A Fun Weekend

Last weekend I went to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City for the first time. I’ve always wanted to go but with finding someone to go with and figuring out schedules and things, I just never did. So I went by myself and I had a great time.

I took Friday off work and hit the road around 10:00 am. On the way, I stopped to go shopping, and then a little later I stopped at the Cove Fort visitor’s center. A nice sister missionary took me through the place. When I got to Cedar City, I checked into my hotel and had enough time to go get something to eat and go figure out where to park on the SUU campus.

The first play I saw was The Liar. It was a comedy about a guy who can’t (won’t or doesn’t want to?) tell the truth and a case of mixed up identities. It was funny. It was written in the 1600s but translated into English and “updated” a bit for modern audiences. They rhyming speech was hilarious, as was the fun modern updates, such as a light saber duel.

On Saturday I was a little lazy in the morning but ended up at the Frontier Homestead State Park museum. I always love seeing any part of history and pioneers are a big part of my history. I liked the museum with the old houses, log cabins, and carriages, etc. Then I wasted some time on campus and went to my next play: The Foreigner. I have seen that one before and it was still so funny. They did a great job with it. It’s about a shy guy whose friend decides to help him out by telling people he doesn’t speak English. He then overhears all kinds of things. It’s funny, but also has a great message about the value of people, no matter where they are from.

After that, I drove back home.

I would totally go again, but I’d do things a little differently next time. First, I’d make it a 3 day weekend. It’s a lot of driving for 2 days. There were a bunch of things near Cedar City I thought about seeing, but didn’t really want to get back in the car for a drive. Making it into 3 days would help with that and give more time to see other stuff, plus go to the plays. I’d also look more into the festival itself. I did go to one orientation before my second play, but I didn’t realize the lectures and things they do, or the timing of them. It’s my own fault, but I would have liked to attend some of those also.  Plus, I didn’t actually see any of the Shakespeare, and I’d like to do that, especially if I could go to one of the lectures/orientations to become more familiar with whatever play I was seeing. There are only about 5 that I’m really comfortable with.

People keep asking me who I went with and I say nobody. I go to movies and plays and other stuff by myself at home all the time and I travel for work by myself but haven’t done a lot of solo travel for fun. As I do travel by myself I’m slowing seeing why people love it. It’s pretty freeing to do what I want to do and when and just going instead of having to find weekends that work for multiple people. The downside is not being able to split the cost of a hotel room, but I think I can handle that.