Rush Blogging: the rest of the trip

Everything is getting so smooshed in my brain, it's hard to keep it all in order.

Wentt with Genie and the kids to see JLITH at the hospital. Fun to wander around and see where she spends almost all of her waking (and non-waking hours). After Genie and the kids left, JLITH got me in to change into scrubs, and she took me around the units and areas where she spends most of her time. When I left, it was snowing. But after I'd gottend down the hill a bit, it turned into just plain rain.

More dancing at the MAC on Saturday. Competitions started very late. Probably because they had to start them after GC priesthood session got out. Tookus very sore by the end of the night. Would have been better to break up the different competitions by having at leas two or three social dances between each set. Courage was back tonight, and got a lot of dances. Hurray!

Had lunch over at One World Everyone Eats. JLITH was supposed to join us, be she ended up not being able to leave the hospital. Great concept: tasty food with a humanitarian goal. I was interested in volunteering, but didn't have a food specialist certificate or any abilities with plants. So I just gave more money. This may turn into one of my SLC faves.

Genies made some great middle-eastern good. Tabuleh, and couscous with a delicious apricot and lamb stew.

Went to go see Becoming Jane with JLITH at the Dollar movie theatre. Confess that I wasn't exactly keen on the movie, but it was cheap, and time alone with my sister. To my surprise, it had very little of the mocking, lighthearted social commentary that I've come to associate with Austen's novels. Yes, it did have a lot of heaving chests and piercing looks that seem so commonplace nowadays. But there were moments when my desbelief was actually suspended, and I was totally caught up in the idea of tragic sacrifices for love. Makes me want to find a really good biography of Austen and just get to know her. Same as for Alcott, Potter, Montgonmery and Woolf. I would like to ask these great minds how and what they thought about their world and their place in it. I think I would find a very different point of view than what some really conservative and pushy commenters on the X2 blog and constantly refraining on ... even while we permabloggers are trying to play nice and not lambaste them.

Over the The Discovery Center with Genie, Bean One and Bean Three (Bean Two being in school at the time). So funny to watch them interact with their environment and the other children. Of course Bean Three is too young to interact with other children his age, and so he just wants to find fun things to touch and chew. However, I think Bean One is unused to being in situation where he is not the biggest kid. And besides his performance anxiety, and trying to take turns with other children like this mother teaches him to, I think he just gets frustrated easily. So, I saw him holding back while the other rowdier (and bigger) children were crowding around some the the exhibits and not letting anyone else in. And when they had moved on, I saw Bean One happy at being able to do the things he wanted to ... to the exclusion of some other kids his own size.

Dinner at Sawadee with JLITH. I was so full from eating tabuleh, that I couldn't hardly eat any of it. Instead, we just had a good chat. Had thought about buying her an ipod so that she would have something to listen to on her trips to India and Egypt, but she's already gotten one for mom. So, I loaded a bunch of TAL episodes, and classical and Christmas (hey, I was in the mood) music on it for them to enjoy on their trips.

Decided Monday morning that that would be a perfect day to go see the Timpanogos Ice Caves. I'd gone to see some at the base of Mount Fuji, and they were quite spectacular. So, why not? Well, for one, the entrance to the cave is reached by a 1.5 mile hike. Not so bad, 1.5 miles. Except that the elevation gain was almost 1200 feet. And, I didn't have hiking boots, only my trusty dansko clogs. Going up was hard. I hate ascending switchbacks. Was shamed into kicking up the pace when a couple of kids came running down the path shouting back, "Okay grandma! We're halfway down!" Well, if grandma can get up the mountain ...! Caves were fun. Didn't photograph very well, but fascinating to see the different types of ice formations. Hike down was miserable. Since my feet hurt too much to walk straight down the trail (clogs that don't lace up), I had to zigzag down ... which no doubt lead to the aching in my outer calves that lasted almost a week!

Lunch with FGITW at Macaroni Grill, my first time ever. Cute waiter that FGITW chatted up because he looked so much like Dexter (or some other such tv actor).

Dancing at MAC again on Tuesday night. THe soreness hadn't reached peak levels yet (read: it was still on the rise), so I was able to get in a few good dances without hobbling like granny). Talked a bit more with Utah Swing Ambassador, who has some info which will make my next trip a little more interesting.

Left early Wed morning and drove and drove and drove. So soooooo glad to be home.