Monday, June 23, through Sunday, July 6, 2014: In Williams, Part 1:

On Monday, I decided to face the plywood project, and went to the hardware store for the necessary supplies.  That same day, Becky stumbled onto a different supplier for the new cooler on the Internet, one who could get it to us in only three days.  She cancelled the first order and entered the order with the new distributor. 

I started the plywood project on Tuesday, and immediately remembered how tedious and time-consuming it is.  It takes at least three coats of varnish on both sides of the pads, with at least a day to cure between coats.  What a pain.  I’m glad we’ll be here for a while.  I will need to spend a half-hour every day for at least a week to finish the project.

Wednesday, when we walked the dogs to the RV park office to pick up our mail, we learned that the manager, Debbie, was a graduate of North Hollywood High, as were her parents and I.  It seemed appropriate to sing the Alma Mater for her.  (“From the valley’s purple mountains….”)  She was amazed.  Like most people, I am sure, high school songs were not high on her list of important memories.  I couldn’t remember the Fight Song, but later brought it up on the Internet and remembered that it was sung to the tune of Stanford’s.  (“Huskies are we, with high ideals and honor bright….”)

The new cooler arrived on Thursday, not long after Becky finished her second walk of the day with Kelsey and Ramsey.  On that walk, she realized from the license plates in the RV park and the hotel parking lot that there were a lot of tourists here from a lot of different places.  She started taking pictures of the plates.  That day alone, she found plates from 35 different states.  On Saturday, she found 9 more. 

 

Finally on Thursday, the Cordova people arrived to finish the repair of our air conditioner.  They also replaced our thermostat on which the clock had been acting up a bit, replaced our water pump which seemed to be underperforming, and analyzed the deterioration on the weather-stripping on our slideouts.  They are really good people. 

But we later realized they had left their ladder, so their crowns slipped a little.  I let their dispatcher know, and they sheepishly returned an hour later to pick it up.  Their home base is in Kingman, two hours away, and they were able to turn around and not lose too much time.  Later, we realized the new thermostat was lacking a very useful button, for the outside temperature, and we so informed the Cordova people.  Wendy, the brains of the outfit, checked into it and determined that the manufacturer no longer builds that function into the thermostat.  We asked her to bring back our old one.  We can live with the clock malfunction if we can get the outside temperature function back.

Friday was my 76^th birthday, and I spent it relaxing and doing further work on the plywood pads. 

We had dinner at Rod’s Steak house in Williams.  It has a mixed reputation.  Some say it’s the best, and some say it’s the worst.  It's been here since 1946, and one would think its reputation should be fixed.  We decided to try it for ourselves.  (We ate there many years ago and had no recollection of its merit.)  Our waiter, Javier, was excellent and the food was delicious.  (We both had filets.)  So we give Rod’s two thumbs up.

On Saturday, Becky found 9 more new license plates.  Saturday was also day for more of Breaking Bad.   We finished the second season.  During the marathon, our living room air conditioner tripped its circuit breaker three times, even though the outside temperature was only in the low 80s.  I left a message for Wendy that the fix was not complete.

We also watched Black Nativity from the redbox.   It starred Forest Whitaker, among others.  Very different; very interesting. 

On Sunday morning I finished the plywood project.  The new pads definitely look better than the old ones.

Sunday afternoon we watched two redbox movies:  Walk Of Shame and Cheap Thrills.  Walk Of Shame, starring the adorable Elizabeth Banks, was supposed to be a comedy, but I found it more interesting than funny.  I'm glad I saw it.  Cheap Thrills was sick, creepy, and disgusting, but we couldn't stop watching it.

On my late walk with Ramsey, I came across an RVer who was preparing to leave.  I thought that was odd.  He explained that he was on his way to Bakersfield, crossing the Arizona and California deserts, and decided to avoid the intense 100+ degree daytime heat by driving at night.  Apparently, he does this as a matter of course.  It made perfect sense to me.   We have driven our rig after dark only twice in our entire time as RVers, and it's frankly a little scary. 

We went to Flagstaff on Monday, looking for a dog park.  Ramsey is hurting from all the cinders around here that damage his paws.  We went to the "Bark Park" at the huge Thorpe Park complex.  The dogs almost got lost since their park is so big. 

But it was a welcome change from what's available in Williams, and the dogs enjoyed all the freedom as well as the interaction with other dogs. 

