Jason and I just had a super crazy week. You know, one of those weeks where you don’t bother unpacking your suitcase from one trip because you will just be leaving again on another excursion a few days later and your house somehow becomes a shrine to clutter even though you’ve been home so scarcely that it doesn’t seem possible that you could’ve had any effect at all on your living space.
We stayed in cottage #7 this year. It was right on the green so Jason got a kick out of watching golfers throw tantrums when their shots went awry.
We spent the beginning of our week in Park City for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ annual scientific seminar and golf outing. This event followed its usual format: lectures and dinner the first afternoon and golfing the morning after. Jason typically tags along when I head up to this gathering. He doesn’t golf and he doesn’t get to eat with me and the other scientists at Ruth’s Chris so why is he so eager to go? I know that boy loves me but I think his enthusiasm for escorting me to this function has more to do with the lavish cottage suite at the Hotel Park City that he gets to lounge in while I am off with my fellow chemists than my entertaining personality. These cottage suites are spacious and swanky and go for well over a $1000 a night during Park City’s peak season. With a private patio sporting a gas fireplace and Jacuzzi, it’s easy to see why people are willing to shell out the dough for these accommodations. Luckily, we got a great deal through the SCC’s group rate so we got to enjoy the hotel’s splendor for relative pocket change.
Our suite had its own private patio equipped with a fireplace and Jacuzzi. We sat out there sipping sparkling lemonade from fancy glasses while the brilliant night sky captivated us.My golf team had the misfortune of being stuck with me. I pity the fool!Jason decided to go mountain biking at Park City Resort while I was out golfing. Without my voice of reason he got exceptionally lost and ended up on some pretty treacherous terrain. What's pictured here is not that treacherous terrain but a lovely meadow he came across somewhere in the middle of it all.
A few days later we were off to St. George to attempt to seeThe Little Mermaid again at Tuacahn with Jason’s parents. Those of you that regularly follow my blog may recall that we got rained out when we tried to watch this show in July. We had decided to make a special trip to St. George just to give seeing this production one more chance because we had heard so many impressive things about it. As fate would have it, however, another thunderstorm was right on cue to ruin our fun again. Geez Luis! I would have been majorly disgruntled if we had driven 4 hours solely for the purpose of seeing this show but once more hadn’t been able to finish it. Fortunately, although the weather was constantly on the brink of causing havoc during the performance, the lightening that endlessly illuminating the sky to our northwest never moved in on us. It wasn’t until we were walking back to our car after the show that the heavens let it all loose. Disaster narrowly averted! And the musical was great, with some pretty creative special effects, so it was worthy of our second try.
Scuttle, the bird-brained seagull, was dressed in a full flock of feathers. What a great costume!Heidi Anderson, who played Ursula, did a fantastic job. She was just the right combination of wicked and witty.King Triton was a tall fellow; lengthy Jason appeared shrimpy next to him.
Although our retreat to St. George was quick, and we spent more of it driving than anything else, all that car time did allow us to chat with Sue and Keith quite a bit. And since we not only got to watch all of The Little Mermaid but also grab breakfast at The Bear Paw I’d say that it was a trip well spent. (The Bear Paw serves terrific French toast stuffed with brulee cream; I’d highly recommend gorging yourself on it.)
What a busy week spent traveling all over tarnation! But hey, between the green slopes of Park City’s summits and the red cliffs of Tuacahn we got a whirlwind tour of some of the best scenery in Utah not to mention the delight of great company and the pleasure of cultural enlightenment.
Every July thousands of comic book nerds, sci-fi buffs, and screaming fans materialize in San Diego for Comic-Con. This year those geeks numbered over 130,000 so those of you who haven’t heard of Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world, what hunk of kryptonite have you been hiding under?
We took this picture in front of the convention center the night before the con began. That’s the only reason there aren’t 400 people milling around in the backgroundYou can captain my America anytime!
For a number of years Jason and I have contemplated attending this event and drooled over all the news footage from it. This time we decided to just go for it and buy tickets. With so many passes available one would think that they would be relatively easy to come by but no, the convention sold-out in less than three hours. We only succeeded in getting tickets by refreshing our browser nonstop in true OCD fashion and by getting a little lucky.
Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the 70’s TV series, wasn’t the friendliest of guys but he was happy to smile for a picture when being paid to do so.
Acquiring passes to this illustrious conference wasn’t the only tricky part of attending. Finding a hotel with availability this side of Mexico also proved to be horrendous but we managed to book one within walking distance, just ten blocks from the convention center, after a lot of online hunting and groping.
