Peace Out Yo

We are leaving town next week. It will be a weeklong trip to the West, to visit friends and family. Last year we headed west to visit the absolutely fabulous E, J, and cats in their lovely Montana home. Besides seeing their fun, funky, and brewery-happy college town, we also got to chill (ha-ha) at Glacier National Park. The scenery there is indescribable. I couldn’t capture it in a photo – I lack the skillz. You’ll just have to go one day and see it. Truly unlike anything I’ve seen before or since, and I’ve been to my share of national parks. E and J (and cats, in their way) are pretty great hosts. They know how to show off a town, and we had a wonderful trip last year that we still talk about, and hope to repeat not too long from now!

Anyway, this year our adventures will take us first to Tucson, to visit my husband’s grandparents. This will be the Professor’s First Attempt to Convince RG That We Want to Live in Tucson Forever. He has been making wily plans behind my back to wow me with the wonders of Arizona. We shall see, hmmmm. After a few days of being wowed, we (we = me, husband, husband’s sister Erin, husband’s sister’s husband Clif) will pile into the car and head north. The 4 of us will meander our way to Denver over 3 days, which is quite silly really given it’s only a 12 hour drive. But it’s vacation, and we aren’t in a hurry. Our first stop is, um, somewhere that the Professor knows, and our second stop is somewhere else that the Professor also knows, and they’re both great for some reasons that he has told me that I get mixed up, and now you know who does all our vacation planning in this family.

Finally, we will arrive in Denver midday on Thursday, where we will immediately head to one of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s shows. My father’s second career is with the Barbershop Harmony Society – as in barbershop singing (his first career was 30 years as a Navy fighter pilot, which is a much cooler sounding career). He’s been involved as an amateur singer his whole adult life, and joined them professionally a couple of years ago when he retired from the military. My father loves this stuff, and we five kids grew up in the middle of it. It sounds dorky, but too bad, we all enjoy it. It is art, after all, and performance, and I like it because – well – I just do. I also make fun of it mercilessly, but I’m allowed because I’m the boss’s kid. The Barbershop Internationals are in Denver this year, and we’re going to support my family. We’ll watch a lot of shows, do some sightseeing in Denver with former Denver resident – the Professor – as our guide, and sponge of my folks as much as possible. It’ll be great.

So, dear readers, you won’t hear from me for a few days. Please don’t write a million posts because it is REALLY HARD to catch up when I get back! 😉 Just kidding. Have a great 4^th of July, all!