On the way home we heard from Wendy that Dometic said the problem with the air conditioner was in a part that could not be repaired  or replaced and that we needed a whole new unit.  She cleared the replacement with the service contract people and ordered the new A/C unit.  We also stopped on the way home at an auto detail store (Inspector's Auto Appearance) to talk about getting a Clear Bra applied to the front of our rig.  The idea was to see if it was feasible to apply one to avoid all the rock damage we recently had to have painted over. 

The boss was not there but he called on Tuesday and we arranged for his people to come on Wednesday to apply the clear plastic film that is supposed to be magic. 

Tuesday afternoon we actually had rain for the first time in weeks.  Apparently, we will have rain on and off for the rest of the week.

Wednesday morning, the Clear Bra people arrived, and applied the product.  I would say it looks pretty good but it's supposed to be invisible so I can't say that.  There was a minor problem with it:    When we had the front repainted the painter made sure to apply a pebbly look to the finish, to match the original.  That made it impossible for the product to completely adhere to the paint in the hollow areas.  The result is that there numerous tiny "vacant" spots making it  look---to the unknowing eye---like they are chips in the paint.  But, it's OK;  it's still better than having actual chips.

Wednesday afternoon, we had lunch at Café 326 in Williams.  We both had a chipotle-laced turkey sandwich.  Mine was on a bagel, Becky's was a wrap.  Both were delicious.  That night, we watched Lone Survivor from the redbox.  Terrific movie.

Wednesday night my flagpole broke from the wind that accompanied the rain and I had to rescue my American flag.  Thursday morning I hit the hardware store early and repaired (and improved) the pole assembly.  It's a lot stronger now.

Thursday morning the Cordova people returned with the new air conditioner for the living room. 

 

They installed that and also gave us back the old thermostat---pending receipt of the new one that they bought on ebay.  There's still some question whether the new one will have the outside temperature button. 

Friday, the 4th, we barbecued brats and, with sauerkraut and baked beans, had a nice picnic at our site.  We were going to go to the parade but it didn't start until 6:30 PM and we knew we'd be in bed by then.    

Saturday, something on the news reminded me of the protocol that flags that stay out all night must be lighted.  Both of mine stay out and neither is lighted, so, in my embarrassment, I dug into my parts inventory and set up a floodlight on each one---attached to the timer we used last year for our outside Christmas tree.  So I won't have to remember to turn the lights on---or off.

In the late afternoon, we watched Repentance from the redbox.  It was another Forest Whitaker opus.  It was awful, but we stuck with it. 

In the afternoon, we started to watch Enemy from the redbox.  As bad as Repentance was, this one was worse.  We gave up on it part way through.  In a panic, Becky rented Robocop from the redbox.  Major shoot-em-up.  Lots of killing, but no blood.  Actually a pretty good movie.  Gary Oldman playing a good guy was a refreshing change. 

Becky was developing a little cabin fever Sunday, so she headed to Flagstaff to do some shopping, etc.  The dogs and I relaxed, as usual.  She returned with some delicious food from Panda Express for dinner, along with White House Down from the redbox.  It was very exciting.  Even more firepower than Robocop.  I've always liked Channing Tatum, and this was  actually the first time I liked Jamie Foxx.

In the early evening, the thunder, lightning, and rain started again.  (It's been happening all week.)  Kelsey couldn't have cared less;  Ramsey was spooked, as usual;  Becky and I coped very well. 

Thus ended the second part of our stay in Williams.   

l. 

Sunday, June 8, through Sunday, June 22, 2014: On to Williams:

We left Hurricane early Sunday morning.  Our first stop was going to be Boulder City, Nevada, for a day, then on to Kingman, Arizona, for a day, then on to Williams, Arizona, for more than two months.  Before we got to Boulder City, we decided to go all the way to Kingman instead.  The total trip was only 234 miles, and, because of the time change on reaching Arizona, we arrived at the Ft. Beale RV Park just after 1:00 PM.  We had stayed there before and really liked it, even though it is very simple.  We called ahead and asked for our favorite site (#31).  The manager said it was not available but we could have our pick of available sites when we got there.  It turned out she had rearranged some other reservations and put us in #31 after all. 

It was very hot in Kingman, upwards of 100 degrees, and our air conditioner started to throw its circuit breaker again---a recurrence of the problem we had encountered in the last days of our stay in Palm Desert.  On a lark, I called the mobile RV repair place advertised in the park information package, Cordova's RV Service, and asked the tech if he thought it was just too hot for the A/C or did he think there was a problem.  The tech (Eric, who turned out to be the owner, along with his wife, Wendy) said he could be at our place at 7:00 AM on Monday to check it out.  I said OK. 