I asked this guy dressed as Robin if I could get a picture with him. He agreed and the next thing I knew I was being whisked into his arms as he exclaimed, “I’m a strong boy!” Thus the red face and funny picture.
All the bother was worth it baby!
Comic-Con has much to keep any movie, TV, or comic book nerd on sensory overload. All day long Q&A panels fill the convention center’s massive ballrooms. And these babies are the real deal; they are headed by the stars, producers, and creators of all the shows and fantasies you love. Some of this year’s big hitters were the cast of True Blood, TheVampire Diaries, Game of Thrones, Twilight, The Amazing Spiderman, Chuck, TheBig Bang Theory…I could continue but I’ve probably made you jealous enough. Did I mention that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were also there? Okay, okay, I’ll stop making you cry.
Ian, who plays Damon on The Vampire Diaries, is a favorite sucker of mine. His panel was a must-ogle, I mean must-see, for me. Bobas were everywhere at Comic-Con. One would think they were clones or something.
Although the celebrity panels alone could definitely keep you star struck and enthralled for all four days of the con, visiting the enormous exhibit hall is not to be missed. The exhibit hall is filled with hundreds of booths where you can buy not only practically any comic book from the artists themselves but all sorts of exclusive toys and hard-to-find geeky merchandise. I’ve heard it said that you could spend all your con time in the exhibit hall and still not see everything; that seems pretty accurate. We got sucked onto the exhibit floor far more often than we were planning and yet we saw only a fraction of what was there. I guess it’s just as well that we didn’t visit more booths though because we spent $1000 as it was on cat buses, Data shirts, airship goggles, and signed comic books….how did I survive this long without a cat bus? Yes, if you go to Comic-Con bring lots of cash and plan on blowing it.
Michael Dorn was a little intimidating, it’s not everyday you run into a 6’3″ Klingon, but what a nice guy.I couldn’t resist waiting in line with a bunch of kids to get a picture with Pikachu. You wouldn’t have been able to resist his cute little twitching ears either.
Comic-Con isn’t just famous for star appearances and nerdy merchandise though, it’s known for its lines and, although they may seem of mythical proportions, they are definitely no myth. One morning we waited in a line to get into the convention center so we could stand in another line for a chance to get passes to wait in yet another line just to buy some special Hasbro toys. Who wouldn’t wait Triforce, I mean trifold, for a Transformers/G.I. Joe mashup? The next day we lined up for panel sessions with about 6,000 other people in a never-ending row that stretched over two miles. It was madness. If you find yourself at the con expect to spend almost all of your time hanging out in winding lines that extend all the way to the Dead Marshes of Mordor.
Being at the very end of a 6,000 person line is sure to make you a sad panda. But, despite this line’s extraordinary length, we made it into our desired ballroom just an hour and a half later.
Speaking of sessions and session lines, choosing what sessions to go to was difficult. How do you decide between the science of zombies and a Klingon lifestyles presentation? It’s a hard call believe me. A few panels I definitely wanted to be present for: Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Star Trek: The Captains.
The Family Guy panel was rowdy and highly entertaining. Those that dared to ask questions inevitably got harassed and anal fixations, of course, were discussed.Just north of a the convention center a parking lot was transformed into South Park in all its 2D glory. It was pretty amusing.
Since this was our first time at Comic-Con we weren’t sure how hard it would be to get into our top panel picks. Twilight was the very first session the very first morning of the con. It began at 11:30 AM but bloggers recommended getting in line before 6 AM for guaranteed seats so that’s what we did. We were up shortly after 4 and in line by 5:30. Our six hour wait was sure to be boring and, judging from the number of fans in line when we arrived, not entirely necessary. But just an hour or so later things began to get interesting.
Booboo Stewart, who plays Seth Clearwater in the Twilight saga, pushed around a cart of fruit to offer to those in line. I told him I’d pass on a banana but I would take an autograph.
It all started with Breaking Dawn swag being dispersed: posters and coffee mugs. Muffins, fruit, juice, and water were next handed out to the waiting fans and then, all of a sudden, a great deal of commotion and press marked the arrival of some utterly unanticipated excitement.
Elizabeth Reaser was happy to sign autographs and take pictures with the Twihards. What a good sport!
