Monday, November 3, 2008

Utah!

I came out to Utah about 2-3 days ago. It's amazing how many people I've seen and how much I've done since then. First off, if you don't know, I haven't been here in 12-13 years, and a lot of my cousins out here I haven't seen since then. It's been really great catching up with everyone and sort of meeting them for the first time as an adult.

Perhaps some of you Chicago/Elgin folk have noticed that I don't look much like my cousins and uncles out there. As shown . . .


The Akemann Crew

Out here, it all suddenly makes sense. For the first time, I'm standing around with a group of guys and I feel like I look like them and other people can tell. Also other things, like quirks and habits I've noticed in Mom but not really in myself because of the gender gap, I see in "man form" in the relatives.

But with the good similarities come the bad. Out here, we are pack rats. Today I helped clean my grandma's house. It's a very gradual process. I worked with my mom and my two aunts for eight hours, unloading junk from the basement. I have never seen anything like it. We threw out two truckloads, a garbage can, and an SUV's worth of trash and didn't make a dent. While we accomplished a lot, it's almost awe-inspiring to see how much we didn't accomplish in the grand scheme of things.




Word to the wise:

Never allow someone with Foster blood to have three basements. Note that the lineage may be disguised as Akemann, Balzotti, or Gleave blood, but the gene is dominant and very dangerous.

*Note- This picture was taken at the dump, not the basement.


So that was today, but it's been mostly fun besides that. Saturday I went SCUBA diving in a hot spring where my cousin and his wife work. There wasn't much to see, but the experience itself was really cool. The hot spring is in the middle of this random desert valley. It's basically a mound of limestone that was once overflowing with spring water. Then someone blew out a tunnel in the side with dynamite and now it's a 60-foot hole in the ground, filled with a constant supply of warm water. It was pretty neat.

3 comments:

Book Look Column Author said...

I see a strange, almost Alien light in the water behind you! They say nothing can live in that deep,very warm water but are you sure?

Alyssa Coberly said...

hey! i know those people :0) and i definately know the scary pat rack that is grandma's basement!

Sarah said...

I didn't realize grandma's basements were that bad. I admit, I cleaned out one of my junk drawers after reading that. PS, yeah, you look different in that picture. Of course, you also are the only one in black AND you dyed your hair black.
Also, I took that picture the night we went to the apple orchard two years ago. Tell Kelly it should be with those pictures. Actually, I used your camera, so YOU have those pictures.