. CHEETOS. Yuck. No wonder her siblings hated her.

I hate Cheetos. A lot. When I was a kid, the next door neighbor kid always ate cheetos, and he never brushed his teeth. His breath always smelled like Cheetos, and his teeth always had the powder cheese that they put on Cheetos stuck to them. I have never been able to be around Cheetos without becoming ill thinking about the kid's breath and pus yellow stained teeth.


After breakfast, I went to the restroom to have a bowel movement in the Ihop bathroom. Given all the fruit that I have be eating lately, it was a particularly smelly bowel movement. I really felt sorry for the guy who came into the bathroom right after me. He looked like I look when I smell a Cheetos. But he must have really had to make water, because he toughed it out.

After leaving the restaurant, we thought about walking a few steps in Davis but decided it was too hot. That is always been my problem with Davis--that it is too hot. I really wanted to go to Davis after high school, but I knew that with my less than stellar high school performance, I would never be admitted. So I never applied. I went off to BYU, who would never admit me now. I did well there, and thought I would atone for my high school inadequacies by applying to Davis Law School. I was accepted, and Dorey and I went to check it out. It was May, and Davis was hot. We decided that we would not be happy to live in the heat, and so decided to go to law school in San Francisco instead. I have since been to Davis on a couple of occasions, both of which were too hot for my liking. So Davis remains largely unvisited by me. And it wasn't visited on Saturday.

We drove up the mountains, and arrived in South Lake Tahoe at about 1:30 p.m. We would have arrived about 20 minutes earlier, but we followed an old VW bus for the last 30 miles. The bus could barely go 30 miles per hour. But it gave me the opportunity to tell Dorey once more about our trips in VW buses.

My parents had five children, and consecutively, three VW buses. We took those VW buses across the Nevada desert on numerous occasions. Often we had more than the five of us in the back. We had an foster sister who made the trip with us. We had an uncle who came back with us over a Spring vacation. We brought a woman and her 17 year old daughter on one of these trips. We would fight across the desert. At some point in time, my sister Kris would become car sick and throw up. Kris's DNA is split across the Nevada desert as we left plenty of bags of her vomit out on the desert. At some point in time, my sister Kelly would tell my brother Rob to stop clearing his nose, and a fight would ensue. At some point in time, the desert would steam up and then the lighting would start to flash in the distance. They were miserable, wonderful trips.

End of part one. Here's the stats for the last few days: On Friday, I walked 12,181 steps. On Saturday, I walked 14,126 steps. On Sunday, I walked 12,066 steps. Yesterday, I walked11,037 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:47 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1, 2009, I have walked 828,864 steps in 68 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho, The Merciful End

After the open house, we helped clean up. I don’t know that we were much help, as my legs were shot. They truly ached. So we sort of faked it while the others cleaned up.

We then returned to the Curtis residence, where Kate was able to open a lot of presents. A lot of presents!!! And lots of gift cards. I wish I could have cared more, but all I could think was "That’s a lot of thank you notes you have to write."

On that score, I must say that I am proud of Kate. We received many compliments from folks about her thank you notes. They all said how personable the notes were. One woman in the ward actually called us to let us know what a great card Kate wrote. Another woman came across a restaurant to discuss the card. I was very pleased that Kate did these things right.

After about two hours of opening presents, Harold drove us back to our motel. I was exhausted, but hungry. Boise appears to close up at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night, so we had no where to eat. We purchased a pizza at the motel lobby store, but the room had no way to heat the pizza other than the stove. So we tried to heat it on the stove. We about set the motel on fire. And the food was horrible.

We left the next morning, flying home through Reno. The flight was unremarkable, other than we sat apart from my parents on the plane. I think that Bob and Sharyn were sick of us by then.

In the afternoon, we went to Easter Dinner at my sister’s house. And that folks, ends this trip.

What did I learn on this trip:

1) The trip from Boise to Rexburg is at least as bad if not worse than the trip across Nevada.

2) Idaho Falls has one good restaurant, which is more than can be said for Rexburg.

3) Kate married into a very nice family. Jacob married into us. Jacob lost on that deal.

4) Kate says that she could live in Boise, but not eastern Idaho. No thanks to both from me.

5) It really helps if you have done something tangibly positive at your school before you leave the place. Christian had built planter boxes and worked on the gardens. These were something that he could point to with pride.

