Rookie Driver

 I am so happy,  Derek finally got his Drivers License.  Derek has been ready to get his license for several months, but because of COVID it wasn't possible because the DMV was shut down, then it was possible but it was a very long wait through the DMV.  

Derek really didn't feel an urgency to get his license.  Once Derek started his job at McDonald's I really wanted him to get his license.  I felt it was unnecessary to inconvenience (mostly me) and the other drivers getting him to and from work on Saturday and Sunday mornings., Waiting for him to call for a ride etc when he was capable.   Work wasn't the only place he needed me to drive him to and from especially when he was capable of driving himself, we just had to make it legal.  I told Derek for my Birthday I wanted my gift to be that he got his license.  Derek was sick the week of and the week after my birthday, so it didn't happen then.  

I then promoted the Driver's license to be my Christmas gift.  Derek set up his driver's test through the 3rd party on 12/8/20.  The third-party was about triple the price of the DMV ($25 vs $112 for the travelers license)  but the "convenience fee" was well worth it to get this task done.

We showed up,  filled out the paperwork, then waited to do the road test.  I was not near as nervous waiting for Derek to come back from his road test as I was with Dax. I don't think it had anything to do with their skill level being any different, I think Dax was just my first driver to go through that.

I saw Derek and the examiner come back in from the test.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the examiner walking toward me as she headed toward her desk.  Right as she walked past me she subtly said "passed"  I looked up and Derek was waiting in the line to complete the next steps.  I gave him a thumbs up.  I was so happy and proud of him.

I went home and got online to buy him  the Hamilton High student parking permit, although he couldn't officially park there until he received the permit which they would give him at school. They gave it to him at school on Thursday.

Friday morning Derek woke up and was getting ready to take the bus.  I said why are you taking the bus?  He said "because it is coming in a few minutes"  I reminded him that was the whole point of me getting him an HHS parking permit for $60.  I told him he can sleep in a little later and if he has to stay after school (often lately) I don't have to scramble to pick up him and Trey at the same time.  He grabs the keys and heads out to the car. As he fumbles with the keys to open the car  I hear the car panic alarm start chirping, then as he fumbles to turn it off it gets louder.  I start laughing because he is new to this driving thing.  I peeked out the window to watch him pull out.  Oh no!! It is garbage day and I could see that he was going to back straight into the garbage can on the street.  I kept saying out loud,  "don't hit the garbage, don't hit the garbage" bonk... he hit the garbage.  Luckily he didn't knock it over.  He pulled back in and moved the car way over to back out.  I was laughing at such Rookie mistakes that he will only learn through experience. 

When Derek got home from school I asked him how it felt to drive himself.  He said it was alright, but he would prefer to take the bus, it wasn't worth the hassle.  WHAT are you talking about? the freedom and independence of driving yourself versus waiting for the bus outside in the cold or heat (depending on the time of year) riding in the noise and chaos of loud kids blaring their music, and you could sleep in 15 more minutes.  What is wrong with this kid?  It turns out the windows were all fogged up and he didn't know how to use the defroster (We never got to that lesson learning to drive in Phoenix).  He actually didn't even know the defroster existed, and that he why he hit the garbage can because he couldn't see it.  He would rather ride the bus than deal with driving in frosted fogged up windows.  I showed him how to use the defroster, then the next morning he drove himself to work at 5:45 am.  It was wonderful for me.  Then I could go about my day and he drove himself home when he was done, I didn't have to wait around for him to call for a ride. We never know exactly what time he gets off, it just depends on how busy they are, so it is kind of a pain for us.

After he had been home from work for a bit we were talking and he went "wait so I can drive myself to Maricopa  (20 miles each way) to see my friends today" YEP.  OHHHH the realization of the freedom and independence of having a driver's license is finally sinking in.  It was a great moment for me.

Forgery

 I got this email from Treyson's Technology teacher.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, my name is Michelle Merillat and I am Treyson’s Technology teacher at Jacobson.  He was supposed to get a signed letter from you discussing ways to help him remember to bring his earbuds/headphones to school on Day 6 so that he has them for my class.  He brought the letter back to me with a forged signature.  Please talk to him about this and let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

When I initially read this, I thought it was odd that Trey would forge one of  our signatures.  I'm not saying he is perfect, but that just didn't seem like him.  I actually couldn't understand what she was even talking about at first.  I looked at the "parent signature"  and I thought that is not mine or Trey's handwriting (see his handwriting in the body of the letter compared to the parent signature)    What is going on???  Then I realized Trey used his "best" handwriting to write my name.  It isn't my signature, but it was actually legible. Why can't he write like that all the time. I was shocked that fine penmanship came out of his hand.

  I finally put it all together and this is my response.

Ms. Merillat,

I am so sorry about this situation.  I just talked to Trey about this, and I think I am partly to blame for this miscommunication.  Before the school year started I bought Trey two sets of earbuds.  

