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nagi_schwarzBenTen and I made it out of Cedar City in good time on Friday. It started raining as soon as we hit the freeway and it rained ALL THE WAY down I-15 in Vegas. I was good and cautious on the drive, slowing down when the pouring rain made visibility almost nil, and we took a detour into Logandale (courtesy of Panda's "What the HELL were you thinking?") so a certain someone could use the salle de bain. The drive down was gorgeous, though. I've never seen the desert so green. The clouds were swooping down on the mountains just outside Cedar as we left.
Made it down to BenTen's parents' old place in good time. Said hello and all that jazz. BenTen was kind enough to take me on the back roads so I didn't panic in city traffic. Suffice it to say, I wasn't at all intimidated by the city drivers, as rude as they were. Then we decided to go to Yutaro's since that's where we were staying - her place, out in Henderson. BenTen's mom gave us some directions: she told us to go down Pecos and then turn on Windmill or something and it would take us right to Horizon ridge. When Pecos turned into St. Louis and we had no idea where we were going (by this time it was dark and rainy and we had some adventures with dividers and stop signs) BenTen called her mother and asked for more help. I turned around and we hit McLeod and then Eastern. BenTen called again just to make sure. To hear: "Are you sure you know how to get to Horizon Ridge?...Horizon Spring? Mom!" while you're driving in the middle of a large, unfamiliar city isn't that all encouraging. BenTen and I gave in and stopped at a 7 Eleven and asked for directions, and the nice guy pointed us down Flamingo towards 95 South, and so there we went.
Yutaro and her man have a modestly nice place out in Henderson. BenTen and I kipped out in the front room on sleeping bags. That first night we went out to release Yutaro-chan's ringtail cat. She discovered it in the mailroom and offered to set it back in the wild instead of letting them euthanize it. Buster, the poor thing was called. So we crowded into Yutaro's lovely green cougar - all four of us - and went and released the poor thing out near the Dam police station. Bit of drama there - first we had some issues getting the cage open, and then the blasted beast wouldn't leave the cage. Once it did dislodge itself, it shot for the undergrowth without looking back. Yutaro-chan was heartbroken. Daffny treated us to some good Mexican food in Boulder. That night we girls had some girl talk and fun. Gotta love the girl talk.
Saturday we girls went on a special girl trip. Yutaro-chan took us out to the wild animal park where they keep retired show animals or exotic animals that people realized wouldn't be good pets. I haven't been to a zoo in a while, and some of those tigers were huge. I felt sort of bad for the castrati mane-less lion. He still had an impressive roar. I loved the wolves best, though. At heart I really am a dog person, I guess. Yutaro-chan wants to volunteer there next semester. It was an awesome place. It started raining there and we got a little cold, but it was totally worth it. It's good to be reminded every now and again that we may be the top of the food chain, but it's not due to natural prowess - we make weapons. That night we went into Chinatown and poked around the shops. We hit the bookstore and I checked out the CD section. Have I ever mentioned that Korean boy-bands are hot? Well, they are. All of them. Dammit. I only found one J-pop CD I might have wanted. I confess: I listen to the Gospellers. Hey, I appreciate guys who can do some decent acapella! They had one Gospellers album, Dressed to the Nines, and I was sorely tempted, but then I came across the origami section, and they had cheaper entertainment that's more long-lasting. Two people will soon find themselves presented with lucky white cats. And then Daffny treated us to some awesome Chinese food. He really didn't have to, and it was very generous of him, but we loved it. We had peking duck and Yutaro got kung pao chicken, and BenTen got sesame chicken, and we had white rice and spring rolls and dim sum...it was awesome. Good food. I haven't eaten like that in a while. We stayed up and watched some movies together.
The drive home was...uneventful until we hit Utah. We said good-bye to BenTen's parents and grandma and she said good-bye to her old house and we helped move some boxes, then set off. We stopped in Mesquite for food, then again in St. George so I could drop off the digital camera. My older sister was kipped out on the sofa in the master bedroom, and Audi the chihuahua was there. I miss that little dog. It's so cute. Now I have chihuahua fur on my button jacket, but oh well. We set off from St. George and on the way up to Cedar we noticed that the clouds were riding low, practically down to the road. And then we saw it - a pair of rainbows, one bright and vivid that seemed to spring from the road itself, the other a dim reflection. It was the first full-arc rainbow I've seen in I don't know how long. And suddenly we were driving through the clouds and the rain was pouring but the end of the rainbow was there on the road moving with us, like a beacon. It was such a beautiful sight. As luck would have it, Forever Love came on, so we listened to it and watched the rainbow. It was brilliant - a splash of colours against dark grey cloud, sharp lines against blurry shapes - it was breathtaking. Wow.
