Shakespeare Festival

For years, Kent and I went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  Then we had children and our visits became few and far between.  This year, I felt that our children were old enough and experienced play goers for us to take them.  We bought tickets for four plays and headed down on Monday.  We planned to see two plays on Monday, two plays on Tuesday, and do some hiking on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

We got extra lucky upon our arrival in Cedar City (Monday)--the Tour of Utah cycling race was finishing up the first stage in Cedar, and it was a loop finish.  We arrived about 10 minutes before the cyclists were coming into town and positioned ourselves 100 meters from the finish line.  We got to watch the bikers and support cars all zoom past three times, each time more exciting than the last!  It was super to see them so close, to feel the wind as they raced by, and to sense the power in their riding.  One guy popped a spoke and had a little fit right in front of us.  He got off his bike, undid this front wheel, threw it to the ground, then picked it back up and walked across the finish line.  I don't know when the spoke popped, but he wasn't at all happy about how the end played out.  It was exciting to be in that charged atmosphere.

We were super lucky to also be in Cedar City when the Brinkerhoffs were there too.  Charlie entered the MTC today, and they were in Cedar to see Tad's family and bid people au revoir.  We met up with them for lunch, and then again for dinner on Monday.  We miss them.  They live too far away.  Michelle promised the kids they could go to Camp Brinkerhoff next summer, and Brandt and Blythe kept bringing it up, saying, "When do we go to Camp Brinkerhoff?  How long can we stay?"  I wish we could see them much more frequently, too.  Charlie is ready to be on his way and we are excited for his adventure.

Monday we saw Mary Poppins in the afternoon, and Much Ado About Nothing in the evening.  Neither Brandt nor Blythe had seen Mary Poppins before and they liked it.  It was bright and fun, moved right along, and was certainly engaging.  I tried to explain all about Much Ado and I think they followed along pretty well.  There was enough action and funny interplay that they liked it.  Blythe did fall asleep at the end, but the play concluded at 10:50pm, so it's not terribly surprising.

Mary Poppins with Jane and Michael Banks

Bert with Mary, Michael, and Jane

Waiting for Much Ado to begin.

The Much Ado set.

Beatrice and Benedick

Beatrice being fooled into believing Benedick loves her by Hero and Ursula

Tuesday morning we got up and had a lovely breakfast at the B&B we stayed at, the Big Yellow Inn.  Although it was expensive to stay there, Kent likes it and wanted to be there rather than at a hotel.  We got to stay in the Gable Suite, two large rooms across the top of the house.  It had a jacuzzi and a nook with a bed where Brandt slept.  Very fancy!  Breakfast was nice, and then we headed off to see and play in Toquerville Falls.  Here is a picture of where we were headed.  You can play on both levels of the waterfalls, and it's just a very short walk from where you park, like .2 miles.  I was so excited knowing we would all love being in the water and having an adventure.

We didn't make it.  When we were getting in the car to drive down to Cedar on Monday morning, the "check coolant level" warning came on.  We had some coolant and filled it up.  No problems on our drive down.  Tuesday morning when we left, the warning came on again.  We realized we must have a leak somewhere, but bought some coolant, topped it up, and went on our way.  Toquerville is about 30 minutes south of Cedar, and the falls are about six miles outside town.  The road is very rough and requires an all-wheel or 4-wheel drive car.  There was a tremendous downpour on Monday evening (the play was unaffected because it rained from 6-7:30 and cleared up before the start time) and there was evidence all over the dirt road--puddles in holes, small trenches where water ran down, lots of wet spots.  We had been on the road about a mile and a half when the warning light came on again.  Seeing what we were driving over and knowing we were getting further and further away from any help or even cell phone coverage as we proceeded, and worrying that the car would overheat and the radiator would explode, we opted to turn around and go back to Cedar to have the car checked out.  It was a bummer.  But the terrain was too rough and the situation too sketchy to continue without grave cause for concern.  

  

The road as we turned around.

We drove back to Cedar, had some lunch, and then Kent took the car to the mechanic while the kids played on their Kindles and I had a little nap.  The kids played on their Kindles a lot on this trip.  Kent returned before our afternoon show, The Cocoanuts.  This is a musical adaptation of a Marx Brothers' film, and was all very silly.  There was the whole Marx Brothers shtick, with lots of groan inducing Groucho puns.  The kids loved it!  

 

We walked past this green vehicle, the exact same green vehicle that Brandt and Blythe had.

This one was full size and had a real engine, but they both look like they could drive it.

If only . . . 

Blythe, Brandt, and William.

I wanted us to have a family picture here, 

but neither Blythe nor Kent was willing to cooperate.

After the play Kent went back for the car.  Fortunately, we didn't have a leak in the radiator, but in another reservoir.  We didn't need to have it fixed immediately, and we would certainly make it home.  Phew!  We got some dinner (Sizzler because there was lots the children would eat), then went to see The Three Musketeers.  The festival brochure mentioned a "plucky little sister" who fought alongside the musketeers, and with sword fighting and action, I figured the children would love it.  They did!  Both of them were on the edge of their seats the whole time.  The fight scenes were great; Sabine, the little sister, even fought with two swords at one point!  Brandt kept leaping out of his seat to see the horses come up behind us (just sound effects, not actual animals), and Blythe liked the kissing.  All in all, an excellent show.  No one was falling asleep in this one.

From this point on, I'm loathe to write any more about our trip.  I had wanted to go hiking up Kanara Creek on Wednesday morning, but Blythe was more than uncooperative on Tuesday night and I lost it.  I was mad as we went to bed and I was mad when we got up.  I was not in the mood to hike with whiners, so I told Kent we weren't going.  I was done.  He drove us up Cedar canyon instead.  We stopped near a pond where Kent and the kids went to see tadpoles and frogs, and we stopped at the lava flow.  I read a bit as we drove home, but mostly the kids played on their Kindles and the adults sat silently in the front seat.  I didn't take another picture, and I'm not sure I'll ever take the children anywhere else again.  We missed out on this:

And because this is our family history and this post will end up in our annual blog book, I'm going to conclude now without saying anything else.