Monday, September 26 - back home

After a nice breakfast in the casino's coffee shop (also relatively smoke-free), we hit the road at 8:45 am.  Again, a long and boring drive.  My goodness but there's a lot of open land in Nevada and eastern Oregon.  We decided not to stop for lunch since we were so close to home by that time, so we just munched on nuts and crackers left from the trip.  Don got us back home safe and sound at around 2:30 pm, which gave us plenty of time to start laundry, go through the mail and still watch the first presidential debate.

One other thing I forgot to mention about our tour of the Olympic site.  Our tour guide told us that when we watch the ski long jumps, NBC makes it look like they are soaring way up high before they land.  Actually they are only about 15-20 feet off the ground.  I'll watch with a more critical eye from now on.

As always, it's good to be home, but we had a great time and we are thankful that we had the opportunity to see more of this wondrous country and spend time with good friends.

Sunday, September 25 - goodbye to St. George

We checked out of the Worldmark, St. George and hit the road around 9:00 am for the long drive to Winnemucca, NV.  It was a very long and uneventful drive.  There was a small amount of wildlife - deer and antelope and a coyote once - and very little traffic, but lots and lots of sagebrush.  Lunch was at the Silver State Restaurant in Ely, NV, a completely forgettable meal.  We arrived at the Winners Inn Casino in Winnemucca around 5:00 pm.  We had forgotten all about how smoky these small casinos are.  Our room was non-smoking, but even still we propped open a window and turned on the AC unit's fan to try to cut down the smoke seeping in from the hall.  Surprisingly, dinner at the steakhouse restaurant was very good (and smoke-free).  And we had coupons for a free drink at the bar and a glass of wine with dinner, so that was nice.  I didn't even look at the slot machines because the smoke was too much.

I forgot to mention that on our way out of Zion Park last Friday, we passed through the town of Mt. Carmel Junction and saw a sign for "ho-made pies".  We decided we didn't want a pie made by a ho, so we continued on to our delicious pie from Aunt Sue in Duck Creek Village.  Now I'll forever think of "home-made pies" as ho-made.

Saturday, September 24

Today was a trip to Mesquite, NV which is about 30 miles south on I-15.  Michael wanted to see it since we were in the area and we had heard good things about it from some former Eagle Cresters who moved down here permanently recently.  Michael is interested in Nevada since it has no inheritance tax (always thinking ahead).  Anyway, Mesquite is quite a bit of nothing.  It's just over the border of Arizona,a corner of which you pass through on the way from St. George.  There are lots of new houses on the north side of the freeway, and the Sun City by Del Webb that we visited has some beautiful homes at very reasonable prices, but unfortunately, that's about all that can be said of the place.  The distant mountain vistas are lovely, but there are almost no trees which we weren't thrilled with.  And other than a super Walmart, you'd have to go to St. George or Las Vegas (80 miles southwest) for any other shopping.  So, we crossed Mesquite off the list.  We had lunch at the golf clubhouse (not terribly memorable) and took a "back road" back to St. George.  A few hours by the pool and leftovers for dinner rounded out the day.  Tomorrow we head for Winnemucca for the night on our way home.

Friday, September 23

Today was a trip to Zion National Park.  After only one misstep with the GPS in Don's truck, we found the right way in.  It was quite busy and there was no place to park and catch the shuttles, so we just showed one of our "Old Farts Pass" (among us we have 3) and drove on in.  This is an amazing place.  I took lots of pictures with my phone camera, some of which I plan to post here.  Needless to say, my photos don't do the beauty justice.  We didn't do any hikes, just drove through.  Then we took a circular route north, then through mountains west.  We got up to 9,983 feet in elevation (17 more feet and Don would have needed oxygen according to Michael) and down to 35 degrees with some snow on the side of the road.  Of course we were hungry so we stopped at Aunt Sue's Cafe in the bustling village of Duck Creek Village just below the summit.  Again, lunch was very good, but the highlight was the mixed berry pie. Boy, that Aunt Sue can make a pie!  On the way back south to St. George we went into Kolob Canyon, right off I-15.  It's about a 12 mile drive to the end of the road and the red rock caverns and valleys are gorgeous.  After a stop at Albertson's for dinner items, it was back to the resort for a quiet evening.

 

Thursday, September 22 - off to St. George, UT

Today was moving day.  We packed up and checked out by 9:30.  Yesterday maintenance had to spend a little time in the room fixing a leak in our shower that was affecting the downstairs unit.  It wasn't an inconvenience at all, but they gave us a bottle of wine and dark chocolate bar in appreciation.  At checkout she said we owed $11.72 for the "wine we ordered.".  I said, "hmmh, I thought that was a gift, but OK."  She looked a little closer and apologized for the confusion and said she'd take the charge off.  She said something about them not taking the tax off the statement.  The tax rate here is about 9% and I don't think they sent us a $110 bottle of wine, so I'm not sure what she was talking about, but it all got straightened out in the end.  The drive south to St. George (about 300 miles) was uneventful, but again at a speed limit of 80mph, it was nerve wracking.  Utah is a beautiful state.  As my brother said, many parts look just like the old western movies.  They'd have a hard time filming Westerns now with all the cell towers and power lines everywhere.  We were able to check in here at the Worldmark a little bit early and get our stuff unloaded.  We had a beer, then headed out to the local Smith's store for provisions.  During the 5 mile ride, we passed through a huge rain storm where you could hardly see the road.  Fortunately, just as we arrived at the store, it let up and we were able to get in without getting soaked.  On the way home we passed through many streets that were partially flooded.  Tonight was a rotisserie chicken with cole slaw dinner and old movies on TV. 

Wednesday, September 21

Today was a laid back day.  We all took a walk around a part of Park City we hadn't seen yet.  It is really a lovely town.  I say "town" because the year round population is about 8,000.  Then we did a quick final trip back to the Family History Library for one more lesson.  We had lunch at the Blue Iguana (Mexican) and enjoyed it thoroughly.  I had a bottle of my Polygamy Porter and was saddened to note that it was not as good as the draft version.  The afternoon was spent around the pool until the clouds started to build and it got a little chilly.  Dinner was at Main Street Pizza and Noodles where we shared a cobb salad and margherita pizzsa, both of which were winners.  The weather really took a turn for the worse and it got windy and rainy.  Tomorrow we head to St. George.

Tuesday, September 20

We woke to another beautiful day, and since the forecast says it might change tomorrow, we took advantage and went back to Silver Lake for the walk.  There was much less traffic this time so we were able to enjoy the scenery even more.  The aspens are a brilliant yellow and the maples are bright red/orange.  I tried taking pictures, but they really don't capture the beauty.  The summit was 9,700+ feet and the lake is at 8,400 feet so the nice flat mile walk was plenty.  We've really noticed how the elevation (about 7,000 feet at Park City) affects us with even moderate exertion.  The humidity is about 30% so we feel like we're shriveling up.

We had a simple lunch at a little cafe at the Brighton ski resort cafe and then headed back home through Midway this time.  This is a big ranching area and again we saw huge homes hanging off the hillsides.  Can't figure where all the money comes from.