6) Graduations are boring!!! But the ceremony is necessary.

7) You should probably avoid traveling with me across long desert spaces. Strange things happen out there.

And now the stats: Yesterday, I walked 11,545 steps, most of them in the hot sun of Dixon. Overall, as of this moment, 3:33 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27, 2009, I have walked 766,332 steps in 63 days.

Getting Found

I had to attend another deposition in Sacramento today. It was a short deposition, and I was crossing through Dixon at about 1:00 p.m. I still had several thousand steps to go, so I decided to walk in the same park that I had walked on Monday. That was the park in which at the supposed end of my walk, I took the wrong turn and wound up walking an extra five thousand steps before I made it back to the car. Today, I was careful not to take the wrong turn on the way back to the car. It's just that it was 95 degrees in Dixon, and my hour walk wiped me out. I even stopped twice to sit on a park bench for a few minutes to re-gain my spirits. I think that I will stop walking in Dixon.

Anyway, yesterday, I walked 11,033 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:35 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, I have walked 764,971 steps in 62 days.

Ariel and Getting Lost

Ariel spent Sunday night at the vet's office. She had a couple of small seizures during the night, which were treated with valium. She came home yesterday and acted very confused. She did not seem to know us or the house.

We took her to the neurologist today. (Who knew there was such a thing as a dog neurologist?) He thinks that she has a brain tumor. It's probably begign, and probably has not in the brain yet. The only way to verify this is with a MRI. The MRI would cost approximately $2000. I said that we would probably skip that option at this time. He has provided her with some downers, which will help control the seizures.

I hope that we made the right decision. I hate making hard decisions based on financial considerations, but I can't see spending this amount, to be followed in all probabilty with brain surgery. It just seems a bit much for a dog, even one whom we love very much.

Yesterday, I had to go to Sacramento for a deposition. I stopped in Dixon to buy gas and to take a walk. I found a wonderful park about five blocks from where I had parked the car. I walked around the park until I reached about 9,500 steps. I figured that I would get the last 1,000 steps walking back to the car. I took a different street back to the car, about a block away from the street on which I walked to the park. Big mistake. This street did not bring me back to the car, but took me away from the car. I walked over 5,000 to get back to the car. At least it was not unbearably hot in Dixon yesterday. And I was able to get closed to finishing my book on the I-Pod.

So my stats: On Sunday, I walked 11,027 steps. On Monday, I walked (unintentionally) 15,883 steps. As of this moment, at 6:07 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, I have walked 743,193 steps in 61 days.

49ers Game and Ariel

It's been sort of a long week. Over the summer, we noticed that Ariel, our nine year old greyhound, was not as energetic as she used to be. Before the summer, she could take a make it up the stairs in two bounds and then leap onto her favorite forbidden spot, our bed. Starting this summer, some nights she would take that approach. Most often, she would take it a step at a time. She was winded at the top of the stairs.

Then, about three weeks ago, Ariel started running her nose against my leg (and everything and anything else), acting like she could not get the snot out of her nose. We thought, the girl might be having allergies. Overtime, it looked like she was getting better. But last weekend, she acted very sluggish. We took her to the vet, who thought she might have a strained neck. He gave Ariel some pills, saying that it might upset her stomach.

On Wednesday night, I came home and found that Ariel had defecated on the couch and in another spot. Further exploration revealed that she had left a couple of piles of saliva in the living room. We thought it was a bad reaction to the pills, and stop giving them to her. Our conversation with the vet the next day confirmed that we were right to stop giving her the pills. We thought that was it.

In fact, Ariel started coming back. Last night, we went to the 49ers-Raiders game. When we arrived home, we noticed that Ariel had left a stool in her bed. Ariel has always been a neat and clean girl, and she does not do this. We went to bed. At about 2:00 a.m., Dorey noticed that she had left another stool in the bedroom. Then at 5:00 a.m., Ariel had an violent seizure in which she lost bowel and blatter functions, and left a pile of saliva. After her three minute attack, she went downstairs and paced for a half an hour, completely in a panic. No amount of soothing words could calm her.

