The Last Hurrah (Before School Takes Over Our Lives)

Our annual pilgrimage to the Utah Shakespeare Festival was so fun. We didn't do as many of the festival-related activities (the discussions in the grove, the costume/props/actor seminars, etc.) this year as we have in the past, but that was because our family stayed in St. George and commuted up to Cedar City to meet up with my parents and my sister and her family. The festival has really changed in the 35 years I have been attending -- an indoor theater, more plays, a longer season, more companion activities, a fall high school competition, and online ticketing, to name some of the great things. Some of the not-so-great things? Much higher ticket prices (in 1978 the tickets were $12 for the best seats), no more live period musicians for the green show, and an overall decline in the quality and fun of the green show. The good things do outweigh the bad, though. Theater is expensive to produce, and USF does an amazing job. 

One of our favorite people to see at the festival is Fred Adams, the founder. We found him in the lobby of the Randall Theater as our afternoon play Peter and the Starcatchers finished. He loves to visit with festival-goers whenever he can. He was kind enough to pose for a photo with our kids and my sister's two girls:

He always wears the most interesting shirts! This one has tiny blue flowers all over it.

 We took a full day to go visit Zion National Park, a place we always camped in with neighbors every fall break when I was young. My kids had never seen it. It's changed too. Now, after paying your entrance fee and parking at the main lot, visitors ride a shuttle around to all of the hikes and view spots. We saw more deer this trip than I've ever seen in the park.

Owen and Evan played cards everywhere they had three minutes to pull them out, just like the two rebel soldiers in The Gods Must Be Crazy.

On the trail to the Narrows. The trail is now called the Temple of Sinawava.

My niece photobombs our picture, but it's okay because we're all being silly anyway.

Liam can barely get his jaws around his burger at the Lodge.  It sure looked tasty! 

Our little party of adventurers made it to the Lower Emerald Pool, er, Puddle. My niece to the right of Liam was NOT impressed with the hike. My older boys made to the Middle Emerald Pool but due to the drought it looked like a few wet rocks instead of a pool.

Zion is one of my favorite places to go. I love the red rocks and how they make the greenery and blue sky stand out. There is a smell there, especially along the Virgin River, that is a wet, resinous, earthy, spicy, tangy smell unique to Zion. I love that smell. I hope I get to go back soon.

Our final critter encounter of the trip was Liam finding this little stowaway in his bag down in St. George. He was about an inch and a half long. His older brothers scoffed when he exclaimed, "There's a scorpion in my bag!" because we were inside the house and this little guy was in the middle of Liam's cinch sack. Liam took his sack out to the front porch and gingerly pulled each item out, shaking it gently to see what might be lurking. The scorpion wasn't very intimidated by or thrilled with the toothbrush Owen poked him with to see him move. We still have no idea how the little hitchhiker found his way into Liam's things.