Monday, September 16, 2013

Not so Bland in Blanding

On Thursday after work I headed down to Blanding in southern Utah to reunite with Ryan. He is down there for the whole month of September on a clinic rotation. Thursday was the day after our 3 year anniversary, so at least we got to see each other within 24 hours of the day :)

The drive is about 5 hours. It took me a little longer because of lots of construction and a little rain along the way. The drive was so scenic, sweeping views of mountains, plateaus, mono lines, mesas, buttes, spires... Rock changing from gray to brown to orange and red. 

I was so happy to pull into the driveway of Ryan's home for the month. It's a 70s style brick home with a garden kept by the neighbors who live in the basement-turned-apartment. Ryan had dinner ready which was great because I was starving. 

We didn't do much else that night, but got up early to head to some petroglyphs and then onto Monument Valley. We stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in Bluff. This is the landscape I've wanted to see in person ever since enjoying Wile E. Coyote chase the roadrunner all around the buttes and mesas of the southwest. We put the Fit to the test, and thankfully it made it all around the unimproved road through Monument Valley. 

Goosenecks State Park also had a really neat lookout into one of the worlds "best examples of an entrenched meander" according to the sign. It was one of my favorite lookouts.   

We had some ice cream that evening and watched a thunderstorm for a while before starting one of the puzzles in the apartment. 

Saturdays plans were changed a little due to Friday nights rain closing some trails. We headed to the House on Fire ruins which has us repeatedly crossing a stream using stepping stones we threw in ourselves. 

Ryan even took his socks off at one point in anticipation of me going ankle deep in water. He was going to give me his socks to change into. Fortunately it wasn't necessary and we both made it across each time. 

We drove through natural bridges monument and enjoyed more scenery before heading back in. 

We made popcorn and brought it with us to watch another storm. Afterwards we finished the 500 piece puzzle (one piece missing of course) and went to bed. 

Sunday morning after breakfast I followed Ryan in my car to Arches National Park. Time flew as we hiked around a bit looking at all the rock formations.

Soon it was time to head out of the park for lunch. We had some soup and wraps at a small cafe in Moab before we parted ways and I began the (now an hour shorter) drive home. I got a few new reviews done for TripAdvisor and some neat pictures of our adventures. 

It was a really nice weekend, hard to see it end!

Coffee shop breakfast

Arches national park

Over 500 pieces!

Thunder storm

House on fire

Arches

Sunday, September 8, 2013

And there I saw a field of cans...

September is the month in which Ryan was assigned to go down to Blanding, Utah and work in a community health clinic.  He will be there the whole month, and I plan on visiting him next weekend.  

It worked out alright, because I came home to Canfield to spend time with family and celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. 

I flew home with my iPod full of new music and my carry on full of more clothing than necessary.  I left my car at long term parking.  Thankfully the Salt Lake airport and the Denver airport both have free wifi, so I was kept occupied during my layover.  Southwest also had a promo going with a cable company and I was able to watch live tv on the iPad without purchasing the in-flight wifi. 

I was kind of strange being alone in the airport.  I'm used to being with Ryan so that oner of us can watch bags while the other one uses the restroom, I had to keep lugging all my stuff in there with me. 

I arrived in Pittsburgh around 11:30pm and my mom and Greg were there to pick me up.  Complete with White House Fruit Farm peaches and no-bake cookies in the back seat for me.

The next day we had breakfast at home and met Aunt Noreen and Jen at the fair.  Mom and I got a caricature drawn while we waited for them to arrive.  It was fun, but the drawing ended up looking pretty generic.  We walked around with them, took a few pictures, Jen had some nachos, and I got an Antone's salad.  It was nice to be at the fair, as its been about 5 years since I've gone.  

Saturday was the anniversary dinner at The Lake Club, aunt Noreen's boyfriend is a member. It was a really nice dinner. We had a long table with a nice view, there was a large floral display in the middle of the table, biscotti favors, and a pretty cake.  I even (barely) got everyone together for a family picture. 

The food was good and everyone had a good time, we even sat outside for a bit before leaving.  

Sunday we met Baba at a Croatian home in Youngstown.  Her band played, a kids group sang and danced, and the headlining act, a band on tour from Croatia, performed.  Their name is Drako, Djako or something like that.  They were nice to listen to, and we had some snacks while we sat with Baba.

Sunday night Train played at the fair, and my mom bought tickets for us.  It was really fun, and Train played a lot of songs that I knew.  We sat in the very last row (intentionally) and had plenty of room and a nice view.  

Aunt Cindy and Kaleigh were there too, but right in front of the stage.  Before the encore, we managed to get down there and see them, and talk a little at the end of the show.  You should have seen the young girls begging for guitar picks and drumsticks after the band threw a few from the stage.  

Monday morning Grandma and Grandpa had everyone meet for a thank you breakfast at Thano's restaurant in Canfield.  It was nice and the food was good.  

The rest of the week was spent Zumba-ing, running in the park, meeting Kaleigh and Jen for dinner, meeting Baba for dinner, meeting grandma and grandpa for lunch, doing a little shopping in Boardman, and heading down to Columbus to visit Ang and Stef, and say hi to Trillium.  

Stef and I ate lunch at Cafe Mimi's just outside Polaris mall.  We met a friend of hers to try on some bridesmaid dresses at a shop in Worthington.  The favorite of the 3 or 4 we tried is really pretty.

After the dress shop, my mom picked me up and dropped me off at Trillium to visit with some of my former residents for a bit.  It was really nice to say hello and update a few of them on how things are in Salt Lake.

Ang picked me up at the hotel and we got caught up over sushi in Westerville before walking around Polaris for a bit.  

Sunday morning we met Billy at Bob Evans for some breakfast and had a chance to see his apartment, which is a lot more spacious thanI anticipated for a one bedroom.

We stopped at Cabella's before heading back to Canfield.