We went to church. I went home between meetings, and found evidence of another seizure. Dorey came home and again she observed a small seizure. Then Ariel had another small one. We then took her to the vet. No diagnosis yet, but she is staying overnight for observation. If she seizes, they can give her the anti-seizure medication immediately. Hang on, gal. We have a few more walks to do.

The 49ers-Raider game was a fun game. Even though we live in the East Bay, I am a Niner fan. I was more of a Raiders fan when I was a kid, but then they left the Bay Area. By the time they returned, I was a 49er fan. My passion for the Raiders was gone. I am, after all, not a battered woman, and you don't win my love back that easily. So while I will watch the Raiders, I am only passionate about the Niners.

Last night, the crowd in San Francisco was two-thirds Niners fans, one-third Raiders fans. I was concerned that the two camps were going to get a little out of control, but by and large, the rivalry remained good natured. It helped that many Niners fans came with Raider fans. I joked that the game, like any civil war, divided brother and brother, mother and son. It was not a lie, though. Two rows ahead of us, the son was a Raiders fan while his parents were 49ers fans.





As the game move on, third girls sat in the row ahead of us. Two were Niner fans, and one was a Raider fan. They were loud, obnoxious girls. At one point, they turned around and told us that they had been partying for a week to celebrate one of the girls' 25th birthday. Tonight, they were loud and foul-mouthed, but as one explained, they were not drunk. At one point, the Niners scored a touchdown. One of the Niner fan girls rubbed her butt in the face of the Raider fan girl. My father leaned over and asked if he could have these girls come to his next birthday party. I asked Dorey if we had somehow been transported to New Jersey, and these were our Jersey girls.

Ok, the stats: Yesterday, I walked 15,326 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 6:27 p.m. on Sunday, August 23, 2009, I have walked 716,025 steps in 59 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho Part Innumerable

We were out among the humans this morning, which was weird. We started our walk at 7:00 a.m., rather than the usual 5:30 a.m. It’s a different sort of person in the light. They are normal, unsuspicious, friendly folk. I didn’t quite know how to react to these folks, especially after my time with the mole people.

Our next little venture in Idaho--we headed over to the church for Kate and Jacob’s open house at about 4:15 p.m. The Curtis family had gone over the night before to decorate, so we were supposed to do whatever was left.

Generally, my thoughts of church receptions is not great. Most of them are like putting a little toilet paper in the high school gym and calling it a prom. However, the Curtis family made the church hall look splendid--elegant in its simplicity. There were tables filled with pictures of Jacob and Kate. There was beautiful western lanterns lighting the place. They had set up several areas in a western theme. The flowers throughout the building were the perfect reminder of the renewal of spring. I loved the look. Most impressive was the quilt made by Jacob’s now deceased grandmother which was draped over a stand. Simply beautiful.



Folks came and more folks came. I smiled and performed the best I could. I was truly on my best behavior. All of the folks who came through the line said what a special family the Curtis family was. I sure that no one said that to the Curtis family about us a week later at the California reception. No, they probably said what rude, obnoxious folks we were.

Another thing struck me. All of the folks who had kids Jacob’s age said that Jacob had grown up at their house. The first time Kate talked about Jacob to us, she said, “Jacob is the world’s friend.” I gathered that was absolutely true. Folks seemed to have a genuine affection for the guy--another spark contrast to me. Folks don’t have a lot of affection for me--rather, they love to dislike me. That ok with me--after all, I am one of the mole people.

Today’s stats: Yesterday, I walked 16,007 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 10:57 a.m. on Saturday, August 22, 2009, I have walked 701,565 steps in 58 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho

I have not written here since Sunday. What have I been doing? I wish I could say that my life has been full of exciting events making it impossible to write, but really, it has not been.

But I have walked. I have stayed on pace, never dropping below 10,500 steps in a day. On Sunday, I walked 11,718 steps. On Monday, I walked 11,789 steps. On Tuesday, I walked 12,790 steps. On Wedesday, I walked 11,464 steps. And yesterday, I walked 10,709 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 10:33 a.m. on Friday, August 21, 2009, I have walked 685,001 steps in 57 days.