One for home and one for school.  When school didn't start up in person right away because of COVID, I ended up giving the second set of earbuds to another family member.  

I thought I had told Trey that and I would need to get him a new pair.  Maybe I did, maybe I didn't?? Either way, he didn't know what had happened to the second set and I forgot to replace them.  

 It turns out he thought he had lost the second pair and he was afraid to bring it up because he thought he would get in trouble for losing them.  We had a good talk about working out problems and not avoiding them. 

 He should not be afraid to come to his family with a problem

I will get him a new set today and he should be good to go.

I thought it was "funny/not funny"   Trey tried to forge my signature to deal with this problem.  I told him next time go to one of his brothers for help if he doesn't want to tell a parent, but don't ignore it.

How do I get that kid to write this nice everyday?

The Shady Dell

 I don't know why I like retro stuff especially Airstream Trailers from the 1950s and 1960s.

A few years ago I wanted this mini Airstream for my birthday. I even decorate it for Christmas and the 4th of July.

Curtis found out about this RV Resort  "The Shady Dell" a few hours south of us in Bisbee, AZ, an old mining town.  I know Curtis is more of a Luxury Resort kind of guy, but I saw this place and I knew I had to go.  Apparently, it is very popular because it was booked up for several weeks.  We ended up going on Thanksgiving weekend as a belated birthday trip for me.

I loved it, I thought it was so fun.   It really did feel like a step back into time. Old vinyl records and a record player, No Wifi.   So many little fixtures in the trailer reminded me of my Grandma's house that was built in the 1950s

Our Neighbor the "Tiki Bus"

The owner would drive guests to town in this old Taxi

An old Desoto Taxi

"God Bless this Trailer Home"

A real working toilet and shower.

Trying to watch old TV shows on DVD

I loved the details notice the old-style hotel key on top of the 1950s TV    

It was a fun weekend.  If you like old Travel Trailers or would like to take a weekend back in time.  This is your place.

Birthday Week

 It is the  Birthday week at our house.  This year was Treyson's "Golden Birthday" he turned 12 on the 12th.  However, as usual, we started celebrating on the 11th.  

The kids are always off school on the 11th for Veteran's Day, it is so convenient to have a celebration on that day.  We did not forget our Veterans.  We first made cookies and delivered a few to our Veteran Friends, Sergio, and Joe. Then we invited Trey's friends Soren and Marco to join us for an adventure at an Escape Room.  It was a great activity in the middle of a pandemic.  We really didn't want to invite a big group.

The Escape room theme was "Tony's Bistro".  We were in an Italian Restaurant, the owner had been working with the Italian Mafia, the partner had been arrested and we had to find the cash and get out before the "Feds" got to us.  Marco was the only one in our group who had done an escape room, so we really didn't know what we were doing or how they worked.  Needless to say, we did not escape.  We did make it to the second room, but we didn't get to the cash in time.  If we did an escape room again, we would have a much better idea of how they work, what to look for etc.  It was still very fun.

The Escape room gang.  Derek didn't join us because he was home sick :(.

After the escape room we came back to the house for Pizza and cake.  I had the neighbor girls pick up the pizza and set everything up while we were at the Escape Room.  It was so nice to have everything done when we walked in.  

Trey and his friends loved it,  they went all "Mafia Gangster" at the end.  It was kind of funny since Marco is a legitimate Italian, born in Italy and speaks the language.  Just a fun little twist to the day.

His friends gave him gifts cards to Target and Amazon as gifts.

Then on Trey's actual birthday, he was sick.  Not surprising since he had the sniffles for a few days before and Derek had been sick as well.  He even stayed home from school.  Kind of a bummer birthday, I'm glad we celebrated the day before.  He opened his gifts laying down.

The family gave him "Mario Odyssey" for the Nintendo Switch, a book about how to be funny, and a Tshirt talking about "Turophile -lover of Cheese"

Then it was my birthday.  It was fabulous.  I got lots of love from friends and family.  Flowers, cards, cakes, treats.  We went to dinner with our friends, Steve and Jane Thomas, Scott and Tiffany Andersen.  I usually go to lunch with my girl friends each year.  With COVID etc, we can't invite too many people and I just wasn't that excited about.  Janae and Steve had gift cards to Flemmings Steak house that they hadn't used. It was a nice change to go with our husbands, so the Thomas' treated us all to Flemmings.  It was a really fun night and Flemmings treated me well too.  They even gave me a card signed by the staff and a small box of chocolate truffles. I got a new kitchen remodel and furniture, so I didn't think I needed any more gifts.   It was a great week of birthdays. 

