“Is There a Book of This?”

Earlier this year as things started to re-open, Kev and I started talking about what to do to provide some experience gifts for our kids this year. All of last year’s gifts were cancelled and since we had no idea what this year would bring, there were none given this past Christmas. We did tell the kids we hoped to be able to do some fun things, but in December we had no idea what those things would be. In January we decided to take a leap and scheduled a short trip to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Tickets were on sale in hopes the festival would be able to proceed and hotel reservations were available in spades. We decided that even if the festival was cancelled again, we would drive down and entertain ourselves in one way or another. Luckily for us, the festival was able to proceed despite cancellations of some things such as backstage tours which would put the actors and other staff in direct contact with a whole lot of people.

This morning we abandoned our typical domain and headed south. For some reason, car trips always provoke a craving in my family for driving food and for us, driving food is licorice. I don’t know why, that’s just the way it is. And in our opinion, Red Vines are the best licorice. For some unknown reason, the Red Vines that come in the big tubs are always the softest and freshest, and therefore the best of the best. However, with only a three-hour drive ahead of us, I was reluctant to buy a bunch of driving food. But Kev’s mother knows us well and supplied us with a big tub of vines for the drive. Daniel was the willing lone man in the third-row seat for the first leg of our journey and when he cracked open that tub, the entire car smelled like Red Vines. Sugar: the smell of the open road. With that scent in our noses, we were well and truly on our way.

Sometime last week we were having a conversation about vending machines. That led to a reminiscence of my teenage vending machine foods of choice and a memory of Corn Nuts, a snack I haven’t had since I graduated from high school. I remember really liking Corn Nuts and my kids had never even heard of them. That was far too tempting so on our first gas/pit stop, I grabbed a bag of the original flavor Corn Nuts and after ascertaining that they were safe for Matthew and Malia, I informed my offspring that they were going to try them. Daniel and Nathan for willing participants in the experiment. Matthew and Malia, not so much. In fact, I pretty much had to force feed them Corn Nuts. The funny part is, once they tried them, both Matthew and Malia liked them and between the two of them they finished the majority of the bag. Once it was empty, Matthew declared that we would be needing more Corn Nuts. Apparently Red Vines now have a salty companion. 😜

Once we arrived, checked into the hotel and had dinner we headed over to SUU to watch the show on the green, which was fun. We also sampled the much-hyped festival tarts, which were not worth the hype nor the $5 apiece we paid for them. Then we moved on to our first show which was “The Comedy of Errors” by none other than the bard himself. I’m a fan of Shakespeare’s comedies and this production did not disappoint. It had a 70’s setting which made for some fun costume choices and the pacing was non-stop. The entire show ran just over an hour, and we all laughed. Even Malia enjoyed herself. We thought that the old English might hamper her understanding of the plot, but as always, Shakespeare produced is infinitely more understandable than Shakespeare on the page. In fact, she enjoyed the show so much that as we walked out of the theater at the conclusion of the play, she asked, “Is there a book of this?” I laughed and responded in the affirmative. Yes, there is most definitely a book of this. 😂