Larry kindly paid for the room at the Ramada. I should probably turn on some lights and turn down the air conditioning in the room.
Anyway, mom made us blueberry pancakes with a lot of fruit for breakfast, and then I waited for Darcee to arrive so I could give her the legos for her little kids. Darcee drove down from Mesa with her two kids, both pretty young, although the eight year old is adamant he’s going to be an architect when he grows up.
Apparently nuts about the legos, which is why I hauled them these several thousand miles. It was good to see Darcee again. She’s in great shape, military trained firefighter/medic who could easily kick my ass, and still looked about the same as she did in high school, except a little more age showing in the face, as have we all. She was trying to talk me into doing a trail run in north Scottsdale, but I explained that her helicopter medic experience would be put to good use in getting me off the mountain.
Tay and I went shopping for a wedding present. We had an idea and it was relatively quick and easy to execute, but we ran out of time. Originally, we were going to return the truck to Larry to drive to Sally’s in exchange for their SUV, but since we were closer, Tay and I just decided to make the run ourselves. Jonathan swapped keys with us, and I drove it back to Phoenix. Mom was back at the house.
“Did you get the house keys or the other keys off the key ring?” She asked.
Um.
“Did you get the remote control for the garage?”
Not quite.
“Did you get the text message I sent you?”
Hey, look at that, ‘new text message’….
Not the best moment of the day.
Anyway, we waited at the house while mom and Larry went to the airport to pick up his stepson Paul and his girlfriend Jen. They both moved to Durango recently and they’re in their early 40s/late 30s. Nice people. They kind of saw this whole Phoenix trip as a vacation, and were generally impressed with everything at the house and the restaurant we hit.
At the wedding, there will be the bride and groom. the two grandmas, and the bride and groom’s children. Both of Larrys sons are attending, one of them with a girlfriend, and of course there’s me and tay. We could not have squeezed everyone into the house, especially fighting with the five cats for space. The hotel is a Ramada that was nearby, and the fact its behind the Christie’s Cabaret is just comic fodder. It’s actually nice- the outside and structure is kind of dumpy, but all the interior finishes and appliances have been recently renovated and upgraded.
Since tomorrow is the wedding, I guess tonight was the rehersal dinner, although it wasn’t, really. It was just the eight of us- mom and Tay and I hit the bar about an hour before to make sure our name was in for a table that could seat everyone, and I got to have a draft of the Four Peaks Kiltlifter. It’s a good beer, but with my St. Louis experience, I don’t think it can really stand up well against some of the other craft beers I’ve quaffed. (Beer conesouirs do not drink beer, we quaff it.-Ed.) My second beer was a Lagunitas IPA and it was delicious.
We ordered a round of bruchetta and two 12 inch super-deep dish pizzas. Actually, it was less pizza, and more like a lasagna without pasta. I ate one and a half slices and I was totally maxed out, getting into “wafer thin mint” territory. Food was good, I like Oregano’s. I sat across from Jen and learned about her thoughts on living in Durango, the pizza, Phoenix, etc.
Afterwards, we went back to the house for stomach settling and watching the latest episodes of The Office and Project Runway before mom and Larry took us to the hotel.
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