To celebrate the end of the semester, this past weekend Tyler and I drove down to San Diego/Indio, CA for Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Dad competed in the BBQ competition, and on the first day won fourth place for his ribs (out of 59 teams–way to go!). Here’s a small diary of our trip’s events:

Here’s the list Tyler made to plan our trip:
Don’t forget Arizona:


We left at 7am, so we stopped in Las Vegas to eat lunch and walk around for a bit.

It was my first time there, and we saw the MGM Grand lions. Their trainers were right in the den with them just chit-chatting! Apparently you have to spend A LOT of time with the lions until you eventually become “part of their pride” and they accept you in their den.

After the lions, we stopped for a bite at the Rainforest Cafe.

Then came the famous Zzyzx Road (sorry, we missed Afton road both times!).

Alas, we arrived in Oceanside around 6:30, and left for Stagecoach the next morning. Tyler and I pitched a tent, while the rest of the gang slept comfortably in trailers and motorhomes. But we didn’t complain. I liked it, actually. It turns out that a Budweiser truck was 50 feet away from our tent the entire weekend, and its generator stayed on all night to keep the beer cold. Put that together with the 30mph winds and you’ve got a tent that’s about to blow over and an unhappy camper inside. Thankfully Mom gave us earplugs, which worked like a charm because when I couldn’t hear that our tent was about to fly away/cave in, I wouldn’t open my eyes to see that it was about to fly away/cave in. Here is a picture of our humble abode next to the trailer and a Winnebago:

And just as there were tons of palm trees, there were tons of porta potties! However, not enough. If I would have had to wait in those lines all weekend, I would have peed my pants for sure before making it to the front.

On the way back to Utah, we caught a funny blunder on an ice cream truck. See if you can catch it:

We also hit heavy fog, a bajillion energy windmills that dotted the hills, and an 80mph speed limit test zone. Pretty cool, eh?

But overall the ride home was pleasant. I got to see Tyler sing to rap music, see beautiful puffy clouds that belonged on Mario Kart, and the thermometer in Baker read 78 degrees. We enjoyed the small vacation, but aren’t ready for Spring semester yet!!