Back in May, my best friend, Haley, had her 22nd birthday! Last year she absolutely spoiled me rotten for my birthday, and one of our (many) adventures was going to a musical at Tuacahn. It was my first time going to Tuacahn and I was immediately in love. So, because I love her so much and because she's such a good influence on me (and my entertainment taste), I decided to coordinate a little surprise of my own for her birthday.
Step one: I talked to her boss and worked out the initial phase of my plan with him: kidnapping Haley.
Step two: I called her mom and figured out a work-around for her other birthday festivities and arranged to stop by and assemble some overnight luggage for Haley.
Step three: I purchased tickets for Brian Regan (and the crowd goes wild!) performing live at Tuacahn and made hotel reservations.
That was all months and months in advance, which was necessary to get tickets, and getting tickets was a pretty important part of my plan.
Yes, Brian Regan is hilarious, but it's more than that; Brian, Haley, and I go way back. Haley and I have rolled on the floor laughing at and quoting and re-laughing at Brian's jokes for years. Years and years. He came to Salt Lake a few times, but tickets were insanely expensive, and after that I wasn't sure if we were ever going to see his show live. And then there was that time Haley bought tickets for a couple of her family members to go for a special occasion, but she didn't go. So basically it was about dang time.
Luckily, time goes by relatively quickly, and pretty soon it was game day. I ran to her house just before lunch, threw a couple things in a bag for her (with the help of her lovely mama), and hid it in the trunk along with our lunches and road trip snacks. (Sidenote: my new[er] car is great for this kind of thing because it has a trunk that opens and air conditioning for toasty desert drives!) I figured if I surprised her for lunch, she wouldn't suspect that things were going any farther than that, so that's the plan I went with.
I pulled up to her workplace and told her that I already talked to her boss and I was stealing her away for lunch! "There's this little place in Provo that was recommended to me," I said in an attempt to calm her suspicions when we got on the freeway. She continued with her story and a lightbulb went right about the time I kept driving after the Provo exits. Welp, the jig was up and I knew that was going to happen early on, but I still only told her that she had officially been kidnapped. Simple as that.
We had quite an adventure figuring out where to stop in all the construction so we could get our lunches and snacks out of the trunk (I didn't think that one through completely), but after that twenty-minute ordeal we were home free! We got to St. George (aka St. Geezy) a few hours later, checked into our hotel, donned our swimming suits, and headed down to the pool to catch some rays.
Whilst we were there, two guys in their mid-twenties showed up and started showing off in the pool and looking over at us to see if we were watching them. Really? As our time wound down, we collected our things and headed back to our room to get ready, but before we could go, Guy 1 and Guy 2 started asking us questions. I don't remember exactly what they were, but the gist was a "Where are you from?" "How long are you staying?" "Will we see you down in this vicinity again?" Up north. Not long. And no. At that point my wedding ring was only weeks old and extremely sparkly, so I assumed it was too blingin' to miss. Apparently not. Either that or they were hoping to get a two-on-one date with Haley, which could've been fun.
After our showers, it was time for dinner. Haley chose Outback Steakhouse. If you know Haley, you may or may not have gasped because you know that doesn't really happen. She's not a big steak person, but I definitely am, so I wasn't about to say no to that.
While we were there, we ran into an old friend of ours, Lindsay Johnson! Such a fun surprise.
She was down in St. Geezy with her family and they were all going to Brian Regan that night. At this point, Haley still had no idea what we were doing, so I played along and acted appropriately jealous (because I would've been extremely jealous if I didn't have tickets). Luckily when Lindsay asked what we were doing, I got away with the vague, "We're down here celebrating Haley's birthday!" Apparently I was excited enough about that and didn't need to offer any further details.
After dinner we went on our merry way to the show. Here's the thing about trying to surprise someone with tickets to Tuacahn: there's a point on the drive there when you realize, if you know the area at all, that the only place you could go is Tuacahn (because it's in the middle of nowhere and your brain knows you have no other options)--either that or you're being driven out into the middle of the desert to be killed.
Haley's a smart one though, so she brushed aside option B and sided with option A: TUACAHN, baby!
"Hey! There's a spot!"
Psych.
People are awesome.
kind of obsessed
There he is!
(P.S. I almost got shot for taking this photo, even though photography was totally allowed--just not flash photography. I don't think the volunteer paid attention in her training. Just sayin'.)
The show was amazing. I don't know what else to say. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard and my face hurt from smiling so big for so long. I absolutely loved it and I'd love to see him again.
When we got back into the city, reteling Brian's new material the whole way there, we did a replay of my similar birthday evening last year and made a stop at McDonald's. We got a smoothie and an Oreo Mcflurry and shared both. By the time we got back to our hotel we were exhausted, so we got into our pajamas, watched Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for a bit, and went to bed.
I woke up to see Haley cocooned in a sea of pillows.
Kind of makes you want to take a nap, doesn't it?
saying goodbye to our hotel
on the road again toward our home sweet home
I had such a great time road tripping and lounging and concerting and partying with my dearest Haley Mae! I am so grateful to her for always being there for me and for knowing me so well. She's always there to get pumpkin pie blizzards with me, kidnap me and take me to Vegas, go to cheesy chick flicks with me, and take me shopping at DI. Whatever we're doing, it's always a great time.
Happy belated half-birthday, Haley! I love you!
May the good times keep on comin' . . .
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