Saturday I was recruited to go on a hike to Stewart Falls. [Note: This was the day that I had planned to go see the beautiful hot air balloons above Provo (see previous post).] We had been on this escapade the previous Saturday (to Rock Canyon) so I was in no mood to bounce right out of bed. I was so irritated that I had to go on a hike again that I refused to get out of bed early. This ended up being worst mistake of my life! (To be explained later.)
The hike was beautiful. Stewart Falls always is a worth while hike. Its not steep, its shady, and its SHORT. We were able to enjoy a nice Saturday afternoon because we hiked early enough too.
Saturday night we went to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks up the mountain. Huge crowds of people were up by the Y so we headed a little further down. After getting bit a million times we finally went home. "Its kinda nice to get out of the house."
*****Monday was a day of sorts. I was reminded of why I stay inside on holidays in Provo. After a long night we decided to wake up early to see the hot air balloons. Not my most clever idea (waking up at 6am on my day off), but because we missed it on Saturday due to stubborn laziness I wanted to go. As I began to drive down the hill into the midst of the festivities it dawned on me that this was a terrible idea. It was 6:30am and there were people EVERYWHERE! What was I thinking?
After agonizing over the crowds of people, bad drivers, being hungry, and parking we decided to watch from a distance. I also dragged Kendall, Natalie, Ben, and my cousin Curtis into this mess too. On our way to breakfast and our lookout point we reviewed all of the horribly embarrassed people who slept outside in public for everyone to see when they wake up. What were they thinking? I can't believe people actually slept on the side of the road for a parade in PROVO. [Not worth it.]
After Betos, we got to our destination on University Parkway (on the hill part). Here we are, 7am, University Parkway, side of the road, WAITING, waiting, waiting, FOR NOTHING. We waited for an hour. People drove by and starred; probably leaning over and commenting, "Do you think they know they have the wrong University?" FYI: "Yes, we know. We are waiting for the balloons, not the parade!"
Sad to say, the balloons never came. What a disappointment. We think it was because of the cloud cover and chance of rain. [Note: Waking me up early in the morning is always a bad idea, but waking me and Natalie up for nothing is much worse than you could ever imagine.] Now it is 8am, I'm tired and bitter that I woke up for nothing. What a great start to the holiday!
At 10am this all turned into a breakdown. The day was shot. We didn't end up doing much else until 5pm when we went to Grandma Browns for a BBQ and fireworks. It is always nice to visit with family, play/watch croquet, eat, talk, fire dance, and watch the K-9 exercises with Bosco, etc. The kids enjoyed lighting the fireworks more than watching them.
When we returned to grandpa's house, Natalie, Ben, AnnMarie and Larry were lighting fireworks. We were able to enjoy the fun of the mini fountains while we were surrounded my many aerial fireworks around the neighborhood. It sounded like war; bombs going off everywhere. I'm glad we didn't spend the money; we still got to enjoy the fireworks by those who did.
Overall, Kendall and I enjoyed spending the day together (minus the breakdown).
