Visitor.

(This may seem like a post with a ton of photos, but if you read it, you'll be surprised by how many things I didn't get pictures of)

I felt restless a few weeks ago so I flew out to Los Angeles, as I sometimes do.

I arrived the same time that our friend Cher was getting in from Shanghai or Singapore and caught a ride with her to Los Feliz. A few hours later we got dinner at Mexicali with Greg and he drove me to Grandma's. That's a good way to get home! Mexicali was just delicious, probably the best new thing I ate on the trip. Excellent use of grilled meats and melty cheeses.

My first morning in San Marino there were a bunch of praying manti on the screen of Grandma's living room windows. I was taking their pictures through the window when she said "You know they're not scary" so we went around back and Grandma picked the biggest one up with a screwdriver and then things got real.

For my first lunch of the trip, Grandma took me down to the edge of Skid Row to eat at the headquarters of Homeboys Industries, a charity that helps LA gang members become ex-gang members. The restaurant's food was very good and you couldn't imagine a staff more ready to bend over backwards for you. I was tickled to see my grandma interact with so many people with face tattoos.

That afternoon I helped get Greg and Becky to LAX and then and a very nice time hanging out with the Paugh's, but didn't get any photos. But I'm sure you believe me when I say it was great? I mean, had beef noodle soup and fried chicken! And then Collin turned up and we went over to his house to hang out with Mallory for a bit.

The next day a bunch of balloons had landed in Grandma's backyard. Sometimes it's peacocks in the backyard, sometimes coyotes, and sometimes it's a bunch of mylar balloons. Although, with her birthday just a few days away, I wonder if it was just a very clever delivery. 

That night I went with Katie to Jitlada for dinner. It's an infamously spicy Thai restaurant in Hollywood. We didn't even order from the "spicy" section of the menu but you see that curry? It was an extremely cruel face melter! I was in heaven. It's so great to find a restaurant where the spicy food is spicy. Also note the wall of Matt Groenig originals. Not Pictured: Becky, from the final two seasons of FNL, was in the house.

After dinner we went to Chris Black's birthday party on the roof of the Downtown Ace Hotel where Jason Stewart was dj'ing. It was a good hang and I was so glad no one was dancing to all the great dance music.

The next day I got lunch at Pepe's with Grandma.

And then, something you might find quite unexpected: I doubled down on my California trip and drove up to San Francisco. Greg and Becky had generously let me borrow their Prius for the trip as, between their two automobiles and Grandma's two, it was the car most likely to survive the trip. Plus it was the only one with Bluetooth connectivity and keyless driving, so it really felt like I was living in 2015 driving that thing.

That first evening I hung out with our friend Kim who had just taken a job at Google two weeks before. And it's very odd, but I didn't take a single photo? I must have been real worn out from the drive. But imagine me admiring her suburban neighborhood, her spacious and well-appointed apartment and then us eating Hawaiian meats just a few blocks from her home.

The next day I drove into the city where Diana was in town on business and we went to the Walt Disney Museum at the Presidio, a great museum about the life and work of Walt Disney. Man. What a great museum, if you visit it, set aside a LOT more time than we did to be able to read every single bit of wall text...and I mean, we were there for probably more than 3 hours. There's a lot to see and learn! One of the most impressive sites is a model of pre-1980 Disneyland build by the people at Lucasfilm. That's something you can stare at for a long long time.

Oh, and that's not my Mickey sandwich but I wish it was.

Then we went to Golden Gate Park to see the bison paddock. While we were there, looking at all the bison off in the distance, some maniac hopped the fence and went out and tried to make friends. For a few minutes it got a little tense as the bison appeared to be ready to rush him, but he made it out. THEN we went to the Mission and ate burritos at El Farolito and my eyes have begun to open to what all the fuss is about. I am glad my palate has developed the sophistication to appreciate the intricacies of a giant burrito.

I'd like to note that we also saw these droids:

Good visit to SF. I'll catch you next time, Derek and Rebecca, when everyone is in the country and off their death beds.

Back in San Marino, Grandma reminded me of the value of Southern California with a lunch at Twohey's. She had a coupon for a birthday sundae with I got to help her out with.

I'm not the glutton I used to be and my clam chowder, cheeseburger, onion rings and portion of the sundae nearly did me in. I tried to work it off (and re-vitalize myself) with a late afternoon walk to the CalTech turtle ponds and through San Marino/Pasadena. I counted 24 turtles in the lower pond that afternoon! It looked like if I fell in the pond I wouldn't have gotten wet, I would've just landed on turtles.