Because I know you are dying for it, here’s the next part of the trip to Idaho last April:

We arrived at the Curtis house at about 2:30 p.m., where we had been invited to eat a spread of sandwiches before the open house. Before we arrived, my parents asked if they thought they could cut out of this affair, as they were tired, and wanted to rest before the open house. I said that it probably didn’t matter. What I wanted to say is, and what I had noticed this entire trip, was that my parents were getting old. Before, they would never get out of an event on the tiredness excuse if they were really tired. They may use the excuse, but it was not because they wanted to rest. Rather, it was that they wanted to go out to eat. But this time, I think they wanted to take a nap. Getting old, guys, getting old.

I was starving when I arrived––but did not want to seem more of a pig than I am. So I waited, and then nibbled. I should have eaten more.

There were a lot of people in the house––Jacob’s siblings, their spouses and their children were all running around. Some of them looked exactly alike, and I gave up trying to match them up. There were Harold’s brother and spouse, and Cheryl’s brother and spouse. Cheryl’s brother had been on a mission to Minnesota in the late 1950s, and had served in Dorey’s hometown. Dorey’s parents were not members of the church at the time, but held church in their living room. He might have run across Dorey’s parents way back then. In any event, it made Kate’s introduction into the family a little bit easier.

I have also told in this blog about another Red Wing connection we discovered during this lunch. Here it is again:

The Red Wing pottery. Small world type of thing. Harold Curtis, Kate's father-in-law, had a piece of Red Wing pottery in his home. Dorey’s home town is Red Wing, Minnesota, where the pottery is made. Before working in the tannery, Dorey’s dad worked at Red Wing Pottery.

Harold told the story as to how he came to possess that piece of pottery. He found it in his parents home when the family was closing up the home. His sisters and Harold drew lots as to which child would take possession of the pottery. Harold’s sisters insisted that they draw lots a second time after Harold won the pot in the first round. He won the second round and the third round as well. His sisters figured that perhaps there was a purpose in Harold winning the pot three times. There was, as Dorey felt right at home with a pot from her hometown in Kate’s new in-laws house.

Kate, Dorey and I sat down at a table to eat our sandwiches. A couple of other folks joined us. We started talking about how happy we were that Kate never caused us to get up in the middle of the night to come down to the police station to pull her out. I said that I did not think Kate would have lasted long in the pokey with the girls from East 14th. We started joking around, pushing this theme a little too far. Kate later said that perhaps I had gone over the top, discussing hookers on East 14th the first time I met most of Jacob’’s family. She might have a point.

We then changed and prepared to go to the open house. It was being held at the local ward house from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. It had to be early because the stake was putting on a Easter program in the evening.

The above-post was taken in April, but not in Idaho, and not in 2009. Rather, it was taken in April 2006, when Kate was a senior in high school, and we took her and a couple of friends to Kauai over the spring break. Kate and her friends were at the beach, or perhaps still asleep, when Dorey and I went to the gardens with this statue.

Early Sunday Morning Walking

Walking on very early Sunday morning is weird. Folks walk around as if they have been out all night attending secret society events, and now they must return to the light after the initiation. I am reminded of Young Goodman Brown, where Goodman Brown is carried away to the deep woods to see his wife being initiated into some secret society by many of the town elders. One guy walked up with a brief case. Another guy walked by fully dressed in a suit and a tie. By about 7:30 a.m., it become much more normal, with folks in exercise clothes and dogs. But that early morning stuff is strange.

Now the stats: Yesterday, I walked 14,544 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:39 p.m. on Sunday, August 16, 2009, I have walked 627,283 steps in 52 days.

The Moody Samaritan

Dorey tried to be a nice person today. We were out on our morning walk. I was a few steps ahead of Dorey. She called out. I turned and saw that she was picking a wallet. We looked inside, and while there was no money, there was the wallet owner's high school student body card and a Chase Debit card. There was nothing, however, to identify where this guy lives.

Dorey thought that she worked with the wallet owner's mother, and so, after our walk, she looked in the phone book trying to see if she could locate the family. They were not listed. We then drove by the office of the security firms that patrol our area. There was no one there. We then went to the police station. Dorey rang the bell, and someone said that they would be out in a minute. More than 15 minutes passed, and no one came. So Dorey left, as we had planned to attend a movie. We returned to the station after the movie, and this time, we were able to drop off the wallet. What a hassle. Dorey kept saying that she wished that she had never picked up the wallet.