Since we had only 114 miles to go to complete the journey to Williams, we could spare some time for him to do his analysis.  (We had planned to stay in Kingman only one night and arrive in Williams a day ahead of schedule.)  He arrived bright and early Monday morning and rather quickly determined that a particular part of the compressor motor assembly was malfunctioning enough to cause the circuit breaker problem when it got very hot outside.  He also determined that our extended warranty would pay for the repair and that he might be able to get the part by early Tuesday morning.  We were willing to stay in Kingman the one extra day but not another day, so we had a dilemma.  That was solved when he said he would come to Williams for no extra charge if the part did not come before we wanted to leave.  Sold!  I have no idea how they can absorb the cost in gas and productivity of the 228 mile round trip, and told Wendy so, but she said it was just something they were willing to do to serve their customers.  Quite a concept.  We had our favorite dinner from Panda Express to celebrate.

We left for Williams fairly early Tuesday morning, and later heard the part did not arrive until late that afternoon.  Since it was going to be at least 15 degrees cooler in Williams for the foreseeable future, we thought the problem would be in abeyance for a while, and told Eric he could come anytime he had another job in Williams.

The trip to Williams was without incident, although we had to turn off the A/C in our truck several times because it was very hot outside, we were climbing several thousand feet, and the engine threatened to overheat occasionally.  We checked into the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park by noon, and were told they had the reservation messed up and we could probably not stay in the assigned site for more than five days.

After that we would have to move to another site for an undetermined amount of time, etc.  We know they can massage the site assignments if they are willing to spend a little effort, so we agreed to just relax and let them do their work for a few days.  We'll see what happens.  We had big salads for a late lunch from the kitchen of Miss Becky, and passed on dinner Tuesday night.

Wednesday, I finished the letter to KOA, and mailed it.  We'll see if it has any effect.  I spent the rest of the day puttering around with small projects around the rig and the site.  Becky walked the dogs several times, of course.  We started to watch Her from the redbox, but couldn't stand it and turned it off.  I frankly have no idea why it was so popular.

Thursday morning, I saw an orthopedist (Dr. Darius Moezzi, in Flagstaff) for the first time, in my first attempt to fix a problem that has plagued me for more than a decade---painful knees under some circumstances.  Dr. Moezzi was a very pleasant young man, who gave me good and not-so-good news:  I was not a candidate for any kind of intervention (Good) and my problem was simply arthritis for which there is no effective treatment (Bad).  Overall, it was news I could live with.

While Becky then had her hair done, I pursued some time-killing snooping around the Flagstaff shopping district.  We followed with lunch at Pato Thai, our favorite restaurant in Flagstaff (Pad Thai for Becky and Cashew Chicken for me, as usual), then stopped at the DoubleTree Hotel in Flagstaff to visit with Anesthesia Lawson, my former boss at The Grand Hotel in Tusayan, who is now the Rooms Director at the DoubleTree.  She's always fun to see. 

We then picked up the dogs from Canyon Pets, the local kennel where they had spent the day.  Ramsey has always loved the place and it was Kelsey's first visit.  They were glad to see us but exhausted after a full day of interacting with other dogs.

When we returned to the RV park there was a note on the door that we should talk to the office about our site situation.  The news was that we had to move on Sunday, but the next site would be permanent.  While it will be a back-in, which is not our favorite kind, it will be OK---especially since we are getting such a good deal on the price due to our relationship with Jeff d'Arpa, the manager of the entire hotel/RV park property, which is owned by Xanterra, our former employer at Zion and the Grand Canyon. 

Because of the lateness and quantity of the lunch, we skipped dinner while we watched Jack Ryan, Shadow Recruit from the Redbox.  It was surprisingly good.

Friday (the 13th) we met Derby and Holden, two Dalmatians visiting the RV park with their owners.  Derby, a liver Dalmatian, is actually a show dog.  They were handsome dogs, but not as exciting as our two darlings. 

We also watched a couple of forgettable movies from the redbox, Deliveryman on Friday and Ride Along on Saturday.  We talked the office into letting us move to our new site on Saturday so we could relax on Sunday.  We made the big move, less than 100 yards, just before noon.  Becky was a star backing into the new site.

