Heat Got Us Beat
After a long hiatus from donuts because most of us were tired of them, Mom asked this morning, "Abby, are you still tired of donuts?" Well, I had two thoughts going through my head. "I don't know, you said you were tired of them too, you know" and "absolutely I am". Anyway, we went for donuts.
We got to the donut place, and it was actually pretty nice looking inside. The first thing Mom said was "Oh, Abby, they have a grasshopper donut!" I wasn't paying attention yet, so I said yes to it pretty absentmindedly. When I was finally around to it, Mom asked if I wanted a glazed too and I said yes. Forgetting the grasshopper, I kept looking for two more, since we each get three donuts in a dozen. I asked for one more, and Gideon asked for four donuts. I ridiculed him for it. Then, Mom asked me if there was another one I wanted, so I told her which one. Only in the car when I was offered the grasshopper donut did I realize that I, too, had committed the heinous crime of asking for more than my fair share of donuts. The shame still haunts me . . . Anyway, the donuts were pretty good, and we got cool drinks too! Mom and Dad got some sodas mixed with syrups and fruits. Me and Gideon, though, got a taste of home with frozen hot chocolate. It was rich but super yummy and totally worth it.
Most of the morning from there was driving. Probably at ten or eleven, Mom really had to use the bathroom so we stopped at a rest area. Little background info: when Mom really has to pee and finally gets to, she lets out a sigh of relief. Usually, you can't really discern it if you're not in the bathroom with her. When we got out, though, Dad said that by some trick of magic he could actually hear Mom's sigh. Maybe it's a sign of how bad she had to pee that it was a little bit louder today? I don't know, just making up fan theories here.
Once we got back in the car, I finished the fourth book of Percy Jackson. At about the same time, we came to a stop and angled the car across the road so we could take another in the middle of the road picture. I posed for that, and then shuffled around our growing pile of luggage in search of the next book.
After that it was only a short time until we reached Arches National Park. We stopped at the visitor center on the way in and as we were forewarned: it was a zoo. People everywhere, insanely hot . . . I think a stranger accidently rubbed my back at some point. It was all made up by the fact that I got an insanely pretty sweatshirt with stars on it.
Anyway, the park had super beautiful red rock formations everywhere, including arches. I saw a whole bunch of cacti too, which were super cute. At one point, Mom told me to eat a donut instead of chex mix. I pouted my way through it, then ate the chex mix too. The real problem of the day: it was insanely hot out. The high was 102 degrees. Needless to say, we didn't do too much walking. Around the end of the park, though, it started taking a longer time for the car to start than is normal. We were a little concerned, but continued through the park anyway without turning off the car too much.
The hotel was just outside of the park. It was a new type of Marriott we haven't tried before, and it was really fancy. As soon as we entered we started the laundry and I took a shower. Mom ordered and waited for AAA. It said they would take an hour to get there, so Mom looked for places to eat out if all went well. She found a place we were all super excited about. She also called down for extra towels, so we waited for those too. Mom and Dad went out to the car when it was around time for them to arrive and left me and Gideon to wait for the towels. THey didn't come. Mom called and told us that when the timer said zero, it moved up to 45 minutes and said the technician was "on route". She asked us to come down to the hotel restaurant and eat there instead in the meantime.
I am so happy we did, because I ordered the most amazing barbeque pulled pork flatbread. It was excellent. Me and Gideon got towels and waters at the front desk and went back to the room while Mom and Dad actually met with the AAA guy this time. We got a call a few minutes later telling us "the battery tester didn't work on our battery, so we have to go to an auto shop to get it all checked out. We're leaving you alone in a hotel room in Utah, it's fine. Lock the doors and put the doorstop in".
I cleaned up a bit and then sat down and chilled out on my phone. I may have also eaten an entire chocolate bar, but definitely not. Not meee! No. I got another call a little while later that said "we're at the shop, but the shop's battery tester ran out of batteries so they ran and got some . . . to their house". Great. Excellent. Me and Gideon settled in.
The next text I got was the most relieving one of this trip: "They couldn't find anything wrong, it was probably just the heat. Coming back now". I took a deep breath. Mom showed up at the door and shoved her eye into the peep hole within the next half an hour. Phew, rough day, so obviously instead of sleeping peacefully I had a dream that I was shot :)
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