The stats: Yesterday, I walked 12,594 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:25 p.m. on Saturday, August 15, 2009, I have walked 615,669 steps in 51 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho Part Ten

We left Idaho Falls at about 10:00, hoping to make it to Meridian by about 2:30 p.m. That evening, the Curtis family was hosting an open house for Kate and Jacob. There was going to be a reception line at which I was expected to stand and smile and greet people. So I had to practice being a nice guy. Mostly I had to get stuff out of my system. I asked the folks in the car to feed me lines.

Oh, you're from California. Do you know Frank Smith?

Why, I practiced, you know Frank?

Yes. He's a great guy. How do you know Frank?

Option One: Well, I met Frank during our time in San Quentin.

Option Two: Did you know that Frank has died?

Option Three: Frank is my lover.

Another line: I bet you find that Boise is a little bit different than California.

Option One: Why, not really. I found Boise to be very diverse. Why, I even saw a Black guy at the Boise mall.

Option Two: You think?

Option Three: Yeah, that's true. Boise's gay pride parade is three guys on bikes in speedos.

Other than this, the trip was uneventful. We only stopped in American Falls, again for gas. We made calls to Christian, who was making this same trip in his own car so that he could attend the reception, and to Kate, to make certain that she and Jacob arrived in Boise safe and sound in the middle of the night.

Now the stats: On Wednesday, I walked 11,752 steps. On Thursday, I walked 12,694 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 12:08 p.m. on Friday, August 14, 2009, I have 599,353 steps in 50 days.

Harrod's Christmas Bears

Today, we received our latest Harrods Christmas Bear. He will join our other bears who, along with our Welsh Snowmen Choir, and numerous nativity scenes, are displayed around the house at Christmas.

I have no idea why I am thinking of Christmas today. It's about 85 degrees out there tonight, which, for our part of the world, is very hot. We are a spoiled lot here.

The stats: On Monday, I walked 11,228 steps. On Tuesday, I walked 11,885 steps. As of this moment, 9:03 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, I have walked 575,838 steps in 48 days.

Stats

Kate and Jacob have left after spending a wonderful few days with us. We went to the Giants game on Friday night. The Giants made--count 'em--five errors. But the ball park is so pleasant that it makes up for a bad game.




Yesterday, we attended the wedding of my nephew, Justin, to Megan. A very nice day.







While I certainly did not lose any weight over the last few days, I did manage to get in my steps. On Thursday, I walked 12,647 steps. On Friday, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge with Jacob and Kate. I had 13,383 steps. On Saturday, I walked 11,733 steps. As of this moment, 6:38 p.m. on Sunday, August 9, 2009, I have walked 540845 steps in 45 days.

Everyone is in town

My nephew is getting married on Saturday, and Kate and Jacob arrived last night. It's a little busy around here right now. So just the stats, man:

On Tuesday, I walked 10,781 steps. Yesterday, I walked at 13,268 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 8:26 on Thursday, August 6, 2009, I have walked 505,138 steps in 42 days.

Happy Birthday, Dad

My father's 76 birthday. 76 sweet summers. In our church, it is traditional for babies to receive a blessing. Usually the blessing is by the child's father, but for some reason, my grandfather did not bless my father. Rather, the voice of the blessing was some other man. My grandparents were living in Boston at the time of my father's birth while my grandfather obtained his PhD in chemistry from Harvard, and started his career by teaching at MIT. In any event, the guy who blessed my father wanted to use big words. So he blessed him with all the vicissitudes of life. My father used to call his children his little vicissitudes. Anyway, happy birthday, Dad. From vicissitude number 4.

Now the stats: Yesterday, I walked 11,624 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 7:36 p.m. on August 4. 2009, I have walked 479,201 steps in 40 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho Part IX

We returned, exhausted, to the Fairfield Inn after dinner. Kate was still with us, as she was waiting for Jacob to finish work and pick her up. They were then going to drive to Meridian to Jacob’s parents’ house. I just wanted to go to sleep. Jacob would not be off until 9:30, and then would have 45 minutes before he would arrive in Rexburg. We sat in the room, waiting. It was miserable. Finally, Dorey and Kate went to the lobby to wait, and I went to sleep.






The next morning, we had to drive across the state in the other direction, this time to land in Meridian. Bob and Sharyn decided that we should leave at about 10:00 a.m. Dorey and I woke up, had breakfast, and then went on a walk in Idaho Falls.