But we had a good time, and we made it home safely. Hope everyone else made it home all right!
Made it down to BenTen's parents' old place in good time. Said hello and all that jazz. BenTen was kind enough to take me on the back roads so I didn't panic in city traffic. Suffice it to say, I wasn't at all intimidated by the city drivers, as rude as they were. Then we decided to go to Yutaro's since that's where we were staying - her place, out in Henderson. BenTen's mom gave us some directions: she told us to go down Pecos and then turn on Windmill or something and it would take us right to Horizon ridge. When Pecos turned into St. Louis and we had no idea where we were going (by this time it was dark and rainy and we had some adventures with dividers and stop signs) BenTen called her mother and asked for more help. I turned around and we hit McLeod and then Eastern. BenTen called again just to make sure. To hear: "Are you sure you know how to get to Horizon Ridge?...Horizon Spring? Mom!" while you're driving in the middle of a large, unfamiliar city isn't that all encouraging. BenTen and I gave in and stopped at a 7 Eleven and asked for directions, and the nice guy pointed us down Flamingo towards 95 South, and so there we went.
Yutaro and her man have a modestly nice place out in Henderson. BenTen and I kipped out in the front room on sleeping bags. That first night we went out to release Yutaro-chan's ringtail cat. She discovered it in the mailroom and offered to set it back in the wild instead of letting them euthanize it. Buster, the poor thing was called. So we crowded into Yutaro's lovely green cougar - all four of us - and went and released the poor thing out near the Dam police station. Bit of drama there - first we had some issues getting the cage open, and then the blasted beast wouldn't leave the cage. Once it did dislodge itself, it shot for the undergrowth without looking back. Yutaro-chan was heartbroken. Daffny treated us to some good Mexican food in Boulder. That night we girls had some girl talk and fun. Gotta love the girl talk.
Saturday we girls went on a special girl trip. Yutaro-chan took us out to the wild animal park where they keep retired show animals or exotic animals that people realized wouldn't be good pets. I haven't been to a zoo in a while, and some of those tigers were huge. I felt sort of bad for the castrati mane-less lion. He still had an impressive roar. I loved the wolves best, though. At heart I really am a dog person, I guess. Yutaro-chan wants to volunteer there next semester. It was an awesome place. It started raining there and we got a little cold, but it was totally worth it. It's good to be reminded every now and again that we may be the top of the food chain, but it's not due to natural prowess - we make weapons. That night we went into Chinatown and poked around the shops. We hit the bookstore and I checked out the CD section. Have I ever mentioned that Korean boy-bands are hot? Well, they are. All of them. Dammit. I only found one J-pop CD I might have wanted. I confess: I listen to the Gospellers. Hey, I appreciate guys who can do some decent acapella! They had one Gospellers album, Dressed to the Nines, and I was sorely tempted, but then I came across the origami section, and they had cheaper entertainment that's more long-lasting. Two people will soon find themselves presented with lucky white cats. And then Daffny treated us to some awesome Chinese food. He really didn't have to, and it was very generous of him, but we loved it. We had peking duck and Yutaro got kung pao chicken, and BenTen got sesame chicken, and we had white rice and spring rolls and dim sum...it was awesome. Good food. I haven't eaten like that in a while. We stayed up and watched some movies together.
The drive home was...uneventful until we hit Utah. We said good-bye to BenTen's parents and grandma and she said good-bye to her old house and we helped move some boxes, then set off. We stopped in Mesquite for food, then again in St. George so I could drop off the digital camera. My older sister was kipped out on the sofa in the master bedroom, and Audi the chihuahua was there. I miss that little dog. It's so cute. Now I have chihuahua fur on my button jacket, but oh well. We set off from St. George and on the way up to Cedar we noticed that the clouds were riding low, practically down to the road. And then we saw it - a pair of rainbows, one bright and vivid that seemed to spring from the road itself, the other a dim reflection. It was the first full-arc rainbow I've seen in I don't know how long. And suddenly we were driving through the clouds and the rain was pouring but the end of the rainbow was there on the road moving with us, like a beacon. It was such a beautiful sight. As luck would have it, Forever Love came on, so we listened to it and watched the rainbow. It was brilliant - a splash of colours against dark grey cloud, sharp lines against blurry shapes - it was breathtaking. Wow.
But we had a good time, and we made it home safely. Hope everyone else made it home all right!
