The Vacation - Day 4

How Dry I Am

When I woke up the next morning I ached from head to toe. I was also exceedingly dry. As Andy described it it's like someone snuck into our room while we were sleeping and jammed triscuits up his nose.

The original plan had been to drive out to Sedona and the night before I swore I would stay in bed all day. But after getting up moving around and another long shower I felt better. Neither one of us was sleepy so we met up with folks and headed to breakfast. During breakfast we decided to go with the boys to Sedona and Oak canyon. And here's comes the part when I felt OLD. The waitress came around to take orders and being the only girl there at the moment she turned to me and said "Ok mom what'll you have?" I stared at her as if she had grown a second head and eventually ordered. She looked at me and said "You're not mom are you?" I said NO. She looked around the table again and said "So what are you?" I pointed around the table and said daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, sister-in-law, wife. Why she assumed I was old enough to have a 27 year old son I'm not sure. Maybe it's time for a face lift.

Oak Canyon

After breakfast we piled in the car and headed off toward Oak canyon and someplace I can't remember that was supposed to have a natural water slide. When we got to the place with the water slide, we discovered that due to lack of rain it was closed. After all no sense in sliding on dry rocks. So on we went to Oak Canyon. It was like the Grand Canyon only smaller. And covered in trees. Somehow it was less impressive that way. You couldn't really see the bottom since there were trees and you couldn't see the striations in the rocks. It was still cool, but after having seen the big cool thing, the smaller cool thing just couldn't compare. But we saw a cool squirrel. I haven't mentioned the squirrels here yet. At the Grand Canyon there are these huge ground squirrels. Think groundhog but slightly smaller. Tame as any other squirrels anywhere else there's a tourist attraction. They'll come right up to you. And if you make a noise they think you have food. The squirrel at Oak Canyon was different. It had sharp pointy ears. Like those old paintings of squirrels. He was really cute, and rather striking, and not nearly as tame.

After having been in the car for a while I started stiffening up. New muscles were hurting that didn't hurt at all before. Oof! When did I get so old?

Sedona - Land of crystals and new age thinking

Oh MAN Pom-pom. That's weiwd. The town itself was a lovely place. Nice little shopping nooks nestled here and there. The town is only about 20 years old, so every thing still looked new. The weird part was the "art." A lot of it took real skill, and I know I couldn't have made any of it without a lot of practice. But none of the artists had anything to say. It was art for arts sake. Mall art. Middle-school art class art.

For example the very white looking indian girl lying in the river. Pretty at first glance but as you studied it you noticed how much of it was out of proportion. Her biceps were smaller than her forearms. She had no ribcage. She went straight from stomach to boobs. And her hands were obviously direct drawings of the artist's hands. Manly, large, and distinctly not in keeping with the rest of her. Definitely not worth the $4000. It was all like that. The artist obviously had great skill in drawing. But ...

Drive Thru Potty Break

On our way back we enjoyed a lightning show in the darkness. It was really amazing to watch with no trees or houses to block your view. I dozed off for a little while and when I woke up we were in the drive thru at McDonald's. I really really had to pee, but we were only about 15 minutes away from the hotel....Nah I couldn't wait. So I jumped out the side door and told 'em I'd meet them at the other end. As I sprinted across the parking lot, I suddenly remembered all those muscles. OOOF. I must've been more asleep than I thought. Quick trip in and back out and they were still waiting to get up to the window. As I hopped back into the car a woman in the car behind us got out. Maybe she had to pee too.

Head Hammock

It's amazing the things you do when you're a kid that you forget about isn't it? For instance, it's been a while since I've ridden in the back seat for any length of time. On the drive back to the hotel I rediscovered a talent. If you take the shoulder strap and put it behind your back you can rest your head on the length of material that's still hanging between the car side and the part that's pinned behind your back. It makes a lovely little head hammock to sleep in. Until your neck does that jello thing and you bob out of it. But for the most part it works. I think the last time I did that I was 10.