A Wedding in the Family!

One of my cousins got married on Sunday, and I was excited for so many reasons!

• It had been delayed a year because of the pandemic, so I was happy for my cousin that it was finally happening.
• I have a great memory of this same cousin at our own wedding 18 years ago.
• This was the first wedding that Edith and Atticus were to attend!

It was every bit as lovely as I expected. The ceremony and reception were near Detroit, in a beautiful outdoor setting overlooking the Detroit River. (Edith said she never knew a wedding could be so fancy!) Boats drifted by, and seaplanes flew within plain view seemingly feet away. The food was terrific, and I will be dreaming of the chocolate truffles and the frosting on that wedding cake for days. (Was it buttercream? But can buttercream be so light? I NEED TO KNOW.)

The kids were surprisingly fond of the dance floor, and we ended up leaving at 10 p.m. instead of our plan of 9 p.m. With a three-hour drive ahead of us, that was no small change! But we were enjoying ourselves too much, and we had packed the kids' pajamas, pillows and blankets in the car. They slept the entire three-hour drive home.

But best of all it was great seeing family, and adding a new member to it!

A Short but Magical Trip to the Grand Canyon (with Kids)

The Grand Canyon was the next stop on our 10-day tour of the Southwest. It was about a six-hour drive from Albuquerque, and the scenery was all mountains and (I think) mesas, with little greenery. The one exception was Flagstaff, which seemed like a veritable rainforest in comparison. In addition, I'd never seen so many trains in my life. Interstate 40 runs parallel to miles and miles of tracks, and it's hard to estimate how many trains we saw in both directions, and up close. 

Aside from a lunch break, we made two other quick stops: a sign for the Continental Divide (who knew any water drained to the Atlantic Ocean from this far west?) and Winslow, Ariz., to take some photos of us taking it easy "standin' on the corner." There was a mural and everything.

Once we were at the Grand Canyon, we checked in to the Yavapai Lodge, just a 10-15 minute walk from the south rim of the canyon. We stayed in one of several buildings (each holding a small number of rooms with exits directly to the outside) with a few chairs right outside our door.

We immediately set out to walk along the Trail of Time to the Yavapai Geology Museum. The views were breathtaking -- a cliche but true. And the cliff is *right there.* The kids jumping around made Paul very nervous, and I wasn't much better. They held our hands for a good portion of the walk. We caught part of the sunset, but I think the clouds foiled the best views. Still the differences between 6 p.m. and the 7 p.m. shadows were superb.

After the kids were in bed and asleep, Paul and I headed to those chairs just outside our room and watched shooting stars before clouds covered the sky. Another cliche, but it really was quite magical.

The next day was Friday the 13th, but the only thing that was unlucky were the slight sunburns we got from our walk along the Rim Trail. The time change gave us an advantage that morning, as we were out the door by 7 a.m. The Rim Trail to Hermit's Rest was practically empty -- it felt like we had the whole canyon to ourselves for a good two to three hours. We walked maybe 4 miles along the rim, interspersed with shuttle rides. The trail was beautiful but nerve-wracking with two kids ages 8 and 6. We skipped the vast majority of the unpaved portion since we couldn't quite trust the kids.

We were done with the trail by noon, took a shuttle to the transfer station and walked the part of the trail that passes by most of the hotels. This was far busier but not too bad. We were back at our lodge about 1 p.m. in the heat of the day (high 80s, after a beautiful morning that was cool and partly cloudy), so we stayed in the room for a couple of hours.

Next was the drive to Desert View, with stops at a few viewpoints to and from. The watchtower view was closed thanks to Covid, but the scenery was unaffected, of course.

That evening we went to an outdoor talk at the McKee Amphitheater about the lore surrounding the Grand Canyon. Atticus fell asleep by the end, but I'm still glad we went -- Edith counted it as among her favorite memories of the Grand Canyon.

