50th Trip - 05 - Cedar City Temple, Reunion, Shakespeare Festival

On the last full day, the morning activity was a temple trip. It also happened to work out that Coral was going through the temple for the first time. In stereotypical Utah fashion, our rental house was close enough to the temple that we just walked there in the morning.

We had lunch back at the house, then hung out until our afternoon performance of She Loves Me, a musical stage production of the same story You've Got Mail is based on.

We had leftovers for dinner, then we gave our other present, which was to sing Sunrise, Sunset, a song that was performed at their wedding. This made them both cry, and then they just told stories and reminisced for a while.

The last performances of the night were a "green lawn" pre-show (ok), and a rather good performance of Hamlet to end the festival on a sad note.

50th Trip - 04 - The Adventures of Gil Glade, Shakespeare Festival

After the hike, we got cleaned up, had lunch, then went to see an afternoon show called See How They Run, a silly show where everyone is dressed up as a vicar by the end.

When we got back, the kids presented their 50th anniversary gift. They decided to do an old-time radio show. Crystal wrote the script, full of inside jokes, everyone recorded their parts separately, and Amber put it all together with sound effects and music.

I thought it turned out great. The Ropers loved it, even if some of the in-laws were confused.

We had dinner at the Cowboy Kitchen, then went to our evening show, Something Rotten, a musical parody of Shakespeare and Broadway theater. Both shows were very well done.

50th Trip - 03 - Thor's Hideout

Glena asked me to organize a hike for the group, so I found a perfect one called Thor's Hideout in the red hills just outside Cedar City. Those who wanted to go met up at the trailhead parking.

It's a 3.7 mile round-trip with lots of interesting rocks and nice views.

I was glad I downloaded the route onto my watch, because the trail wasn't always well marked, but we eventually found Thor's throne and the nice view from it before heading back.

50th Trip - 02 - Kolob Canyons, Shakespeare Festival

After sleeping off our Las Vegas hangover, we checked out of the hotel and drove north. We had a bit of time before we could check into the reunion rental house, so we got lunch at a pita place in St. George (excellent fries) and ate while watching the World Cup semifinal, then stopped off at Kolob Canyons to do some of the hiking we couldn't do last time.

We did the Taylor Creek Trail, which is about 5 miles round trip into one of the canyons.

It ends at an enormous alcove.

We were the only ones there, so we explored a bit and listened to our echoes, then hiked back.

We drove the rest of the way to Cedar City, met up with everyone at the rental house, got dinner at an Indian restaurant, then went to our first play, Twelfth Night, which was excellent.

50th Trip - 01 - Las Vegas

Amber's parents wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary with all their kids at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, UT. We had Carmen drop us off at the airport. It was rainy, but thankfully no flight delays. After a bumpy flight, we landed in Las Vegas, where it was very hot. We picked up a rental car and drove to our hotel at Harrah's casino.

After a quick rest, we went to the Venetian next door, which is my favorite casino because of the indoor canals.

We splurged on a romantic gondola and got lucky to get an excellent singer.

We had dinner in the food court there, then took the walkway to The Sphere.

The current show was The Wizard of Oz, and it was excellent. Before the show, the screen was showing a theater curtain, and we had fun deciding where the screen ended and the real light fixtures began. The show was really well done, with tornado wind, real "leaves" blowing around, flower smells, flying monkeys, and even foam apples dropping from the ceiling.

Before and after the show, the lobby had several interactive exhibits, like this Wizard who answered questions in real time.

After the show, we walked the whole strip from Venetian to Luxor and back, stopping for the Bellagio fountian show, of course.

We got back very late and crashed at the hotel.

Damon learning to drive

Damon got his learner permit, but had to wait until after our vacation to get his first driving lesson. According to Amber, it went very well!