Crazy Fortnight

For the Fourth of July weekend, on Saturday we took our camper up to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho and had a terrific weekend swimming at the Olympic size natural springs pool and enjoying the camping experience and exploring Lava Hot Springs.  On the night of the 4th, Cindy and Brian came up and joined us for dinner at a Thai restaurant but couldn't stay to see the fireworks that night which were great and we could see from our campsite.

Then we got up early on the 5th, drove the camper home, did a load of laundry, repacked a suitcase for Lindsey and me.  Then Blain gave us a ride to the airport and Lindsey and I flew out that night to visit my good friend in Denver, Barbara.  We spent 4 days in Denver and had a blast.  We went to the Denver Natural Museum 2 days it was so good, where we saw an Imax film, a planetarium film, a special exhibit on pirates and also a lot of rocks, dinosaur bones and taxidermy.  We also went to the Denver Aquarium and had a great time visiting with each other and a couple of other friends.

We flew home from Denver on Saturday night.  Then on Monday morning I flew to Dallas to take a 2 day training class for work.  It was well over a hundred degrees the 3 days we were there.  It felt a little strange being there because I was raised in the Dallas area as a child but it has been over 20 years since I've visited the area.  It felt so familiar and foreign at the same time.  I did really miss the mountains of Utah.  The Dallas area was so much flatter than I remember.  My coworkers and I did a little bit of sightseeing while we were there.  We went to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum where Lee Harvey Oswald had assassinated JFK, very interesting and very sad.  The other interesting thing we saw was a special exhibit on Genghis Khan at the Irving Art Museum.  I had no idea what a remarkable man and leader he was.  Plus we had some great Tex Mex food and Margaritas!

Finally I flew back on Thursday completely exhausted.  A week later after a lot of extra sleeping and extra grumpiness (just ask my family and my coworkers), I think I'm finally starting to recover.  Good news, I went to my neurosurgeon and found out that my neck vertebrae that were fused at the end of 2010 have successfully grown bone.  Almost all physical restrictions have been lifted.  Yeah, I can vacuum again!  Now, I need to pack to fly to Durango this weekend to visit my mother and brother who are in Pagosa Springs, CO for a couple of weeks.  I'm sure I'll have fun, but look out coworkers, friends and family - you'll have to put up with another week of grumpiness when I get back.  If I only didn't have to work.  It gets in the way of my recovering from my travels and social life.