Also on Saturday, Becky learned that Kathy and Mike Drahos, two RVers we first met at the RV park in St. George and whom we last saw in Williams last June, would be stopping in Williams on Sunday for a two-day stay on their way to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and beyond, to see relatives.  At Becky's suggestion, they got the site for their huge motor home right next to us and we had a great time with them on Sunday and Monday,

having cocktails an snacks at their place on Sunday and dinner at the Red Raven restaurant on Monday.  (I had a fun Italian Sausage & Penne number while Becky had a Pork Loin special.)

Earlier on Sunday, we took the dogs for a walk at the nearby Cataract Lake County Park next to the Elephant Rocks Golf Course. 

It's really a nice area, and we followed that with a drive through the adjacent upscale residential area.  It is nice to see that someone in Williams has some money.  Otherwise, the residential areas are quite depressing.  We have heard that it is one of the poorest cities in Arizona. 

We have developed some water spotting on our rig that's a bit annoying.  When we picked it up from the D&D repair shop, the owner tried to see if rubbing compound and his buffer would improve the situation.  No deal.  He was totally unsuccessful.  We happened to mention it to Mike on Monday, and he swore he could do something about it.  He dragged out something called Nu-Finish, and spent a minute applying it to a particularly bad area.  Voila!!!  The spots magically disappeared.  Becky went on line that night and ordered some.

On one of their walks on Monday, the dogs had Becky take their picture next to the fire hydrant in front of the local vet's office.  On Tuesday, Becky took Kelsey to the vet to have her anal sacs expressed, and showed the picture to the vet.  (It was still in her camera.)  She asked to have it emailed to her so she could post it on the wall.  Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

I haven't mentioned that the RV park is right next to the railroad tracks.  Besides the Grand Canyon trains every day, there are a slew of freight trains that go by.  We are so used to them, we hardly notice----even when they pass in the middle of the night.  Wednesday afternoon, Becky took a picture of one of the BNSF trains.   

Thursday morning, on the way to our Flagstaff dentist for our semi-annual cleanings, I received a call from my sister-in-law, Elise, telling me that my brother, Bob, had cancer surgery that morning.  The whole thing had come up very quickly and there was little opportunity to have alerted me earlier.  I immediately decided to go to LA to see Bob as soon as I could.  The most logical thing to do was take Amtrak that night.  I have taken that train on a number of occasions and knew all about its schedule and its non-adherence thereto. 

While Becky was having her teeth cleaned I zipped over to The Home Depot on the far west side of town to pick up some plywood for a project.  We use 1' square plywood pads under our landing legs and stabilizers to protect the surface under our rig, and at the same time to protect the underside of our legs and stabilizers.  The existing pads are very old and ugly, and need replacing. 

I have the store cut two 2' by 4' pieces of 3/4" plywood into 16 pieces as a start, then varnish them.  I had difficulty finding the appropriate plywood at the store.  When I was satisfied that I needed to upgrade the plywood to get the right number of pieces, the goon at the store informed me that the saw was out of order and he couldn't cut them for me.  He opined, though, that the Home Depot store on the east side of town would undoubtedly have the right amount of plywood I needed and that its saw would certainly work.  I had no idea there was a Home Depot on that side of town---which was about three minutes away from the dentist's office.  I sulked back to the dentist and informed Becky of the fiasco.   

After our sessions with the dentist

and lunch at Hiro’s, our favorite Flagstaff sushi restaurant, we stopped at the Home Depot store and bought the plywood.  I then made a reservation with Amtrak  to leave that night and return the following night.  That would leave me with several hours in LA, just enough for a quick visit.  I had no desire to see anyone else on that trip.  The 9:30 PM train from Williams finally left at 12:30 AM, and, after a completely uneventful night (I actually slept better than I typically do at home) the train arrived in LA only two hours late Friday morning---at 10:15 AM.  I had arranged for a rental car at Hertz, my least favorite rental company, but one of only two companies with a desk at Union Station.  (The other is Budget, but they had no cars available.)

I arrived at the St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica at 11:45 AM, after fighting the horrible traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway.  (I’m so glad I don’t live in LA---or any big city---any longer.) 

Before I went to Bob’s room, I stopped at the gift shop and bought him a stuffed doll wearing a T-Shirt saying “Big Brother,” which, of course, is what Bob is to me.  Bob was on the phone when I arrived.  He looked pretty good for a guy who had just had his gut operated on.  Elise was there also, but left not long after I arrived, to take care of some errands.  We spent the next hour (plus) chatting, telling lies, and generally catching up since the last time we had talked.  When the conversation, and Bob, seemed to flag a bit, I decided it was time to go.  I killed the next two hours wandering, driving by my old fraternity house at UCLA

(noting that the school has grown a lot since I attended more than a half-century ago and the area has become even more crowded) and working my way back downtown using as little of the freeway as I could.  I returned the car and settled in at the Union Station waiting room to try to read Tony Hillerman’s The Fly On The Wall, a book I’ve been carrying around for far too long.  I didn’t get very far into it; there was too much activity at the station.