The next morning I drove Grandma and Louise to LAX so they could fly to Chicago. I avoided the empty home I'd be returning to by grabbing lunch with Collin at Disney and taking advantage of the opportunity to disparage Zootopia. During our meal the directors of Zootopia actually walked past our table but Collin didn't say anything because he was worried I'd throw my lunch at them. 
What a garbage movie. Worse than Lego Batman!

That night I caught a comedy show at the UCB with Cher and then we went to the Pacific Dining Car to take advantage of their late night menu. I could not have been more satisfied with my meal, the service, the space or the ambiance and couldn't be more more excited to return.

I'd like to add that by now I had a VERY bad cold, maybe it was the flu? I blew my nose through a roll and a half of toilet paper and spent my sleeping hours in stuffed up misery. It affected my activities a little. 

Still, I did my best to enjoy the presence of the Kogi truck in Pasadena the next day and grabbing dinner at DogHaus with Collin that night.

The next day the only picture I took was of this otter fountain by Pasadena City Hall. Clear that I had squeezed all the juice from this trip and catching wind of visitors coming to New York, I made my way back to the City and discovered that sometimes you DO still get food on domestic flights. For better or worse.

Coming Soon (once I see all of them): Visitors!!

Best Wedding in Four Years

Just yesterday I got back from a very important event, my brother Owen's wedding weekend out in the city of Boise, which is in Idaho. It was also my sister-in-law Laura's wedding weekend. Coincidentally, they were marrying each other. 

Before there could be a wedding on Saturday, there was a Friday's worth of important things to do. Like get Owen all checked out of his bachelor apartment. 

And then much of the family convened at the state capitol building, which is in Boise, because Boise is the capitol of Idaho. Inside the capitol they were holding a graduation ceremony for new corrections officers. (Note the table of spare badges that weren't handed out). And there was also art, like George Washington holding a light saber and Martin Luther King carved from a stump. 

Then we grabbed lunch at Tin Roof Tacos. The crowd was wowed by their fried shrimp tacos. (Not pictured--what's happened to me?) We happened to stand in line outside the restaurant behind a friend of Owen's who was also getting married on Saturday.

After lunch a few of us visited the old Boise train depot from which we could observe all of downtown Boise. We also discussed what the difference might be between "In-line Skates" and "Rollerblades."

Then we stopped by a Wal Mart to pick up some essentials for the wedding. And saw the truck of someone who Dad would probably get along with.

Back to the hotel for a minute...

That night we went to Zupas to meet Laura's family, but on the way I stopped by my friend Rob Comstock's flagship store.

Before bed I walked around our hotel's neighborhood. There was a shiny theater with early showtimes.

Ok, thank you for scrolling this far. Promise I'm about to start posting wedding photos. But first, can I show you my buffet breakfast and the mural from the hotel dining room?

And now we drive across the street to the Boise Temple! And the Edwards turn up...then imagine that we go to the ceremony, and come outside, and then the photos continue with us waiting for Owen and Laura to emerge from the temple.

And the waiting is over! Here's the Barneses!

Let's look at who else was at the wedding. (that I got photos of)

Grandma. Sticking out her tongue at me?

Brother Greg with his Uncle namesake. OR just an uncle with the same name as him, unclear if he was named after him.

Uncle Duke

Uncle Frank.

Aunt Afton. 

And I believe the regular reader knows Mom and Emily. That guy with the camera? That's Owen's bishop, and the wedding photographer.

Hmmm. Looks like I don't have any pictures of the group photos. Well, believe me, they happened.

After the wedding and before the luncheon Greg, Becky and I took advantage of a taquito offer we'd noticed at a Mexican place right by the hotel.

But I didn't want to eat too many taquitos and ruin my not-pictured Wedding Luncheon lunch of tri-tip and chicken and mac n cheese, etc. But here are pictures of revelers and Emily, Mom and Dad paying tribute to the couple. Plus Owen's good friend Jeramy. Then Owen and Laura spoke.

Between luncheon and reception we passed some of the time by going to see the Hairy Coos, a type of Scottish hairy cow. Hey Coos, us Barneses are Scottish too!

And then, Reception Time!

A funny thing about the reception was that the woman who put out all this fruit left her phone on the table while she was doing it and it wound up buried in fruit for the whole night. 

Cutting the cake!

