bloggie blog

For Independence Day, I traveled to Utah. My motivation was to check in with my family again, and I got to see my dad and some sibs. While there, I partook in a small portion of America’s Freedom Festival. That’s right, America has a Freedom Festival, and it happens in Provo.

In my parents’ neighborhood, love of country was on display when I arrived from a Boy Scout’s Eagle project of several years ago: US flags flying in front of every house. At right, I reach out to it.

In my sister’s neighborhood, downtown Provo, which has a number of beautiful old homes, the parade happens. She lives one block from the route. Things are tame here, of course, so the 300,000 people who watched it do make for an unusual situation with rules and rule-breaking. The city put up red garbage cans per block, and post-parade the place was pretty durn clean. That’s love of country.

After the parade, at the Freedom Fair (I’m making that up, but it could be correct), we bought sunglasses and Tater Twists. Each plateful of Tater Twists is one russet potato sliced into one continuous curl — with a homemade gadget that involved, literally, a power drill for every potato — and then deep-fried to golden perfection. What a country!

A few items from my Thanksgiving in Utah:

When I landed, my brother Nathan was about 20 minutes late in picking me up, so I bought the Salt Lake Tribune and learned that Donny Osmond and Real Salt Lake were big winners locally. Nice. (BYU beat Utah just minutes before my return flight, but either way there, there was going to be a big local winner.)

My sister Julia bought a great old house this year. She’s put a lot of work into it, and on Black Friday she rounded us up to do the same, without even resorting to Tom Sawyer reverse psychology. I swore not to participate in Black Friday, but we forgot and went to The Home Depot for some lighting supplies. It was quiet.

I was cold. Inside. My parents and my sister keep it cool.

Used Windows 7. Okay, I guess.

The Farming Game has stupid rules regarding “a” winner vs. “the” winner.

AT&T’s network in Los Angeles is the real problem. Works great in Utah.

Downloaded very fun iPhone app called iCaroler. Great way to start the Christmas season! You play with carolers, or even better, multiple people play with carolers … which I haven’t quite tested yet.

Received random, unexpected email from GOGII: “Dear _____, Your password has been reset.” Should I be worried?

As I flew back to Los Angeles last December, Delta bumped me and gave me a $400 voucher. Which I Tweeted. Which I told myself I wasn’t going to forget. Which I forgot completely, of course, as I bought a ticket several weeks ago.

Well whaddyaknow, late last night I was cleaning — minor miracle — and saw the voucher as I reached the bottom of a pile. Couldn’t believe it! And since it’s about to expire, I quickly schemed to buy a ticket for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t going to travel for Thanksgiving, you see, in order to save some $$$, but my crappy memory ended up serving me well inasmuch I’ll be home for T-day! I am thankful for forgotten vouchers. I am thankful to be losing my edge.

New hiking shoes: check. Swimwear: check. Flashlight: check. Sunglasses: check. Recipes for my turn to cook: check. Lotions, potions and pills that make up the general walking pharmacopoeia we all are these days: check.

I’m off to Moab! Stay turned for pictures of the wonders of the world: Natural Bridges National Monument, Delicate Arch, nieces, nephews, my farmer’s tan.

This coming weekend, I will be in Moab with my family.

I am learning that nobody that I know in LA has ever heard of Moab. This is surprising to me. I always figure that outdoorsy stuff is widely known, but even when I follow “Moab” up with “Arches National Park” I get lots of “huh”s and blank stares of incomprehension. People, just search the word moab on Google images, and you will behold nature’s wonder.

Bought some new shoes in preparation for the trip. My local Runyon Canyon hikes will also benefit from these lightweight hiking shoes, as the old shoes are, well, old. Let’s be honest, they’re just brown cross-trainers … but oh so comfy!

P.S. If I were buying a boot, not a shoe, and were anticipating cooler weather, I would be in love with this fine, fine piece of footwear.

For the last three years, I didn’t have a valid U.S. passport. How did that happen to the kid that spent a year of his childhood in Spain and lived a coupla years in Peru and took trips to Singapore and London? I don’t know, but happen it did.

Now that has changed — yesterday I got the new passport from the government and I’m ready to go. But I don’t know where to go. I’m no travel fiend, jonesing for a fix. World travel has been a rare thing, a wonderful highlight to contrast my daily life. I have lived a rich life in the USA that I don’t know would be immensely richer with travel abroad. Different, but not necessarily better. I have explored my local cities, instead.

But it has been a while. Let’s see … I went to Spain in 1998. Yup, it’s about time. But where oh where shall I go? Suggestions welcomed.

The Christmas trip to Utah is ending with a whimper — up early to catch a morning flight, but Delta was overbooked, so right now as I type this I’m earning a $400 voucher by just hanging out in Terminal C for 5 hours. Further, some plans for tonight back in LA have fallen through. Oh well. Here I sit earning some voucher money and using the ol’ laptop to type a little. Since I have a year-end laptop task to do that will require a few hours, this is good. The flight here was so short compared to most flights I’ve taken in the last few years from Boston, that I unexpectedly ran out of time. Now I’ve got plenty!