Oh Heaven; Kleven Be Thy Name!

Allow me to explain.

A couple of months ago our dear friend, Ashley (who is amazing and brilliant) gave birth. Kind of a big deal. Anyway, her birthabration party took place on the very same weekend that Cherie and I were supposed to travel to Southern California to watch Rafael Nadal play against Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (not at the same time!) at the Indian Wells tournament. If you know us you will understand, to at least a tiny degree, what a sacrifice it was to miss that (I still can't hear the words "BNP Paribas" without a little pain in my heart).

After enduring waves of sorrow, we unofficially made up our minds that we would never miss another tennis final (at least not one with Rafa) for any reason ever again. But then, during the final weekend of the the very next major tournament (the French open, starring guess who), Ashley went and had a birthday party (not to be confused with a birthabration, which is a totally different thing)! Her party was to be a two-day Survivor–style competition in Maple Canyon, Utah. Not to be missed (pox on those of you who did miss). The party was all day Sat. and Sun. The tennis final was Sun. early morning.

So here’s your LSAT question of the day: how could we possibly reconcile our no-tennis-missing-at-least-with-rafa-in-the-final-of-a-major policy with our two-days-of-camping-for-Ashley’s-birthday expedition? (p.s. you also need to be aware of the no-wireless-in-maple-canyon-situation)

The answer involves two words: “bed” (and) “breakfast”. Congrats if you got that one! But which B&B to choose of all those in Mt. Pleasant, Utah??? The answer was loud and clear after we saw the following pictures online:

The Sitting Room

The Formal Dining Room

The "Island of Romance" Bedroom

The "Hooked on Romance Lounge" where we watched the Nadal/Federer match

Cherie's favorite room: "Romancing America"

(they only had a twin bed so we couldn't stay here)

If any of you are fans of The Office you are thinking exactly what we did, namely Schrute Beet Farms!!! Am I right?

Every surface was covered with doilies and antique hats. It reminded Cherie of her grandma Vera's house.

We stayed in the “In the Mood Room” – not, incidentally, an innuendo, but a reference to the 71-year-old owner’s favorite musician: Glenn Miller. Wow.

When we opened the mood closet it was full of old clothes. I mean old. What to do was obvious:

We don’t think these were in there as a throwback or to enhance the room’s theme. We think they were there because they were their clothes! To quote “Sassy Gay Friend” (a Youtube thing) “Clothes don’t count as vintage if you have been wearing them since they weren’t!”

Awesome. We woke up to the best homemade cinnamon rolls that can be conceived and to Rafael Nadal beating Roger Federer in the Paris finals.

We are wearing our Nadal T-shirts here and are so happy that he won.

We also had delightful (endless) conversations with Mrs. Klevin regarding the accomplishments of her adult children.

Needless to say: Best night ever!!!

Then we got to play more Survivor with our friends. When they tried to guilt us about spending the night indoors that night I replied: “There’s absolutely nothing you can possibly say that will make me regret the last twelve hours of my life!”

As for the results of the game, I won’t go into it. Let me just say my friends are traitors. And my strategy almost worked! I guess that’s kind of the point of the game. Dang it. Next year my uncanny ability to throw rocks into buckets will finally be allowed to shine!

Congrats Sophie, Winner of Survivor Maple Canyon