Another Trip

This time to St. George with Ben and Jena to enjoy two plays at the Tuacahn Outdoor Theatre.  We saw "Sound of Music" and "When You Wish Upon a Star."  I liked them both but it was fun to see the second one because it was new to us.  It was a collection of music and scenes from several Disney Shows and was fun to remember all of those old shows.

Friday night:  Sound of Music

Before we left Syracuse, we found out our friends, the McNeills, were going to be there as well on Friday night so we got together for a photo and conversation during the intermission.

Saturday morning we headed off to a nearby nature reserve for a hike.  It was a gorgeous day and we passed and were passed by many hikers and bikers on the trail.

There was a popular climbing clift on the trail where we watched climbers for a bit. It looked like a YM and YWs group because they were all given coaching as they went down the hill.  We did not try it.

The trail---

Even here there are pretty flowers along the trail and out into the fields--

Jena wasn't sure about standing on this rock since it wobbled a bit when she stood on it, but with Gary's help she did it.  I loved the tree in the background which I wanted to get a picture of as well.

If you like yellow, fall is beautiful in St. George.

Jena climbed up into this little cleft in the hill and wanted a picture.  Red rocks are pretty as well.

 A reminder to stay on the trail and not wander through the native plants of the reserve:

 Taking a break and enjoying the scenery--

I don't think I have ever seen so much fruit on a pricky pear cactus (I think that is what this is.)

Gary and Jena were mocking me as I was struggling as we walked up the path to get to our car at the end of the hike.  My back was still not doing great at this point and uphill was a bit painful in my back and leg. This was their version of my walk at this point.

This was the trail that we took--the Chuckwalla Trail.

Saturday night back to the theatre for the next show--

No photos during the performances, but here is a fuzzy view of the amazing back drop of the red hills in the back and the stage in the front.

The mandatory selfie-

And then with Jena.

We headed home the next day and settled back in the routine of life....for about 4 hours!

An October Wind Storm

The wind went through early in October and blew many green leaves off of the tress and it formed an amazing green wall on the nearby elementary school fence.  They stay in place for several days and I loved the green wall.

Playing Catch-up---

is harder when life keeps marching on!  I know that I lose some of the feelings and thoughts about experiences when here is a delay in writing the posts, but I guess something is better than nothing.  I had thought that I would combine October into one post with some pictures of the highlights, but when I reviewed the photos and thought about the month, we did a lot and I don't want to miss recording it.  So here goes October 2019--the month after the big trip  (and it is now late November as I write these posts.)  Got to catch up before the end of the year.....

-----THE JONAS BROTHERS----

You read it right, Jena and I joined about 18,000 other people (mostly young women between the ages of 18-28) to watch the Jonas Brothers Happiness Tour on October 3!  Jena was so excited.  We had bought her a tour t-shirt (thank heavens for the internet.) and she was telling everyone that she was going to see the Jonas Brothers in concert.  Jena was a big fan of the Jonas Brothers when they were on Disney so to see them in concert was a dream come true.

It was a simple plan.  I was going to take the train down to Salt Lake and then catch Jena on her train coming up from Provo.  I would arrive about 20 minutes before Jena's train was expected in the Central Station and that way we didn't have to worry about parking or anything.  That was a great plan until problems caused our train to stop twice for long periods of time making our train about 25 minutes late arriving into the station.  I was a mess trying to figure out alternatives which I would be okay with and still allow us to get to the concert on time.  Thank heavens for cell phones so that I could talk with Jena and her teacher, Vicki, who was traveling in the train with them.  Fortunately, because our train was so late, the north bound trains were slowed down and I made it about 4 minutes before Jena's train.  Next time, I will shoot to arrive an hour beforehand--that was a stressful way to start off our evening.

We connected, had a great dinner, and headed to the concert.

We got there early to avoid the crowds---

Jena did not stop smiling the whole night.

It has been a while (make that a very long time) since I had been to a concert like this.  I forgot to tell Jena about the "warm-up" act which would come first.  And actually, they had two warm-up acts--Jordan McGraw and Bebe Rexha.  I didn't know either of them, but Jena seemed to know some of their songs.  In between those two acts and before and after, they played DJ music and videos on the screens--about 20 minutes each. So, the concert, which started at 7:30, was still in warming up phase at 9:00.  I thought we would be done by 9:30 at the latest.  Gary had offered to pick us up after the concert so that we didn't have to wait a long time for the train and I had told him to come at 9:30.  Fortunately he was smarter than me and looked up the concert information on the internet and was telling me what to expect.  Many people in the seats around us didn't even arrive at the concert until after 8:30.  I guess they are more familiar with the whole warm up acts than me.

But I have to say, as impatient as I felt for the long warm up acts and the long breaks in-between, the Jonas Brothers did a great concert.  It had all of the lights, fireworks, media, and music that you expect from concerts and it was warm and personable as well.

They moved from the big stage to a smaller one directly down from us and did a more casual informal song numbers.

Kevin played a classic piece on the grand piano (which was lowered from the ceiling) while Nick sang.  It was my favorite number and one of Jena's as well.

I think the concert got over around 10:30 or so.  I was so glad that Gary was there to pick us up and drive us home.  We were happy but so tired so it was good to head home without waiting for a train.

I asked Jena the next day if her cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but she just laughed.  It is fun to share something with someone who is so delighted by the event or activity.

Happy birthday, family for 2019!