2017:

2013:

The Edwards kids love a cake cutting!

While people celebrated, other people were up to light trouble.

Back inside, let's eat that cake!

Now let's party!

And then it was time for Owen and Laura's big send off. But I don't have pictures of them running through bubbles. Because I was busy sending them off. But I do have a picture of Owen investigating the work they did on his car to make sure it was all street legal.

And after the party it's the after party, which we held at Boise's famous West Side Drive-In, where we story told and chit-chatted over tater tots, burgers and an ice cream potato.

And that's the story of the Wedding Weekend in Boise! I hope you enjoyed it.

We Came Back to Aspen Grove

Aspen Grove is a BYU alumni family camp just up the road a few more miles from Sundance. Growing up, Aspen Grove was just about the only vacation we ever took. To celebrate her 90th birthday, Grandma Taylor wanted her progeny to all to come to Aspen Grove again, and we happily obliged. We hadn't been there since 2007! The whole trip was full of good-natured nostalgia and making new memories. I cam with controlled expectations and had a very good time. It was just so nice to know I'd be getting three square meals a day. Now I'm going to try to get through the week as succinctly as possible, but I do have more than 100 pictures to post.

SATURDAY: Arrived in the late afternoon and found the rest of my family quickly. Gave the camp a good walking around and checking on, had our first dinner, went to the family-introducing meeting where we all glowed with pride as Grandma introduced our group and the reason for our gathering and then the big opening campfire happened.

SUNDAY: The main thing Sunday was our celebration of Grandma. And then nice quiet family time and stuff. Not too much to report.

MONDAY: Okay, NOW we're getting serious. Monday morning many of us tried out the High Adventure ropes course and shot guns. That afternoon was the famous Aspen Follies field games where we debuted our family t-shirt. Look at all these pictures of us having fun on the field! Why spoil it with some extra details about the water balloon launch? Before dinner I played an Deluxe Sized round of D&D with all the cousins and in the PM Andrew came up to camp to reunite with the family and for me to give him a grand tour and show him the A frame where we used to stay on our very earliest trips to camp.

TUESDAY: Tuesday morning I took a hike with Mom, Dad, Owen and Emily to the waterfall on the way to Mt Timpanogos. When we got back to camp Jon, my old counselor from 1993 was there! One of his sons is now an Aspen Grove counselor. Wow. Man. What a world. After lunch we did laser tag and then I showed Walker how to pose with a wooden snake. 

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday morning the youngsters had their chance to try out the High Adventure course and cousin Scotty talked his way on (I leant him my shoes since he only wears flip flops because he goes to college in Hawaii). I spent the afternoon/evening in Salt Lake, no pictures of that because IT WASN'T ASPEN GROVE.

THURSDAY: I believe I spent the day in classes or something? Maybe reading or taking a nap or something? I don't remember. There's no pictures. But in the afternoon I hiked to Stewart Falls on my own. Here's a photo Mom took of me at the trailhead in case I didn't come back. As you may be able to tell, I had my Leica with me, BUT I left my SD card behind. So no pictures from the hike. Oh well. But also Thursday was hamburger day, a day I'd been looking forward to all week. And when I got back from my hike I was all dirty so I put the reunion shirt back on (I'm telling you that because I don't want the costume change to throw you off and have you think this is two days worth of pictures). In the evening we had the closing campfire (there's a picture of when they had all the adults come up to sing Sweet Caroline after all the kid groups came up to sing their songs. And then we took a lot of pictures And now I feel it important to clarify that, along with all the Taylor descendants, Dad's brother Greg's whole family was there, too. So it was a family reunion with a bonus side-reunion. After that it was the big family dance, I hope you saw the videos from it that I posted on Instagram that night. And we stayed up late, like, until 10, maybe 11, sitting around and talking and then we went to bed.

FRIDAY: Well, things for me got crazy when I discovered, as I was packing up, that my wallet had totally disappeared. This kind of messed the whole rest of the day up for me, knowing I needed to get on a flight that evening and then the next night and also just trying to figure out if I had dropped it somewhere, left it somewhere, got it stolen, or what. So. No pictures. Frantic ending. But a great trip up until then and still not so bad in spite of the wallet loss.

Thing to Note: Two posts ago I filled this blog with pictures of my family together in Chicago for the 4th of July. Now here's this post full of family pictures for August. And next weekend we'll all be together in Idaho for Owen's wedding. This is a dang family photo blog now. Thanks for stopping by.