Highlights from the trip: July 4

Bryce Canyon airport has a log hangar. It dates from the 1920s. Its tin roof still has a painted arrow pointing to Salt Lake City, from the old navigation system (point to the next big airport west).

The hotel we stayed at is marked on the sectional chart. There is nothing else out there.

I forgot to pack shirts. Um, oops.

Bryce Canyon is stunning, but I really wish they'd have some indication of which beautiful overlooks are accessible and which aren't. The map shows them all as being right on the road, when many of them are a good ten-minute walk uphill on basically gravel.

Great fireworks! We were so close we could see the launcher.

Wonderful stargazing! Bryce has some of the darkest skies in the continental US. Four volunteers with telescopes showed people all kinds of stuff.

Highlights from the trip: July 5

Bryce Canyon has a hoodoo shaped like a poodle. Poodle hoodoo. Poodlehoodoo, poodlehoodoo, poodlehoodoo...

Thunderstorm, shmunderstorm. If it's gone by the time you arrive, then you made the right decision on departure, right?

It's awkward to party with 20 people you don't know, but if they're nice people, that helps a lot. So does a huge amount of Domaine Chandon rose' champagne.

Saw my first room-size studio-apartment-size hot tub with waterfall. Wow. It's hard to remember a whole bunch of names when suddenly everyone is in a bathing suit and you don't have hairstyles or clothing to go by any more, but hey, you can just talk about how stunning the room is.

Highlights from the trip: July 6

Saw my first $1100+ shirt. I now do not remember the shirt itself at all. Shock, I suppose.

There are no fat people in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Well, ok, some people MIGHT be a little soft around the edges, MAYBE. Coming from the Bay Area it was stunningly weird. Where did they hide everyone else?

As best I can tell I am the first person in Beaver Creek ever with a limp. I drew stares.

Tapered pants suck because they are difficult to hem. With 30 minutes to the rehearsal dinner I sat there realizing I could only tack the things at the seam lines. Of course I ripped them when I stepped into them. Oh well.

Quote from my dad, about my sewing kit: "How'd you get all that stuff on the plane?" I reminded him that I knew the pilot personally. ;-)

Rehearsal dinner rained out! Mad scramble indoors was handled beautifully by the hotel staff.

Tried to imagine how much alcohol a wedding consumes. The actual event hadn't even started yet and wow could we ever drink.

If you sit downwind from the bonfire your clothing WILL still smell in the morning.

Highlights from the trip: July 7

Rolling a wheelchair on carpet is like going continually a tiny bit uphill. My room was (best guess) a quarter mile from the elevators. I did ONE round trip under my own power, and the tendons in both wrists are still screaming at me days later.

The Primping Room! Two hairdressers. A bunch of women. A plate of fruit for snackies. Cameras all over the place. Hair spray and jewelry everywhere. Random people delivering stuff for the flower girls. Waving out the window to the non-primpers at the pool. The groom trying to get ready in the midst of this chaos.

My carefully sewed outfit did fit fine, but never having tried the whole thing on at once, I didn't know how I would look in it. I put it on for the first time about five minutes before the ceremony. Verdict: heinous. It's salvageable, but not quickly. With two minutes remaining I threw it on the bed and wore the Backup Plan (ankle-length and midnight blue). Lesson learned. Unit testing != system testing.

Flower girls are the cutest things in the universe. Especially when one of them somehow manages to lose her shoes by the time she arrives at the ceremony. That right there is the eternal and primal force of cute.

Beautiful, beautiful wedding. Lovely readings. Jaw-droppingly gorgeous bride (okay, I'm biased). Handsome groom with a joyful smile. Beautiful outdoor setting. Adorably cute ring bearer. Relaxed and happy and enthusiastic officiant who's a long time friend. If I ever have a ceremony I hope it's half as nice. This one was great.

It was wonderful to see my sister and her groom dancing, and it was just as wonderful to see my parents dancing. They were clearly loving it... and wow can they dance, too.

I still wonder how much alcohol a wedding consumes.

I actually danced a little at the reception. Yeah, I'm paying for it, but yeah, it was worth it.

Highlights from the trip: July 8

Wow that's a heck of a storm right over this airport

RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN

BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY

is the gas cap supposed to look like that? aw crud, we better land and fix it

BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy bumpy

man I'm glad we're home.