Better in the Oven

It's Friday and I've been home since Monday night, but I've just barely had time to go through my digital files from our long Memorial weekend trip to Southern Utah. I haven't even scanned my Polaroids yet, nor have I dropped my film off for developing. I've been so busy this week with work, it's been almost maddening. I am hoping to get my Polaroids scanned tonight. I just need an hour!

So, the trip, because that's much more interesting than how busy I've been... We drove to Panguitch last Thursday night and Travis spent Friday hiking 15+ straight-down/straight-up miles in Bryce Canyon National Park while I did a lot of summer job work. Friday night we stayed at the world's finest KOA in Cannonville. We absolutely loved it there. The owners were awesome, the location/scenery were stellar, the pancake breakfast cheap and delicious. We can't wait to go back. Saturday we visited Kodachrome Basin State Park for the first time and although it rained most of the time, we loved it. It was beautiful and no one was there. I bet we saw probably 30 people in the six hours we were there, and most of them were in the parking lot where we ate lunch. We stayed at the awesome KOA again that night and drove to Torrey and Capitol Reef Sunday. We'd never been to Capitol Reef and fell in love. (Clearly, we loved the whole trip!) We got a Zion feel but with lots of history and a much smaller crowd.

Just one of 40+ Polaroids I have to scan, Cedar Breaks National Monument.

Bryce Canyon at Rainbow Point in post-rainshower/almost-sunset glory.

We were treated to an amazing rainbow outside Capitol Reef Sunday.

Fruita schoolhouse built in 1896 in Capitol Reef.

You know how all vacations end up having catchphrases? My last trip to Moab with the girls resulted in "Awesome!" and "Take a picture, it'll last longer." A trip to Mission Beach when I was 12 had us kids saying (in terrible English accents), "Rollerblades are like rancid beasts with wheels." We were dumb kids. I can't explain it. On another trip to DC when I was 18, my sister and I heard someone at the Vietnam Memorial say, "Too many folks in my way!" and we alternated between that and "Three little kittens went to the beach." Can't really explain that one either. Anyway, are you with me? So this trip, we came away with two good statements. The first from a couple who backed their RV into the campsite next to us at the Cannonville KOA. They spoke not a word to each other except when the husband was backing in and his wife stood behind the motor home guiding him in. She motioned to him to stop, annoying said "Stop." and he put the beast into park and then it rolled another six inches back, like most large vehicles do, and she annoyingly yelled "STOP!" That's all we heard from them the whole night.

The second phrase was from another woman who was traveling with her husband, small child, and her husband's parents. The father-in-law and husband were playing horseshoes for quite some time when the wife, who you could tell was annoyed with her travel situation (being stuck with her mother-in-law and her attached-at-the-hip neurotic Italian Greyhound), walked to within about 20 feet of the horseshoe pit and started yelling to her husband to come light the oven in the RV. We were sitting not five feet away from her loud mouth, playing cards on the front porch of the KOA's office, and busted up laughing. This is the yelled conversation:

Wife: Hey! ...... HEY!
Husband: WHAT?
W: WE NEED YOU TO COME LIGHT THE OVEN!
H: OK!
W: IT'S GOING TO TAKE AN HOUR TO COOK THE PASTA IN THE OVEN, SO WE NEED YOU TO LIGHT THE OVEN!
H: OK! ...... I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO COOK IT IN THE MICROWAVE!
W: WE DECIDED NOT TO!
H: WHY AREN'T YOU COOKING IN THE MICROWAVE?
W: BECAUSE WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE BETTER IN THE OVEN!
H: OH!

And then she walked away in a huff, and he kept on playing horseshoes for another 20 minutes. We were laughing the whole time, and she was not happy. We have been yelling their conversation back and forth since. I hope the wife's vacation got better and that her pasta got cooked, but I'm guessing that our vacation was much better than hers.