In more recent news...

My parents came to visit me last week - I don't think I've been so excited to see them EVER!  I was like a small child the day before my birthday on the day I was due to go to the airport and pick them up.  Like me, I don't think they were expecting much from Utah, what with it being soooooo high on everyone's list of places-to-see-before-you-die!  By the time they were going, I think they'd been won over by the sheer beauty of the state - even if there is some deep oddness that goes with it.  (Is there a Nobel prize equivalent for understatement?  I think I deserve one!)

They arrived on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, I met them for lunch and then we went for a wander around Temple Square (because you have to, right?  It would be like not going to Agia Sofia or the Blue Mosque when you go to Istanbul/Constantinople, or skipping the Acropolis in Athens) and a tour of the Beehive House.  That was hilarious!  Two lovely girls trying to put the hard-sell on me, my dad, and some other guy who was doing the tour: "What religion were you brought up?"  My ingrained Catholic guilt made me reply "Catholic, sorry", when I've been practicing for months that the next time I get asked that question, I'll answer "I'm a Pastafarian, but my husband and kids are Jedi".  Bah!  Now I'll have to go back so that I can have my ésprit d'éscalier moment.  Goddammit!

Tabernacle - Organ Recital

Thursday, I met the folks at the Tabernacle for an Organ Recital.  That was impressive.  The acoustics in there are incredible.

Dad wanted to get a nice jacket, or rather, Mam wanted Dad to get a nice jacket, so I suggested a suit shop that I've passed on the bus every morning for the past six months, not realising it was a Mormon clothes shop.  Seriously!

Click for larger view and see just what
a missionary can get for under $700!

That evening, we went to watch the Tabernacle Choir rehearsing.  They were in the Conference Centre for that and while the acoustics weren't as good as in the Tabernacle, it was still an amazing spectacle.  I tried to upload a short video here, but the technology gods are not on my side unfortunately.

Friday morning, we hit the road and headed south to Moab.  Dad and I hiked around Arches National Park, and this time, I got to do the Park Avenue trail and actually climbed up to Delicate Arch: it was so worth it!  We had dinner in Moab, before heading 50 miles further south to our (dingy) motel in Monticello.

Park Avenue trail

Me at Delicate Arch

Next morning, an early rise, and back up to Moab where I ran the Canyonlands half-marathon in 2:04, a personal best, thank you very much!

At the starting line

At the finishing line
(I'm going by my chip time... I started WAY back!)

That afternoon, I took the folks to Dead Horse Point and Dad and I took the trail across the headland to the Point, while Mam met us there with the car.  Thank Jeebus that she did, because by that stage, I don't think I had the energy left to trek the mile and a half back to the Visitor Centre!

Mam & Dad at Dead Horse Point

We stayed in Moab that night and on Sunday went back south to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, stopping off at Newspaper Rock on the way.

Newspaper Rock
Needles District, Canyonlands 

I hadn't been to either of these before and they were really impressive.  We couldn't go up to the actual Needles, because that would have been a full day's hike and we weren't really in that sort of mood.  Also, my legs were still a bit stiff from the day before, but we did several of the shorter trails (between half a mile and 3 miles each) and had some amazing views of the Needles in the distance.

Needles District, Canyonlands

Needles District, Canyonlands

Wooden Shoe Bridge
Needles District, Canyonlands

Back to Moab that evening and on Monday morning, we set off for the Island in the Sky in the northern end of the Canyonlands National Park.  Visibility was very poor this day, with high winds and sand blowing up to obscure much of the view, but it was pretty incredible all the same.  I'll just have to make sure to bring my Jedi family back here when they arrive in 3 weeks (EXCITED!!!).

Grand View
Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

Green River
Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

Mesa Arch
Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

View through Mesa Arch
Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

Schaffer Canyon Trail (yes, that is a road!)
Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

We drove back to Salt Lake City that evening, via Highway 128, which runs along the Colorado River and is the route of both half-marathons that I've run in Utah.  It was lovely to drive up there safe in the knowledge that I wasn't about to get thrown out of a bus and made to run back to town!  

Highway 128

Highway 128

I took a sneaky day off work on Tuesday and chilled out with the folks, cooking a big ol' dinner and my roommate Linh, her fiancé Pete, and my friend Sarah came over to meet my parents and eat and drink and generally be merry.  Mam and Dad dropped me to work on Wednesday morning on their way to the airport and I'm still here, while they're off having fun in Richmond, Virginia now.  Lucky ducks.