Trips to Nowhere

Well, I have just been hit with a literal BARRAGE of ideas for my blog, so maybe that will translate into more than one post a month.  Keep your fingers crossed.

This one, however is documenting two trips that happened in the Bluth family over the last month.  First, my husband decided to spend his hard earned boys weekend with his brothers and brothers-in-law for a "knife only" wilderness outing up in Flagstaff.  Now, this sounds more like an over-eager ward preparedness specialist activity gone horribly wrong to me, but those guys needed to let their inner man roar, I guess.  Whatevs.  I didn't have to go.  Jordan came back after two days a little stiff, but happy.  I don't think he thought it was worth the money to have the instructor, because he is already an Eagle Scout and knows the basics of survival already.  However, he did have to make his own shelter for the night and slept right through the coyotes that were prowling around.  No freaking way.  I would have Katniss Everdeen-ed it and hiked my hiney up some tree for the night.  I am not paying money to get attacked by a coyote.  Forget it.

Here are some picks of my manly man:

That's a pretty spacious shelter, baby!

Jordan and the bros

 Now, the day after Jordan got home, I had to do an outreach performance up in Pinetop (beware the speed trap in Star Valley, people.  It SUCKS).  Then, I drove back the same night and flew to see my brother, Ryan, who was doing summerstock theatre in Nebraska.  But not just anywhere in Nebraska.  Nowhere in Nebraska.  Seriously.  Crawford.  A town 20 miles outside of Chadron.  Still haven't heard the name of a town you recognize?  Me too.

Some stats:

Population: 997 (it seemed like maybe 100)
Land area: 1.14 square miles

For comparison:

Mesa AZ population:  439,041
Land Area: 125 square miles

So.  Yeah.  I was super stoked to see Ryan though.  I got to ride in a TINY airplane with roughly 15 seats in it and board it from the runway.  If I tried hard, I could imagine I was doing that because I was very, very fabulous and famous.  The airport was in the neighboring town of Chadron (pop. 5,851) and it was a single family home that had been turned into an airport.  Made security a breeze though.  I was only there for 2 days, and I saw three shows.  He was great in all of them.  Good thing we had so much theatre to see, because I could only make calls from the theatre, check the internet from the theatre or the library, and there was no TV.  We did watch movies on his laptop and tried not to scare ourselves too much with his TRULY haunted basement.  Seriously.  Pretty sure some bad things happened down there.  A photo tour for you:

My plane.  Pretty sure that laptop should be off.  And also, NOT sure that electronics don't mess with a tiny plane's navigation equipment.  Just sayin'.

A refuel in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

I LOVED the point of view I got of this storm.  Beautiful.

The Buttes.

Lunchtime.  Yep.  The name of the restaurant is "DJeet Yet?"  Say it over and over until you get it.  Like Mad Gabs.

D Jeet Yet

Lunch with Ryan.  Those specks in the distance are long horned cattle.

Really old trees.

Crazy store called The Junk Store.  Every aisle was like this.  I swear, there were decades old tubs of Noxema and dried and cracked nail polish for sale here.  But I did find a treasure--a gorgeous pedestal to put decorations on for my house.  8 bucks.

Post Playhouse, where Ryan performed all summer.

Kenicke and his Greased Lightnin'.  Maybe the props budget can be upped next year...

Outside the theatre.

Me with Curly!!  Ryan did such a great job in "Oklahoma!"

Ryan's house for 12 weeks.

I was afraid to take pictures any farther down in the basement.  You know, that's when freaky crap shows up in the prints.  

Nebraska.

The airport.  By the way, that building is NOT that far away.

Anyway, so it was an ADVENTURE to say the least.  I have never been so happy to see a fast food restaurant.  You never realize what you have til its gone.

In other news, I hope you all voted yesterday and that you are looking forward to September as much as I am (for more on how awesome September is, see this post.  See you soon!  Great posts in the works, people!!