How to tell when you’re in Idaho…

That’s a Bambi in the back of that truck and yes, I realize I probably shouldn’t have taken the shot with my camera phone while driving (you can see the green light in the photo).

The trip to Idaho was great. Silverwood theme park is a bit larger than Enchanted Village/Wild Waves here and that’s about the only difference. Silverwood has a couple of coasters that were fun and some old fashioned carnival rides (the go rounder, scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, Ferris wheel, etc.) The only thing we didn’t like about the park was that the water park closed at 7pm. Had we known that, we would have been over there sooner than 5pm. We might be making another trip back next year and go for two days instead of one so we can be sure to get everything in.

Our hotel sucked big time. We’re staying somewhere else next year. The beds were small, old, and hard as rocks. My pillows were so hard my head was going numb and I can’t figure out how I was able to sleep.

We went out to Balanced Rock while we were there. I’m not much for the ooh-ah kind of attractions but if you get close to it you have to go at least once. We took my niece with us and the four of us climbed up to the base of the rock. I got some pictures but I haven’t had time to upload them yet. I’ll get those done soon. We also got some great shots of us at the swimming pool but if you want to see those you’ll probably have to email me. We’re not comfortable posting pictures of ourselves on the Internet thanks to exes and all. Seeing Grandpa was good again. He’s going to live to be one hundred I think.

Overall, we had a good time. The best $130 we ever spent was on the portable DVD player we picked up at the Super Wal Mart in Boise. Speaking of those, the rest of the family had never been to one so we hit the one Post Falls. You’d thought the family (except for me) had been thrown in the biggest candy store in the world. They were amazed at all the stuff they had. To me, it was just another Wal-mart.

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We made it to Idaho today. We’re at the hotel in Post Falls for the next day and a half before we make the 10 hour drive south. The drive was good with no delays because of driving infractions (thank you very much). However, we did have the couple cases of are we there yet? How much longer? Are we in Eastern Washington yet? How far is it to Spokane? Are we in Spokane yet? What county are we in? How come they named the counties after presidents of the United States? Is there a George Bush county? I have to go to the bathroom. I’m thiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrstyyyyy. I need some water. Daaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddyyyyyyy when are we going to get some waaaaaater?

Just a tip for the parents, don’t load up the kids with fast food if they naturally have gas. This conversation actually took place in the car:

“Did you fart?”

“No I didn’t. At least, I didn’t feel it.”

“Well then why does it stink?”

“Oh I think I farted.”

“If you fart one more time I swear I’m going to sew your butt cheeks together.”

 

And this nugget also:

“Don’t make me pull this car over and knock some heads together because I will!”

“And??”

Hmmm…. Kids…

Diana Krall and the SU gets admin rights…

The infamous Diana Krall concert was Saturday evening. I’d been looking forward to it since I bought the tickets all the while knowing that the SU wasn’t holding the same opinion. We went to Outback for dinner (my way of saying thanks in advance and trying to make it fun for her) and it was great as always. Turns out, the waiter listened to rather odd music and he said I was lucky the SU was going with me. We got to the winery early but still had to take a shuttle from about a half mile away to get in. We found our seats in the 9th row in the middle almost and figured out quickly that everybody else was going to be drunk but us. It didn’t matter to me though. 7pm rolled around and we discovered there was going to be an opening act. We sat through 35 (45 according to her, she counted) minutes of three guys just playing what they called jazz and generally sucking it up. The SU’s ears were just about to start bleeding when they finished up so I got lucky on that one. Once Diana came out everybody got quiet and actually started listening.

I can pretty much sum up the concert by saying it was amazing. I loved every minute of it and if I get the chance I’d go see her again. She sang the one song I was hoping she would (A Case of You) and that right there made it all worth it for me. I love that song more than any of her others. In between songs she took some time to interact with the crowd which I thought was awesome. To top it off, it turns out that she’s really funny. I had no idea that she could make people laugh like that. Alcohol probably helped the others but I was sober and thought it was great. She played for about an hour and a half and then called it a night but not before she came out and did an encore. One of the songs she did for an encore was How can you mend a broken heart and I must say that I loved that one. The SU said to me, “I didn’t know she sang that one.” I said, “Neither did I. I’ve never heard it before.” Turns out, Diana hasn’t recorded that one but according to sources that I’ve read its been requested by many fans.

The best part of all of this is that the SU said her ears didn’t bleed and that she actually enjoyed herself. Here’s the kicker though. I got in the car this morning with the SU and lo and behold Diana Krall is in the CD player. (Mind you, its me that put it there yesterday but the SU had already driven the car once this morning.) So I say to the SU, “We can listen to something else. I know you don’t really care for her.” The SU says to me, “It’s actually ok. I kind of like her now.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor and remembered to breathe I smiled and said, “That’s great honey!” 

In other news, the SU expressed dismay that I haven’t been updating and she broadly hinted that if she had access to my blog that she would post updates herself. I solved that problem tonight so we might be seeing some updates from her perspective on things here soon.

 

(what have I done!??!?)