Road Trip-25 years

 We have been together for 25 years.  We wanted to do something to recognize the occasion.  What do you do?  The world is still in the middle of a global pandemic (there are still a lot of travel restrictions) and you have a new car.  We decided to take a road trip up to Yellowstone.  Curtis originally wanted to get me all the way to Mount Rushmore in SD because I have always wanted to see it.   That was a bit ambitious considering the distance and time frame we had.  I was happy to go up to Yellowstone, I had never been there either  We had a great trip, just enjoying the experience of being on the road. It was also a new experience of driving in an electric car and having to charge for a few hours rather than just "fill er up with gas".

We did our first recharge in Flagstaff, my home town.  It has grown so much since I left, the people and politics are a bit odd, but it is always nice to visit especially in the summer. We did a Tesla recharge and had a meal at Olive Garden while the car did its thing.  Olive Garden was conveniently located next to the charge station.  Then we were on to our next stop, which we were not for certain where we would end up on our adventure.

We started heading north, along the way we had planned to stay in Tuba City, according to our charging app they had a nice hotel with a charge station.  As we were getting closer and closer to Tuba City, we could see smoke, but we were not sure what it from.  Then we realized a structure was on fire. I snapped a picture as we drove by. Nobody seemed concerned, there was a fire truck there. I searched the news around Tuba City for a few days, but nothing was ever mentioned of the fire.  I guess it wasn't a big deal.

It turned out we couldn't stay in Tuba City, all the hotels were closed because of COVID.  We were told we needed to drive about an hour and drive to Kayenta where hotels were open.  We charged the car for a few minutes then we went on our way to Kayenta where there were hotels. I was kind of familiar with Kayenta because I knew my Dad used to drive through there to get to his fishing spot, Paiute Farms on Lake Powell.   It was late, we found a hotel but the guy was cranky acting like we personally brought COVID into the reservation. He thought the whole thing should be closed down.  He didn't appreciate that we were spending money and giving him a job.  

While we were enjoying our very short stay in  Kayenta, We noticed that Kayenta was right next to Monument Valley.  We decided to take a different route and drive through Monument Valley.  I don't think I have ever been thought Monument Valley.  It was totally worth it.  This was one of my favorite detours on our trip.  I don't know why Google said it was closed due to COVID.  There was nothing to close.  It was just a scenic drive.  Maybe we were not supposed to get out and take picks considering there was nobody around.  We even took a few from the middle of the road because there was literally nobody around.

 This was the most nerve-wracking part of the trip.  We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and the options for charging stations were none.  Curtis felt confident we could make it to the next charging station in Blanding UT.  We would be good as long as... you know the unforeseeable didn't happen.

Fortunately, we made it and we even had a few miles to spare.  We grabbed some food in Blanding while the car charged.

Blanding, UT a little tiny town that still had a payphone outside the town visitor center where we charged the car.

Our next stop was Arches, National Park near Moab, UT.  This was well worth the stop as well.   Many things to see just driving through.  

Next on our adventure was Midway, UT.  A few years back Curtis discovered this place had a Geothermal spring.  We didn't actually take any photos here, but fortunately, someone else did and shared them on the internet.  This was a very cool crater with beautiful blue water at bathtub temperatures.  People use this place to learn to scuba dive.  It was pretty amazing to see.

Interior of Homestead Crater- Very warm and humid on the inside.

It looks like a big dome on the outside.

While in Midway We stayed at the Zermatt Resort.  Midway is about 30 minutes from Park city  I had heard of this resort but I didn't actually know what it was about.  It is based on a European city in Switzerland.  Actually Midway itself felt European with the architecture of the homes and buildings.

The Zermatt was very nice.

We stopped in Honeyville, UT.  This is where Curtis' cousins from the Johnson side of the family live and he spent some summers here.  His Uncle Steve used to be the Mayor.  Curtis thought that was a big deal when he was a kid, but his uncle explained it was a tiny town and it was his turn. 

Curtis took me to "Crystal Hot Springs" another natural thermal spring.  I had never been to anything like this before so it was pretty cool to experience.  Curtis said this place has grown and been developed a lot since the last time he was here.  This place was much different than the other thermal spring.  This was outdoors and the water was a reddish-orange from the minerals.  There were 3 different pools, Each one a different temp.  Cool, warm, and hot.

We continued north on our adventure.  We stopped in Pocatello, ID to for a quick visit with my friend Stephanie Carter and her family.

Next was Idaho Falls.  We found this cool Hotel that was very similar to the one we stayed in when we first got married.  Each room is decorated with a unique destination theme.  Actually, I think the hotel was called "Destinations Inn".  We stayed in the Morocco room.  We were lucky to find this place.  We had wanted to stay at the one in Salt Lake but it was booked up.  We just happened to find this place at the last minute.  It is a unique experience for a hotel.  They treat you right.  We didn't feel like we were in Idaho Falls.

Curtis has a lot of Family in Idaho Falls, there was no way we could see them all, but we did stop at Manwaring Cheese where one of his Manwaring Cousins bought it from another Cousin and was redeveloping it.  We picked up some tasty cheese to snack on during our trip.