Another Day on the Train

For those who know me, this weekend is typically when I journey to Cedar City and enjoy the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Unless I have been living out of state at the time (remember that "fun" mission in the Washington DC suburbs and a rather good go at grad school in Kalamazoo?), it is a good bet since 1989 that during the weekend before Labor Day would find me at the Festival. I have come to love the whole experience of the Festival and plan many years of future attendance. Here is a picture of the Tony award they won a few years ago. The production quality and overall theater experience in Cedar frequently rivals what I saw in New York on Broadway. The Tony was very deserved. If you have not gone, let's go. Next year's line up looks really good.

Unfortunately, this year was not like other years and I did not go down to Cedar. Nor will I venture down for the fall season that starts in a few weeks. Most of this is due to a serious lack of finances and payback for all the travel I did in 2007 (for those who may not have remembered, I went with Josh in April to LA to see Wicked-FABULOUS!-, I went with my family to Yellowstone in May, then to Bear Lake with Josh for my birthday in June, Shakespeare in the summer (yes, with Josh), Shakespeare in the fall (no, I went without Josh. Gosh. We aren't attached at the hip!) and then to Germany to see Josh in December. What a year! It was wonderful.).

This year, the funds have dried up and it feels like I haven't gone and won't be going anywhere for a very long time. =( The Shakespeare Festival is also rerunning several of their crowd favorites because they know people will still come to see them with $4.00 gas. Even though they change directors and the interpretations of the plays can be completely different, my responsible side says, "I gotta no money" (yes, there is a story to that quote, but that's for another time) and I stay home. I just can't justify spending the money to go see a play I've seen six times already, though each viewing has been a treat and I know the current year would be no exception. I usually say I'm not going, then get itchy and nervous, kind of like a crack addict who just needs a fix. It isn't pretty until I get a little Shakespeare. =) This year? Nope. I'm staying home and not crying a minute.

Now for the past several years, I have gone three days to the Festival, then about three hours out to the family reunion in Enterprise (about 45 miles west of Cedar City). This allowed me to visit the relatives I didn't loathe (mostly that category includes the family I hang out with all the time in Salt Lake with the added adventure of maybe seeing a rattlesnake or scorpion), attend the family dinner (always a battle between the wind, bees and a chorus of crabbing due to the late start time and slow cooking corn on the cob) and family meeting before going home. I won't bore you with the details here, but I'm never going to the reunion again. Let's just suffice it to say I'm right and that I hope a few certain crabby old ladies do a quick job of dropping dead. The offending men can stick around because I believe they have been unfairly influenced by the aforementioned old ladies, and because I give a little more leeway to people with penises. Am I sexist? Of course. Boys are better. Deal with it. I used to say crabby old men with shriveled skin flutes were of no interest, but that was before Bob Dole came to our rescue. (If you are a boy who needs a date, let me know. I'm probably available.) Should this surprise or shock you? Let me ask one question: Have you met me? Quoting from a favorite Queer Duck, "I'm as Gay as a Goose."

Before my accountant informed me there really wasn't any money in my account, I had planned to spend today as Shirley D. Licious hosting a fun bus with the Utah Cyber-Sluts to Wendover. I simply did not have the money to get a costume together, pay the $25 fee and rent a room to shower and clean up from the make up. Though, as Shirley D., I probably could have turned a trick or two in Wendover. Gays lovingly refer to it as "Bendover" if you understand my meaning. =) So, I was pretty bummed when I realized going was not an option. With my regular set of groupies (Mom, Rebecca and her clan) planning to be at the reunion, I was probably going to have nothing better to do than pull weeds. I know! Can you imagine ever being so desperate? Michelle came to my rescue.

Instead of going to the reunion, my sister Michelle decided to have an emergency appendectomy. With the surgery a day before she was planning to go down, her doctor said she was absolutely not allowed to go six hours in a car each way. With Michelle in pain, I decided to take Rebecca on an adventure so her mom could rest for a few hours. We started the day at Doug and Emmy's for scones (if you haven't been, what is keeping you? Gosh! I've promoted their yummy scones like a hundred times!!!). Although the food was great as usual, we were put off by the wait-staff's attitude. I'd tell you what it was all about, but you'd probably take their side and that I'm overreacting. I'm not. Believe me.

Rebecca and I went on the FrontRunner train from Layton to Ogden and back. In Ogden, we walked to the historic Union Station where they have a wonderful train museum. Inside, they have really cool displays, an interesting film about the history and types of trains (not boring at all. Really.) They have a caboose car that we both had to climb to the top seats (yes, even I made it up the ladder) and a just freight scale that told me I was just as fat as when I weighed myself at home BEFORE the scone. In your face, Weight Watchers! Lol.

Rebecca found the horn of the modified engine car and enjoyed seeing the mini-trains go past on all the miniature displays. There was so much to see and do in that museum that we will have to go back. Our purchased pass would have allowed us to go visit the antique firearm museum and antique car museum (also in Union Station), but we didn't have time for them before the train going back to Layton was ready to go. We had a wonderful time in Ogden and will have to return. If Shakespeare doesn't look out and start producing some of the non-cash-cow shows, I may need to change my Labor Day weekend destination to Ogden. =)

As a side note, we found many very friendly people along our route, one of whom told us of the Odgen Trolley. It is a free bus that makes continual loops around Ogden. You could take FrontRunner to Ogden, then the Trolley to any part of the Ogden downtown. Or, you could walk over to the train museum at Union Station like we did. If you are a cute boy and need a date, I could go with you. We won't mention the screaming boy who looked older than Rebecca, but didn't know how to behave in public, nor the fussy toddler who reminded us of many a trip to the WalMart store. Ugh!. Let's just say that Rebecca was perfectly grown up and well mannered. Afterwards, we were both exhausted and hot, so we just had to go get a shake at the Arctic Circle. Before you get all in my face about getting a shake when I'm fat, I chose a huckleberry sundae thinking the fruit would be healthier than my normal peanut butter cup. Ah, good times. Now, I'm tired and I need to go to bed. Until next time...