There is something special about going for walks in places. You see things that you never see from a car. This was particularly true in Idaho Falls. We walked toward the temple, taking pictures of the Falls. We then walked into downtown. There are lots of benches in town made by artisans. Dorey’s favorite was a bench based on duck legs. Other had poems. One had boots and shoes underneath it. It was delightful public art, and made our stroll that morning so fun.




Now the stats: Yesterday, I walked 12,769 steps. As of this moment, 5:02 p.m. on Monday, August 3, 2009, I have walked in total 468,421 steps in 39 days.

April Not In Paris But Idaho Part VIII

After the pictures, we headed out of the building. Christian wanted to show Bob and Sharyn the gardens he had worked on while at BYU-Idaho. We decided to let him take Bob and Sharyn to the gardens in his car, and Dorey and I would walk across campus together to the gardens.

Easier said than done. The BYU-Idaho campus, like every college campus in America, is under a constant state of building and re-building. It looked like a battle zone. Sidewalks were blocked. Detour signs made no sense. We had to cross through the bookstore, only to find that we were right where we started. Dorey, I could tell, was getting a little peeved at me for taking her on this walk. She was after all walking in uncomfortable shoes. Finally, we crossed the de-militized zone, and were able to get to the gardens.

Strangely, despite it taking about 30 minutes for us to find the gardens, Bob and Sharyn were not there. Finally, they showed up. Apparently, while waiting for us to show up, Christian had taken them through the gardens, and then had taken them to other spots on the campus.

During Christian’s time at the school, he had made several contributions to the campus gardens. He walked us through the gardens still wearing his graduation robe. Why not! In the garden, Christian could point to several trees he planted, and planter boxes he had helped other student construct. As Bob pointed out, most of leave a school not making any marks. Christian had tangible evidence of his work.



We left the Gardens at about 1:00 p.m. and we were starving. Gnaw your hand starving. Christian went back to get his car to check out of his apartment and truly be through with school, and we walked down to our car with Sharyn and Bob’s. Kate, who had been running errands with Jacob that morning, gave us a call. She, too, was hungry. And she had no where to live, as she had to be out of her apartment by noon that day. We agreed to pick her up at her place.

We wandered through the science building trying to figure out where Bob had parked the car. We had exited the wrong door out of the science building, and so had to make a turn out of the building to locate the car. But Bob decided to turn the other way. As we did so, our hunger increased. We were reaching the nadir of the trip. Bob snapped at Sharyn. Sharyn snapped at Bob. I snapped at the world at large. Dorey grumbled. If we were wandering the desert with Moses, he would have killed us.

At last, we reached the promised car, and called Kate so she could guide us to where she wanted us to pick her up. We then were so hungry that we just went to Wendys for lunch. Well, in Rexburg, Wendys is fine dining. It is a real pit.

Kate traveled down to Idaho Falls with us after lunch, and Christian met us at the Fairfield Inn. We had a few hours to kill before dinner. Dorey, Kate, Bob and Sharyn went to the mall so Dorey and Kate could get pedicures and Bob could buy a tie. Christian and I walked the parking lot of the Fairfield Inn parking lot so I could finish my 10,000 steps for the day. Just as it was embarrassing the day before to walk patrol outside the Wingers, it was embarrassing to patrol the Idaho Falls Fairfield Inn parking lot.

We had dinner reservations at Rutabagas to celebrate Christian’s graduation. I wore jeans and dress shoes to the dinner. Kate was mortified with my dress. But winning Kate’s approval on dress matters has never been my goal. It would be an impossible standard. In any event, Kate was only wearing jeans and bumble bee tennis shoes.

I was worried that no where in eastern Idaho would be able to pull off a celebratory meal. Certainly there is no place in Rexburg--did I mention Rexburg is a culinary pit. I found this place on trip advisor.

Rutabagas surpassed by wildest dreams. It was wonderful. I had the rack of lamb that was succulent. Dorey and I split the caramel chocolate turtle cheese cake. Great. As we were walking out, we told them that we would be seeing them next year for Kate’ graduation.

Today’s stats: On Friday, I walked 11,711 steps. On Saturday, I walked 12,026 steps. Overall, as of this moment, 2:38 on Sunday, August 2, 2009, I have walked 456,557 steps in 38 days.