Members of the Breaking Dawn cast had appeared to greet their hardcore followers that had been waiting in line for hours or days just to get good seats in the Twilight panel: Ashley Greene (Alice), Nikki Reed (Rosalie), Booboo Stewart (Seth), Julia Jones (Leah), and Elizabeth Reaser (Esme). I got autographs and pictures with a number of them. All the stars were nice but Elizabeth, Julia, and Booboo were especially grateful and accommodating. It was refreshing for this franchise to show such appreciation for its fans. To pass out swag and breakfast was more than anyone expected but to also have the actors make their way through the line was unbelievable. Way to go Twilight for showing those other shows up!
Jason was little more than a boy toy inside this giant Star Wars action figure box.Will Shatner and Avery Brooks have drastically different personalities. Their contrasts made for a more interesting session.
The Twilight panel was terrific but it wasn’t the only session that captivated us. We went to Star Trek: The Captains and met Will Shatner, Avery Brooks, and Scott Bakula. Their quirky personalities, along with session moderator Kevin Smith, made the panel anything but dull. We also got to do a long Khan with Will Shatner. Hilarious. Incidentally, Shatner was promoting his documentary TheCaptainsavailable on Epix. It looks pretty funny and is definitely something I will be checking out.
We also attended the Vampire Diaries, Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama, and American Dad sessions and therefore got to meet a host of vampire hotties, including my favorite Ian Somerholder, along with some comical characters such as Seth Green and Matt Groening. Encountering three starship captains did not totally satiate the trekker within me so we also caught Patrick Stewart at a panel for Dorothy of Oz, a cute animated film that he did voice work for. Sir Patrick Stewart was as eloquent as expected. And, as if all that weren’t enough, we got a sneak peak at an upcoming Fox series called Terra Nova too that looks pretty intriguing. Holy panels Batman!
Cosplay doesn’t get any more intricate or nerdy than the Comic-Con Masquerade. This Totoro was my favorite even though it didn’t win any big awards. Patrick Stewart was as well-spoken as ever. What a thrill to be in the presence of such a distinguished gentleman and cult favorite.A couple giant robots were hanging out on a street corner as part of a Real Steel campaign. They look even more impressive next to a miniscule dot such as myself.
The sessions weren’t the only places to get up-close and personal with celebrities though. Down in the exhibit hall I got to meet a couple members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn. My teenage self would have fainted! They were both very nice even though my many years of fandom probably translated into a lot of staring and conversation befuddling. We also ran into Robert Kirkman, the creator of TheWalking Dead, along with such other comic bigwigs as Ian Churchill and Ben Edlund. And we got a chance to chat with some upcoming comic artists. Shane and Chris Houghton, the creators of the Reed Gunther books, were probably the friendliest comic guys I met at the con; I look forward to their future success.
Anywhere else this guy’s amazing costume would have stood out but at Comic-Con he was just one of the herd.
Comic-Con was crazy. The convention center and the streets surrounding it were always congested and overflowing with humanity. The lines were insane and at times I was so sick of sifting through the huge crowds that I had to go back to our hotel room for a wee breather to regain a smidgen of my personal bubble space but it was a once in a lifetime experience. Interacting with some of my favorite stars and meeting other personalities that are sure to become new favorites was a surreal hoot. And almost all of the celebrities we met were very obliging, which was unexpected. Being in the heart of nerdom was amusing too. When you are in line for a session and the people in front of you ask you if you want to participate in a dungeon crawl or you see a gaggle of storm troopers meander by you know that you are living every geek’s fantasy right down to the vinyl clad women.
Jason’s mom Sue and his brother Jeremy were both born in July along with me and Jason. Yes, that means we go through enough birthday cake during the month to give a small country diabetes.
This year Jason’s parents decided that it would be fun to celebrate all our July birthdays by taking a trip down to Utah’s Dixie. They got us tickets to see the two shows playing at an outdoor theater in St. George called Tuacahn: The Little Mermaid and Grease. This gave us an excuse to take a break and spend the weekend in St. George together.
This is the condo at Lava Falls that we rented. It was a lovely building with a secluded patio.
Jason’s parents, Sue and Keith, stayed with me and Jason at a condo we rented for the weekend. The condo was beautiful and allowed each couple to have their own bathroom and bedroom while still promoting family togetherness. We got plenty of chances to play board games and chat; it reminded me a lot of hanging out at the old Sabin cabin but with less dust.
It felt like we were under the sea when that rain hit. It came sloshing at us from all directions.Jason's mom Sue had her birthday while we were down in St. George. We surprised her with a little lemon cake and a horribly sung birthday song.
