Why It Took Me So Dang Long to Finish Blogging About Japan

Saturday: Arrive back in Seattle.  Jet lag.

Sunday and Monday: Food tours, as previously noted.  Plus, Jason's apartment was hot.

Tuesday: Fly back to Denver.  Meet Rachel at the airport, hang out with her and her family for the evening enjoying non-Asian food for dinner (yay, Chipotle!) and handing out gifts.

Rachel also documented me scratching another two countries off on the map!

Wednesday:  Oversleep (jet leg!), meet Lisa for a lengthy lunch and trip-catch-up (she recently returned from a European tour), dash to the grocery store, help set up and enjoy the annual Relief Society barbecue.

Thursday:  I hosted book club this month, so Thursday was spent doing some deep cleaning (boy, there was a lot of dust under my Moroccan rugs!), grocery shopping, and food prep.

I couldn't resist getting these for the group,
after so many fruitless hours spent searching for Mochicream

Ten ladies came, I miraculously had enough seating, and it was all kinds of fun to catch up with everyone and discuss both "The Fault in Our Stars" (June's book) and "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" (July's).

Also "Bonk".  Because I can't help but discuss that book at every chance I get.  I may have scandalized every lady there except my sister who introduced the book to me and who, as she frequently reminded the group before describing things like the horns attached to the clitoris or magazines found in a rectum, is a nurse and therefore can talk about things like this.

Friday:  Miranda is this awesome lady who used to live in Denver.  She's one of Rachel's best friends and they're often nice enough to let me hang out with them.  Miranda came into town for the weekend, our paths crossing just long enough to have breakfast together at The Atomic Cowboy and poke through Fancy Tiger.

Rachel, Sam, Cedar, and Miranda
Jack's out of the frame looking at the giant buffalo head on the wall and
Miranda's oldest, Azalea, is playing with friends.

After that, I shut down my house again and drove to Grand Junction for a quick hello with the parents.


Saturday:  I drove to Salt Lake to hang out with Grandma Cook.  She's decided that she's going to die soon, so I wanted to squeeze in one more trip this summer to see her before school kicks back into gear.

Sunday:  Church with Grandma, then off to Sandy to see Emily and her family, who recently moved back to Utah (much to Emily's disbelief).  We only stayed up until 1:00 AM talking, demonstrating great restraint.

Monday: Breakfast and a few morning chores with Grandma, then off to Salt Lake to see Janelle and her kids.  We crammed as much mutual therapy as we could into the afternoon, then I left to meet Andy and Jenn for dinner at Mazza.  We talked for ages as well, much to my delight.  We also tried the gelato place next door and discovered that Coconut Sticky Rice gelato and Mango gelato make a stellar combination.

Tuesday: I declared Tuesday Grandma's day.  We had lunch at Kneader's, cleaned out part of her basement, and picked up my cousins Jill and Josh to drive out past Tooele to watch their older sister Caitlin and my aunt Martha skydive in honor of Caitlin's 21st birthday:

As I watched them, I decided that it didn't look so bad after all and perhaps my fear of heights would be balanced by the opportunity for a good story.

Then I saw how incredibly motion sick they both were after the fact.  Knowing that we share the same genes (Dang you, Hyer genetics!), I talked myself back out of the idea.

Wednesday: After a bit more time with Grandma, I hit the road back to Grand Junction.  The hot, dusty, boring road. 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday:  Rachel and the boys joined me in Grand Junction.  Dad's birthday was Friday (Andy and Jenn, alas, came down with diseases that are keeping them home), and we've been doing the usual Waterhouse thing - hanging out, swimming, reading, swapping travel stories, eating good food, and, at least on my part, working hard to catch up on blogging.

Which brings us to the present!  Hurrah!

I'll hang out here one more day, then drive back to Denver for about a week and a half until my next trip.  Hopefully that'll be enough time to fix the closet door that broke right before I left and install some better blinds.

Ah, summer.  Not bad at all.