What a great time we had while Patrick was here from Maine. In a nano-second he became part of the family, especially when the boys realized he is as nuts about sports as they are.
The slideshow is most likely the longest in history, but it's really only a portion of the pictures we took. The fun started when he arrived in St. George half starved so we went for Sushi and Thai food at Benja. Ummmmmm good. Starving Patrick seemed to be the theme while he was here...I forget to eat therefore I forget that others need to eat. It didn't take him long to figure it out though so he quickly learned how to grab a snack every chance he could just in case.
Sunday morning we ran some errands and when we got back, Cortney had his 4-wheeler loaded on the trailer and was ready to take Patrick to the desert to ride and target practice. We rode the 4-wheeler out to see the Petroglyphs which was about a 4-5 mile ride. When we got back, Cort had set up some targets and we were ready to shoot his 243 rifle. In addition to starving Patrick, he's convinced we also tried to deafen him with the rifle. Cortney and I don't hear a thing when we are shooting, HONESTLY and therefore we don't think about having ear protection for others. Hours later Patrick said his ears were still ringing LOL. Patrick and Cortney are both good shots, but, I reigned supreme when I took out the Heineken beer bottle hung in a bush. If you could have seen their faces. Ha!! After fun in the desert sun, we had the whole family over for a BBQ and Sunday Night Football. On Monday, Jason and Cortney took the afternoon off from work and we golfed 18 holes at Coral Canyon. Once again, it was a beautiful day. Patrick birdied the hardest hole on the course, and you would have thought Jason did it himself. He got more excited than Patrick! We got to the 18th hole just as the sun set. It was perfect. After golf, we all went to Cafe Rio for dinner. All 6 of us, including Stella in her car seat rode in Jason and Tawni's Honda Pilot together. As we were driving home Stella got a little fussy so Tawni turned the volume up on a Baby Einstein CD and the adults broke into a rousing rendition of Old McDonald Had a Farm. I wasn't sure what Patrick's thoughts were at that exact moment, but from my position in the way-back seat of the Pilot, it was hysterical to listen to.
I returned to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving my car with Patrick during the days for him to cruise around. I know he visited the Arts Village of Kayenta which is way cool out in the desert. He also took my bike out for a ride in the hills around where I live and on the hiking/biking trails that wind their way through the community. I worked Tuesday night at the gym so while I was working Patrick came over to work out and to enjoy a massage. Coincidently, my boss from Denver had arrived in town that night and just happened to be at the gym working out. I looked into the basketball court and there was my friend Patrick and my boss Scott shooting hoops together. It was actually pretty surreal.
Wednesday night after I got off of work we went out to dinner at The Texas Roadhouse and then went over to Dave and Sharyls to hang out. Sharyl had dessert waiting for us and we hung out watching the Jazz game and eating pie. Thursday we got up and headed up to Zions National Park. We first started by driving up Kolob Terraces where Patrick started seeing some of the beautiful wildlife we have here. Although we didn't get a photo, there was a huge hawk sitting in a tree right off of the road. A few miles up the road we came upon two deer just to the side of the road. One was a beautiful 4-point buck, the other a doe. They were the first two of over 100 deer we would see that day. At least 10 of them were big bucks with large antlers. We went back down towards Springdale and stopped at the Gem and Rock Trading Post where I had Patrick pick out a soveneir rock. Each of my friends that have gone there with me have selected one of many, many types of ores or rocks that come from this area. I always get one to take to Madison's little grave at Best Friends when I stop there. So Patrick chooses a chunk of Iron Pyrite (Fools Gold) and off we go to find the Watchman Trailhead to begin our hike. Zions Park is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and these pictures prove it! Our hike took us to an overlook of the canyon which was filled with the yellow colors of Fall. The hike was about an hour in with a vertical climb of about 400 feet. Just right actually. We came upon huge gardens of wild cactus, a fern grotto back under some rocks, and some ginormous rock formations. Once on top, we hung out for awhile just admiring the beauty of it all. From there we drove up through the tunnels and out the East Entrance of the park. That's where Patrick encountered the 7ft long, 4000 lb buffalo. "The Big One" as they call him was scratching his head on some guidewires used for power. He was rubbing so hard that the wires were swaying to and fro clear across the highway to the other side! He was a monster! Our next stop (other than those for photos) was Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Patrick has seen the show Dogtown on the National Geographic Channel and wanted to visit there. We were able to see several of the Michael Vick dogs and he recognized several of the areas that were on the tv show. Of course we made a stop at Angels Rest so I could leave Madison's new rock on her marker. As it was almost sunset, we headed back down to Zions to enjoy the views. Of course we weren't disappointed at all. By the time we got to Springdale it was dark. We decided to eat at Oscars (of course) and as we were getting out of the car to go into the restaurant 6-7 deer came walking right up the road! One of them was another huge buck. They were just saundering along munching as they passed. Cars were stopping to take pictures and the deer could have cared less that the people were all around them. It was so cool! It was an awesome day all the way around.
Friday morning we got up and packed for our trip to Las Vegas. We met Jason, Tawni, Cort and Stella for lunch at Mongolian BBQ. Patrick had never seen anything like it! You load up, seriously, LOAD UP a bowl of veggies/meats/noodles/sauces and give to the cooks who put it on a giant revolving grill, all the while they are stirring it with big sticks. They then return it to you all cooked and ready to eat. It tastes fabulous. Of course I can't have the noodles, so I go for mine over rice. It was a perfect send off for Patrick and it gave the kids a chance to all say goodbye. We arrived in Vegas around 4:00 pm, and rode the monorail directly to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. We people watched the crazies going up and down the strip which was very entertaining. From there we started walking the strip, going over to The Bellagio watching the amazing water show then winding our way over to Caesars Palace. A chance meeting with some Tequila leaves my recollection of the rest of our stroll a bit hazy, but I do know that Patrick was able to sneak in some food when we returned back to Margaritaville...something like a Cheeseburger in Paradise? Saturday morning, Patrick headed to the airport to return to Maine and I drove back to St. George. Even though it was his vacation, I felt like it was mine too. I hope we didn't wear him out too much with all of the running around. We all enjoyed his stay so much, and he's already talking about coming back to see more. The next time he comes, he wants to rent a Harley to really be able to enjoy the outdoors here. We are all ready when you are Patrick!
So its back to work for me tomorrow with Thanksgiving right at our door. Sharyl has to work on Thanksgiving so she is going to do dinner on Wednesday night. The kids still would like to have the family get together so they will all be here for ham dinner on Thanksgiving Day and anyone who wants to join us is welcome!
