Thelma and Louise Times 3 - Myrna, Marilyn, Katie, Jana, Sara & Makeely

The Shakespeare Festival...2008

Good eats....

The Concert...

The Fishing Trip....we had to get up at 4:45 a.m. Morrow Bay is about 35 min. drive from Arroyo Grande.

Real fish mess....

Getting the fresh fish into the freezer...

There is nothing like starting a road trip with red lights flashing in your rear view mirror only minutes after you leave the city limits....but that is how we started our Flagstaff to Cedar City, Utah trip! It was hysterical...to 4 of us....and only mildly funny to the driver......it makes me laugh just to think of it now...poor Sara was driving and the law officer was very courteous....and very informative.......I guess we looked like we needed a lot of advice...so he gave it.....Katie was in the waaaay back seat with the camera clicking away.....We arrived in Cedar City just fine and had a great stay....however the El Rey Hotel needs to do something about the ventilation in the family units.....the back room where two of the beds are is very stuffy and hot...the AC doesn't go there.....!

The plays were wonderful....I love live theater!!!! It is magical and if only for a moment it fills you with a sense of amazement .....talent, music, costumes, staging....all come together to transport you to where your imagination rules and you are in another time and place seeing others as they might have been at that point of time......LOVED IT!!!!! And the memories of live theater last a life time!

The fun we had together as friends was just as great.....laughing, trying new things, comparing experiences and chatting all the time.....LOVED IT!!!!! We had great food and did some great shopping....it is one of the only times I shop...the girls all found things.....and I had fun watching them.....I am not much for clothes shopping....but I did look ...at least for a minute.

When we got back to Flagstaff, Katie went to a concert with some friends....I had a nice evening with the boys and Sara and Jess got to go out for a quiet bite.....LOVED IT!!!!!

The next day Katie and I got off early in the morning with her 110 lb dog....Lily.....to drive back to Calif. It was an 11 hour drive. Brock climbed in the car at the last minute and asked if he could go.....for a split second I almost did an impulsive "OK...let's do it!"move and would have grabbed his backpack and took him with us...but as the 10th hour of driving came around and we were still going....I realized what a cruel thing it would have been to have taken him without being more prepared....but I will take him again to California...and Bodie too....Wyatt needs to get a little older.....and of course the one big requirement....no diapers! We had a good drive and were ready to pry ourselves out of the car...and we did stumble into her house...but it didn't take us long to regroup....Katie had to, since she had two 12 hour shifts to complete in the next two days.....but she did it just fine.

Monday was Labor Day....and for my birthday...which I feel like was more than filled with fun, because I counted the whole Utah trip as a celebration of it....but Katie and I decided to go deep sea fishing......something I had done one other time many years ago with Carla and her family....Katie made the arrangements and on Labor Day we were to be in Morrow Bay at 6:15 a.m......ready to fish....Which of course to us meant just show up.....so we did.....however as we began to take notice of the other fishermen....they all had poles, bait boxes, towels....etc, etc....hmmm, we knew we could rent the poles and get the licenses....so we did...and we found out the bait would be furnished.....Katie had a towel in her car....so we were ready. There were about 20 of us going out.....we brought jackets because we were told to....and off we went. It was cold as the boat went out to sea....but it didn't take long for us to warm up.....with modern fishing techniques...sonar, GPS...etc....the fish were biting. I thought we might catch a fish.....the guys told us to buy a gunny sack...because we would fill it up with fish.....I looked at Katie and gave her the "What??!!!" look...but you know what...we did fill them...it was amazing. We each caught our limit...and in my case over the limit...so some were given to other fishermen.....some of the men got sick and didn't fish....like 50% of all that went out....went down!!! Now I can't say much...because when we first went out....the sea was rolling...I felt a little squeazy...but what the heck....and was doing just fine....until I bent over the bait bucket that was filled with squishy squid...I had them in my hand...the boat took a roll...my head was down...and all of a sudden I knew I was done for......OOhhh...and ooops I was at the rail....barfing.....however I hadn't had anything to eat...so there was only bile and dry heaves...but it happened anyway....about half way through my session at the rail....Katie looks over at me and says, "Happy Birthday!"...the guy next to her said...."I have barfed my guts up on many a birthday!".....so I thought, "Well this is one more first for me!" Afterwards I just had to keep my eyes on the horizon and I did just fine...Katie and I fished the whole trip....and Katie gave me the compliment...."Good job Mom...you puked and rallied!".....I think that is a good thing in some circles...I'll take it....because I did have a great rest of the day...while some of the fishermen went down and never came back up....at least 10 of them.....We did have to field questions...like...."What made you ladies want to come out sports fishing?"....We didn't really have any great answer to that...we just wanted to.....The final comment made to us by the only drunk on the boat was..."You ladies did some kick ass fishing"....hey, I'll take that as a compliment too. At the end of the day after the fish was filleted (by the boatmen)....Katie had a dozen bags in her freezer with 4 fillets each.....lots of good eating there....and by the way nothing goes to waste....the carcass' of the fish were thrown overboard and the pelicans along with the seagulls had a very noisy feast and I LOVED IT!!!!!!