A Nice Trip

I am now back from one excellent trip. I started writing a sort of travelogue form of the trip, and I was getting bored just writing it! So I guess I'll take a different approach. I'm going to highlight the good stuff and let you imagine the boring "getting from here to there" plot line.

Highlights:

I ate lunch at Red Robin. Tasty! I loved it!

I was able to go to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. While I was there, I ran into lots of familiar faces: my cousin Kimmy, my friend Deborah, my old roommate Nate, my sisters brother-in-law, and lots of people from my ward.

On Friday morning, I bought breakfast at the gas station across the street from the EAC Campus -a blueberry muffin and a fuze drink. I walked around the campus and went into some of the old buildings I used to have class in. I got to hear the clock tower chime. I went over to the Goodman Apartments and saw a bunch of friends and from there I went and attended an institute class, the Book of Revelation taught by Bro. Halverson and Bro. Bues.

I got to go and sit in on the A Cappella Choir class and sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You with them.

After that, the natural thing to do is head to R&R Pizza for the lunch buffet or to Papa Mac's for the world's best sandwiches and frozen yogurt. But seeing as Papa Mac's is no longer there, (can you sense the bitterness in my tone?) R&R was it. Peach punch, honey-mustard wings, and cinnamon-sugar breadsticks -it was all there, just like before -along with the grouchy old Hispanic lady who has trouble reading the policy signs posted near the cash register.

The weather was fantastic. The sun was shining the whole time, and so I took advantage of it and opted for a barefoot walk down by the river. In the afternoon I met up with friends and went fishing for crawdads in the canal. That was fun.

As we fished, my old mentor/geology instructor David drove by and stopped to invite me to dinner. It was great to see David, his wife Adina, and his little daughter Dora again -along with the newest arrival to the family, their little girl, Athena Salene. So it's David and Adina, Dora and Athena. Doesn't it just sound perfect? I thought so. This was probably the highlight of highlights. David was thrilled to see that, with all my hair buzzed off, I had finally gotten "a sensible haircut" just like his.

After dinner, I went to Andra's house where she, Lisa, and I planned a "Nacho Party" for the next night when Anders would be in town. This was lots of fun. We went to the "Super Walmart" which is anything but Super and bought the ingredients, along with a few novelties -I found a dairy-free ice cream called Soy Dream that is amazing! I'm so happy that I don't have to abondon ice cream altogether just because of a stupid allergy! In our planning for the party, we decided to make name tags for all the guests. They were supposed to sound like Hispanic names i.e. "Estebaño te extraño del año Flamenco"

Saturday morning I had the breakfast buffet at Golden Corral (not impressed -why do people rave about it?). Then after a nap, I went with 14 of my friends up Mt. Graham for a picnic.

I got motion sick going up, but other than that, it was amazing. Here are some pictures:

After that trip, I felt exhausted so I took a 2-hour nap. Then it was time to start getting things ready for the Nacho Party. We had the best Nachos with home-made pico de gallo (it was SO GOOD) and watched Nacho Libre. We had Jamaica (a Mexican juice made from hibiscus flower petals) and then toast for dessert. Anders and Elsa came, and we had a lot of good laughs. I'll have to get pictures from them.

Sunday I went to church and afterwards I ran into my Uncle Paul in the parking lot.

Andra's cousin invited us over for Easter Lunch. She said "it doesn't feel like Easter without lots of people over for lunch". I knew her because we took English 102 together. They're a married couple with about 5 kids -the oldest, a boy; the rest girls. It was such a good lunch and their family was a lot of fun! We had a good visit and then it was time to head back to Flagstaff.

I didn't get to be with my family this Easter, but the holiday was full of reunions with friends and teachers and people I love. And now it's time to force myself to go back to the grind of my pointless job here in Flagstaff ---that is, until my next trip to General Conference!