I boarded the train at 5:45 and arranged for a dinner time (7:30) in the dining car. 

The train left, on time, at 6:15, and proceeded to turn the scheduled 9 1/2 hour ride into a 10 1/2 hour ride, with no explanation offered.  The dinner was interesting.  My companions were:  (1) a 90-year old ex-hippie who regaled us with stories of all the aliens (from outer space, not Latin America) that existed near his home in northern New Mexico, (2) a grandmother of indeterminate age from Gallup, New Mexico, with what started out as a  seemingly lousy attitude, and (3) her 11-year old granddaughter who was perfectly charming.  By the end of the meal, all was well.  I didn’t sleep as well Friday night as I had Thursday night, but I survived.  I don’t know whether I was snoring, but my seatmate moved across the aisle halfway through the ride.  The train arrived just before 5:00 AM Saturday morning. 

The van from the Grand Canyon Railway hotel picked us up at the "junction" in the middle of the forest (there are no facilities out there) and took us to the hotel, where Becky had left our truck.  I arrived home a minute later and immediately crawled into bed and went back to sleep for an hour or so.  It was nice to be home. 

I spent most of the rest of the day doing little things around the house.  Even though the product arrived on Wednesday, I haven't yet started on the Nu-Finish project.  Late in the afternoon, we watched Small Time, with Chris Meloni and Bridget Moynahan, from the redbox.  It had not been too well-received, but turned out to be delightful.        

Sunday was another day for me to relax.  When Becky took the dogs for one of several walks, she observed the cowboys who do the Wild West show at the railway before the train leaves and then "rob" the train on its way back from the canyon, approaching the train station through the middle of town.  The same cowboys stage a gunfight in town every night at 7:00.

Earlier in the day we realized that one of our auxiliary coolers was starting to fail.  We've experienced that twice before with this brand and decided to replace it with a better one.  After working the Internet for a while, we decided on a smaller version of our larger cooler.  Becky was not happy that it would take more than a month to get the new one, but ordered it anyway.  

 

Friday, June 6, 2014, and Saturday, June 7, 2014: Back to Hurricane:

We had an easy trip back to Hurricane on Friday.  The traffic through Salt Lake City was virtually non-existent even though we left the area during rush hour.  We had been told the rig would be ready for pickup any time after 3:00 PM.  We got to St. George early and had to kill two hours, so we went to the local library and Becky updated our computers while I read.  The library is in a restored historic building and is very nice. 

We arrived at D&D Automotive at 3:00 and learned that it would be a bit longer.  We finally left at 5:00, with a nicely repaired home, and connected up again at the RV park.  It had been a long day, so we crashed early.

We picked up Ramsey and Kelsey at the Doggy Dude Ranch early Saturday morning. 

I went to the office of the RV park to settle up.  They had promised a $2.00 per day refund since their Internet service wasn't working, and they processed the $60.00 credit without a hitch.  Since our rig had been out of the park for seven days being repaired, I also asked for a refund of an additional $14.00, representing the applicable portion of the $2.00 per day electricity charge we had paid up front.  The manager quite positively refused to even discuss it.  I decided to write a letter to the KOA headquarters about that indignity.  I started to draft it immediately, and that was fun.  Then we relaxed until late afternoon, when Becky and I headed to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant in St. George for dinner.  We've been to other restaurants in that chain, but never to this one.  It was just like the others---excellent.  They really know how to run a very busy place.  We shared their blooming onion appetizer and each of us had a delicious

Saturday, May 31, through Thursday, June 5, 2014: In Utah, Part 2: The Park City Escape:

We dropped off the dogs at the Doggy Dude Ranch early on Friday morning and immediately returned to Hurricane to finish preparations for the trip to Park City. 

We got the rig ready to move, and proceeded to take it to D&D Automotive for the long-anticipated body work.  We spent more than an hour there, discussing the project. 