Friday night Jason and I got down to St. George with little time to spare before the start of The Little Mermaid but we managed to make it. Not that our timeliness ended up mattering much. Do you remember the scene where Ariel rescues Prince Eric from the stormy seas? Lightning is flashing across the sky as thunder pounds the earth and a thrashing rain begins to fall. Well, right when that scene was being played out on stage real thunder began rumbling the sandstone plateaus around us and unforgiving water started pelting the ground. Jason and I had brought ponchos with us just in case but even with those on the wind whipped us so wet we ended up taking shelter in a covered area along with everyone else. After waiting half an hour for the rain to stop, which it didn’t, the show was canceled for the evening. There were a lot of little girls crying that night because of the unhappy ending to their fairytale magic.
Jason was queen-I mean king-of the mountain.Jason crawled up the sides of Jenny's Canyon. I can't take that monkey boy anywhere!St. George wasn't as hot as it usually is in July but we still were way past warm. This nook gave me and Jas a very brief break from the intense sun...and yet another opportunity to look silly.
Although it was sad that our Friday activities got halted, we didn’t waste time pouting. The next morning Jason, Sue, Keith, and I headed up to Snow Canyon State Park for some hiking and caving. Snow Canyon is a pretty area creased by pocked sandstone and surrounded by white and red cliffs. The colors of this region are shadowed by piles of black lava rock that an ancient volcano strew about. These dark stone outcroppings protrude the fiery landscape conspicuously but their most interesting feature lies beneath the park’s surface.
These sharp rocks weren't exactly a comfy spot to lay your head but Jason thought they needed planking so I humored him. This was the first lava cave we came across. Although it just consisted of two elongated caverns, it was massive and fun to explore with a flashlight.
Snow Canyon’s hillsides, which are roughened by jagged igneous rock, are further scarred by holes of various sizes: lava tubes. Years ago my parents owned a condo in St. George and so Jason spent quite a bit of time with me in Snow Canyon. Every time he came across a lava cave he wanted to explore it but he somehow was always lacking a flashlight. This trip though he was determined to make up for his previous inadequacies…sort of. He remembered to grab a flashlight before we headed up to Snow Canyon but he insisting on hiking in flip-flops. (Don’t get me started!) We trekked the Butterfly Trail to the West Canyon Overlook and then detoured to find some caves. We came across three. The first was easy to access with high ceilings in two long chambers but it smelled a little too musty and peeish for us to hangout in there too long. The second cave was very narrow so only Jason journeyed a bit into its belly.
I took this looking out of the entrance to that long tunnel we explored. Those goofballs are standing on a rim that circles a sloping incline that leads down to the spacious cavern that could have easily been confused for the tube's main draw.Sue and Keith were hesitant to wiggle down into this opening but we finally coaxed them into the cave's antechamber. This pictures was taken deep within the bowels of the earth. Okay, maybe not that far down but the throat of the earth at very least.
On our third discovery we hit the jackpot. This cave was fantastic! It’s opening to the surface was not terribly large and could have been easily missed if a couple of women hanging out on a narrow ledge a few feet down had not caught our attention. Access into this hole was tricky and required some scrambling and scooting and once inside we probably would have mistaken a big cavity at the bottom of the entrance shaft for the main attraction if some hikers had not exited out of a small unremarkable gap to one side of it as we were entering the tube. That little opening led to a winding slender passage that eventually widened into a large rock-scattered room. Awesome! Upon leaving that room the tube dived over a narrow little cliff; that drop-off looked tricky to navigate so this is where we decided to head back. But the moment we exited from this tunnel back into the main shaft Jason turned around and headed back in by himself. He had decided that he could shimmy down that cliff, flip-flops and all, and was determined to see where the tube led. It turned out that it went down another cramped twisting path to a second large cavern where it ended. After traversing the entire passageway he convinced me to go back in with him to the tunnel’s terminus. I am claustrophobic and therefore not a big fan of ducking through a little crack in the earth but in the end my curiosity got the best of me. I’m glad I braved it; it was a cool cave.
After hiking and crawling around all day we saw Grease that night at Tuacahn and, unlike The Little Mermaid, we actually saw it. It was a fun show that made me want to dance and sing and wear a poodle skirt.
We may have had a few watery glitches in our fabulous weekend plan but it still turned out to be a great getaway with plenty of fam time and some surprising adventures.
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