My Summer Vacation, by Sunday ****

Hey Everyone! Wow, it has been forever since I've posted. I've been ready to post now for the last couple of weeks, but the thought of trying to recap my summer has been too daunting, so I've put it off. As one of Thomas's fav Boulder Bumperstickers says: Procrastinate Later. I've taken this a little too deeply to heart. So, the abridged version:

• We went to Creede for the 4th of July and met up with my parents, Thomas's parents and Allison and Jess. All in all it was a great time. There was some off-roading, rafting, fireworks-viewing, fish frying, parade-watching, music listening, and plenty of talking and eating. The Creede parade and fireworks were a little weird this year. Both ended more quickly than expected. The parade definitely suffered from the absence of Elvis (aka Thomas) this year, and there's speculation the fireworks finale was cut short by the Forest Service. But you never really know with Creede. After that Allison and Jess came back to Boulder with us for a couple of days. One night we went to Denver and while Thomas and Jess went to see the Rockies (they actually won the game, so that was a bonus) Allison and I went to Izba Spa to get a banya and massage. I don't think it's an experience we'll ever forget. The massage was wonderful and the banya alternated between excruciating and hilarious. I highly recommend it if you've never been.
  

• The next journey we took was to Cancun, Mexico. I've never been to Mexico and before I went I had about 50 people tell me how sick they got there. Also, a week before we went Hurricane Emily paid a visit to the Aventura Spa on Playa del Carmen - our hotel (we got relocated to the Moon Palace on Cancun). I then read way too many articles about stranded American tourists sleeping on elementary school gym floors to make me comfortable. Finally, the morning we departed our clock radio woke us up with the news that the State Department had issued a warning to Americans visiting Mexico. By the time we got to DIA, I felt like I was headed to jail rather than vacation. Typically, my worries were for naught. We didn't get sick, killed, arrested, kidnapped or hit by a hurricane. Yippee! Plus I got to practice my Spanish and the resort was pretty awesome. The beach was a little seaweedy and it was the hottest/most humid place I've ever been, but it was uber-relaxing. And the food was good and the service was amazing. It was an all inclusive resort and I feared that would mean since they already had your cash, they'd slack off. Instead, the service was like nothing I've ever experienced. It was the kind of place where you'd be hanging on the beach at 2:00 in the morning and a waitress would be trucking down trayloads of drinks to you. As you sat by the pool you could make any kind of request (coffee ice cream for one) and it would appear. If you broke your flipflop, they would fix it. I could get used to all that. The other great thing about the trip was that we were there for Tim and Brenna's wedding, so we knew lots of people there and every nite we would gather for dinner. The groom was handsome, the bride was beautiful and she got to ride up in a horsedrawn carriage. Very dreamy.
  

• My next trip was to visit my brother in Guymon, OK. Shockingly there are more Mexicans and Spanish language billboards in Guymon that in Cancun. I kid you not. I'd been there once before for one night but didn't get a good look at the place. This time I did. There isn't much to do there. They even shut down the movie theatre for tax fraud. In summer, in the panhandle of Oklahoma, that ought to be against the law. We did entertain ourselves by going bowling and for the first time in my life I bowled 3 games over 100. My high was 117. I think I might be some kind of bowling savant, so a trip to Pinz in Broomfield is in order to check out this theory. Our other source of entertainment was the Great Fried Okra Tour of 2005. Fried okra is a delicacy that is particular to Oklahoma so much so it could be called Okrahoma (okay, they do make it in other parts of the South as well) but good fried okra is not to be found in Colorado. So we made a point of ordering it at practically every meal. Yummy.
  

• Last weekend was the annual BEA picnic. It was the absolute perfect day for a picnic. They had it at Boulder Resovoiur on Friday afternoon and the weather was ideal as was the company. We even got to see Rich roll his kayak. I was very impressed. After that we drove to Lyons to our fav pizza/brewery/blues joint, Oskar Blues. If you haven't been, you must check it out. This wkend is the Lyons Bluegrass festival. Cyd is in town for it and hopefully I'll get to venture out on Sunday to see a couple of acts.
  

• And finally, this weekend, my parents are coming to town. My plan is to take them to the Boulder Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. Thomas and I went last wkend and got all sorts of great things - steak, tomatos, peaches, mead, and soap. Except for the soap, it was all delicious! I think they'll enjoy the spectacle.

Next time: Movie/book update and summer tv extravaganza.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Boulder: 27 square miles surrounded by reality

-sunday