We finally headed North on I-15 at 2:00 PM.  The immediate destination was Cedar City, 60 miles away, where we had a reservation for the night at the Abbey Inn.  The object of stopping in Cedar City was simply to make the Saturday run to Park City an hour shorter.  After only 20 miles, the information panel on the dashboard informed us that the battery was no longer charging.  That had very ominous implications until we quickly realized that the air conditioner was pushing out warm air and the power steering no longer worked.  That could only mean that our fan belt had gone away.  That was good news since a fan belt is usually an easy fix.  Since our truck runs on diesel, it does not need electricity to fire the cylinders, and we could keep going without the alternator providing juice.  We continued on to Cedar City and stopped at The Tire Company, which had been recommended by the guy at the NAPA Auto Parts store across the street. 

The guys got on the job immediately, as we had explained our time situation, and determined that the problem was slightly larger than just a fan belt:  A pulley had disappeared along with the belt.  In any event, we would certainly be on our way early Saturday morning.  We loaded our stuff in their truck and they dropped us off at the Abbey Inn.  

Ten minutes later, Heath, our service rep, called to say they found an additional problem that required a GM part, and he would call us back as soon as he determined the availability of the part.  Shortly, he called back to say the local GM dealer was out of that part and would not be able to get another for six days, but Heath assured us he would investigate further.  We immediately started looking for a rental car, with no success.  Heath called back a few minutes later and said they had reconsidered everything and determined that we did not need that GM part after all, and we would still be able to leave early Saturday.  Whew!  We celebrated by taking a taxi to the Depot Grill, the highest-rated restaurant in Cedar City, where I dove into its delicious Prime Rib special while Becky had a nice Sea Bass.  Of course, the entrees were accompanied by appropriate libations.  The Executive Chef, Guy, personally asked how we enjoyed our dinner.

Saturday morning, Becky picked up the truck while on her way back from a post-breakfast walk, and we headed for Park City---230 miles away---right on time.  That trip went without a single hitch, so we got to really enjoy the beautiful scenery of that part of Utah.  We arrived at the office of the Circle J Club at 2:00 PM, two hours before the official check-in time, but they processed us anyway.  We reserved a week in one of the condos there.  Our place is only ¾ of a mile from Donna and David’s house, in an area called Jeremy Ranch.  We (really Becky) lugged all our stuff up the stairs to the living room level of the three-story unit, and we proceeded to get settled.  At 6:00, we went to Donna’s and had cocktails and dinner. 

The whole gang was there; we hadn’t seen them for quite a while and had fun catching up.  Meghan and Emily had made a video for Donna and David while D&D were on a 25^th anniversary trip to Spain.  The video, with contributions from a few family and friends, focused on D&D’s wedding.  It was a lot of fun to watch. 

Sunday morning we slept in.  In due course, naturally, Becky had to keep active so she rode her bike to the nearby mall (and beyond) and did some shopping as well.  The scenery in Park City is so beautiful this time of year---blooming wild flowers and green meadows.

I napped and read while she was gone.   At 4:00 PM we headed back to D&D’s for cocktails and dinner.  We still had a few words left in us after the previous night of non-stop talking. 

Monday  was devoted to relaxing, a little shopping, a hike with D&D's dogs, Norman and Coconut, and Chinese takeout at our place.  Emily did not join us for dinner since she was attending a class on what she will be doing this summer---working at a local day camp,   After dinner, we watched Bad Country, with Willem Dafoe, from the redbox.  It was awful.

Tuesday we gave the Bernsteins the day off from entertaining us.  I spent the day relaxing.  Becky went to Salt Lake City to have lunch with Faye Keller, an old high school buddy who lives in SLC these days.  We had sushi from the local Smith's market for dinner.

Wednesday, we returned to the Bernsteins for fun and frivolity.  David's parents arrived from LA about 5 o'clock and Donna's aunt Donna Phebus (known for convenience as "Big Donna") arrived shortly thereafter.  We all celebrated with a family dinner. 

Thursday was the day for Emily's graduation.  It took place at _____ Hall, a huge concert hall in downtown Salt Lake City---the same place where Meghan graduated three years ago.  The ceremony was very nice.  The big surprise was that Emily received the History Department Award for excellence.  Congratulations to Emily.  After the ceremony, we all went to Waterford School for a post-graduation lawn reception.  Then we all went to Café Trio for a delicious (late) lunch (which turned out to be our dinner, as well).

I returned to the Bernsteins for a brief post-mortem on the exciting day, while Becky took a nap.   Since we were leaving Park City early Friday morning to return to St. George to pick up our (repaired) rig, bedtime came early.