Returning Home

Once we got to Utah, the two days we were there flew by with few pictures.  It was kind of a whirlwind of eating at our favorite restaurants, quick stops at grandparents homes and shopping.  Rylissa was looking for a semi formal dress for her upcoming 8th grade dance, and since selections aren't great in Wichita Falls, we decided to check out Layton, where she tried on a few dresses, and we walked away with one for $80!  Not bad!

Of course, the real reason we were in Utah was for Moonlight Serenade.  20 years ago, I, a silly 17 year old high school girl, asked out my crush.... a 23 year old college student, to attend this with me.  For some reason he said yes... and well, the rest is history.

So we got dressed up, and off we went to enjoy a meal, and some great music.

Band was my life in High school.  I was part of a lot in High School, but band was my life.  Mr. Hendricks (my band director) was kind enough to let me join the marching band when I was in 9th grade.  (In Utah, 9th grade is still Jr. High).  I was one of three 9th graders, and it was pretty cool.  That year, our field show was the music from Nightmare Before Christmas.  I wish I had photos, because it was THE BEST!  I already loved the movie and music, but this just cemented that Nightmare Before Christmas would be my all time, favorite everything forever.  In 10th grade I was in the concert band, and upgraded to playing piccolo in the marching band.  By my Jr. Year, I was granted entry into Wind Ensemble, the elite band, and was a squad leader in Marching band.  By my senior year, I was in charge of all the piccolos, AND I got to play a solo in our field show... Independence Day.  It was the greatest way to end high school.  My group of best friends were all my band-mates.  We were the fab five, and we all met through band (except you Amy..... you and me go WAAAAAAAAAY back!)  So to drive to Utah to congratulate my band teacher on his retirement after 30 years of dedicated service, and to celebrate at his final Moonlight Serenade seemed the least I could do. 

Mr. Hendricks singing along to the Jazz Band.  Fun Fact, he was in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that while band was my life.... Dance held a huge spot as well.  I was super lucky because my dance company director and band director allowed me to do both... which meant that while at a rehearsal for one, I was missing part of a rehearsal for another.  At homecoming the band would play in the half time show, and the Dance Company would dance.... each year both directors had to make allowances for that, and they did, and that made my High School time so great.  Dance company would dance as a floor show in the Moonlight Serenade, and it was fabulous!

Kim King, my Dance Company Teacher!  She doesn't look a day older than she did when I graduated1

Moonlight was fabulous!  We caught up with former teachers, friends, and met new people.  We ate and laughed, but eventually the evening ended, and with that our time in Utah.  We packed up and headed out early the next morning.  We had planned to try and hike in the Arches, but by the time we made it to Moab, it would be too late to hike, and get into our next stop at a reasonable time.  So we ate lunch and continued on.

On Saturday we made our way into Santa Fe.  The kids were a bit confused to go to a place with a giant robot in the parking lot.  We told them we were going to a place called Meow Wolf.  

Meow Wolf is an oddity.  I would describe it as a kind of Winchester Mystery House, meets Art Museum, meets Mystery.  They built a house, in a warehouse, and give you a mystery to solve.  If you have all day, you can probably solve, or at least make some headway, but when you only have a few hours, it's more fun to just explore.  Tim took the big kids and they tried to solve the mystery, I followed the little around, and it was exhausting!

Looking for clues in the newspaper

Oh look!  a refrigerator......

.....or a doorway to another dimension?

We walked through a bookcase secret door and found ourselves in a forest

The bones of a mastodon..... that you can play like a xylophone

Tim was emerging from another dimension..... through the dryer

 Will I ever go back?  Probably not, but I'm super glad we had the chance to go there.   While being in the military can be hard because of all the moving around, it's amazing for networking.  All I did was message some old friends who live in NM and ask them what they'd suggest we do, and I got a laundry list of ideas, most of them we implemented.  Carlsbad and Meow Wolf never would have entered my radar otherwise, and the experience was fantastic!  It was a great trip, and the kids had a blast.