The next morning we were off by 8:30 a.m., with one last viewpoint before leaving Grand Canyon National Park, heading west toward Los Angeles.

The 4th Annual Crap Swap

The Crap Swap and Potluck that I host each year is, I think, eagerly anticipated by a certain type of person.

Not only by those of us who aspire to be minimalists, but also by those who like a good deal.

The Crap Swap is the annual chance for all of my neighbors and friends to unload their unneeded junk with minimal inconvenience to themselves. And this year it was minimally inconvenient for me, too.

Usually I allow everyone to drop off their crap in the days and weeks beforehand, and I set it all up. Because the event has grown with each passing year, this time almost everyone set up their own crap. We filled something like six card tables and five folding tables, heaped with clothing, toys and household goods. Other sections of the yard and driveway were reserved (and overflowing) with large items, like scooters, a filing cabinet, a bookcase and an air compressor.

The swap attracts people from throughout the neighborhood, and everything is FREE. That gives everyone a chance to collect stuff not only for themselves but for the charities of their choice. Everything leftover goes to a local thrift store.

The weather was predicted to be ideal all week before the Sept. 4 swap, but it didn't hold. Off-and-on showers happened all evening and almost certainly lowered the number of visitors. Nevertheless we had only about 20 small-ish boxes of crap leftover at the end of the day, and after a couple of days at the curb, that number dropped to 14 boxes. A couple of neighbors graciously hauled them to VOA after the holiday weekend.

I'm already thinking about ways to improve the Crap Swap next year, like always. But the real question is: why do we have so much crap each and every year?!

A Day in Albuquerque

My impression of Albuquerque? Tan. Even the mountains seemed mostly tan. I never realized how much I like green until I visited New Mexico. (But then, I suspect that natives of Albuquerque would complain that Columbus is too flat. To each their own.)

Albuquerque was the first stop on our summer vacation because of its relative proximity to the Grand Canyon -- a six hour drive -- and because I had never been to New Mexico in my quest to visit all 50 states. So we flew into the city around midnight, spent one full day there, and headed to Arizona on the following day. We saw a lot in just a little more than 24 hours.

We began our day in Old Town around 10:30 a.m. That was a good idea since it was a cooler time to visit the blocks of stores with a plaza at the center. Lots of souvenir shops, jewelry, pottery and more, plus a church. We didn't visit half but easily passed a pleasant hour.

Lunch was a short drive away at Cocina Azul, which was probably my best meal of the entire trip. (Way to set the bar high, New Mexico.) Green chiles were a must try while we were in the state, so I ordered the green Chile burger with a side of sweet potato fries, and each table received a complimentary basket of warm sopapillas for dessert. It was delicious, and I was stuffed for hours.

Our COSI membership gave us free entry to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The exhibits seemed a bit dated, but the kids enjoyed it, and especially the sections focused on dinosaurs and volcanoes. It was also a nice place to avoid the heat.

By this time it was around 3 p.m., and I didn't have much left on our to-do list. So we decided to drive down Route 66 (Central Avenue) in the daytime and continue up the far side of the Sandia Mountains. Paul maneuvered up a curvy cliff, where the temperature dropped from the mid-80s to the mid-60s, and it was much, much greener. This was the Sandia Crest -- elevation 10,678 feet and a mile above the city. The views were lovely. Then we drove about an hour to the other side to the Sandia Peak Tramway. We didn't take the ride up but looked at the view through some rain from the parking lot.

I wasn't really hungry for supper, but the kids were! The Owl Cafe is more of a diner, with a large motif of an owl on the corner of the building. I got the New Mexico hot dog -- a fried dog covered in green chiles on a baguette -- and those chiles were some of the spiciest foods I've ever had. Paul ate most of it!

Last item on the agenda was a trip down Route 66 at night, although I was expecting more neon. Nob Hill was nice, and the nighttime view reminded me a bit of the Bay Ridge neighborhood where we lived in Brooklyn.

The next morning, we were off to the Grand Canyon.