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.

Monday, September 19

This morning Michael and I headed back to the LDS Family History Center just up the street.  We had been working through building our family trees, but we knew we weren't doing it the most efficiently and knew there had to be more to learn.  Sister Fischer was very helpful.  She was able to show us how to search for records, make sure they were the right person, and then attach that record and update our information.  She also told us about the Granite Mountains Records Vault, which is in the hills not far from Salt Lake City.  It was built in 1965 to house important family and historical records.  Some countries store their original documents there because it is so safe from natural disasters.  The Pacific Island of Niue lost all of its genealogical records in a cyclone, but were able to get copies from this site.

We had lunch in the unit, then spent a little time around the pool before heading off to the Park City Olympic Village for a 45 minute tour.  The winter olympics were held in Salt Lake City in 2002.  Park City was the site of bobsleds, luge, and ski jumps.  The site is now used for training and we watched some athletes go down the practice ski jumps and then do loops in the air and land in a big water pool.  We saw the ski jumps from the bottom and the top and the various bobsled and luge tracks.  It was a little hard to picture the scene in 2002 since it was currently 77 degrees at the site.

Then we went across the road to the movie theater to see Tom Hanks in  "Sully" which we all really enjoyed and highly recommend.  Dinner was at Butcher's where they had 2 for 1 entrees and my salmon and Michael's chicken fried chicken were delicious.  We especially enjoyed the brussel sprouts with bacon and garlic.  We haven't had a bad meal, or even a mediocre one, on this whole trip.

I've finally figured out how to add pictures.  Here a few from the olympic site, the hot air balloon show and the rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Sunday, September 18

Today was the last day of the summer season Sunday Silly Market which is held directly in front of the resort on Main Street.  There were probably 40-50 vendors, a dozen or so food  vendors and a handful of vegetable sellers.  The weather again was perfect and it was a fun morning wandering around.  We went back to the Wasatch Brewpub for lunch.  Again our lunch (Tuscan soup and beet salad) was delicious and this time I had the Polygamy Porter, which is my new favorite beer.  It's not sold in Oregon at this time, unfortunately.  We spent a while at the pool in the afternoon before barbecuing some steaks for dinner.   The evening's entertainment was a rousing game of Sequence.  We have watched almost no TV which has been refreshing.  That makes me think of a store here that sells playing cards with either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton faces on them.  They had about 50% more of the Trump decks and I wondered whether that was because they were selling more of the Hillary or they needed a bigger supply of the Trump decks. 

Saturday, September 17

We got up and out early this morning to go see the annual hot air balloon launch near the high school.  Since we went right past a Starbucks, a stop was in order.  Fortunately the weather wasn't too cold (about 45), so standing around outside was OK.  There must have been about 18-20 balloons, some of them in animal shapes and, since Wells Fargo was a prominent sponsor, there was even one shaped like a stagecoach.  That one only went up a few hundred feet before coming back down.  But the others went up and all over the place.  There were probably a couple of thousand people there.  We came back to the unit for breakfast and then decided to go higher into the mountains to hike around Silver Lake this afternoon.  Again, we did a little walking around town before having lunch to fortify us for the hike.  It was warm enough to sit outside and I had a delicious gumbo with corn bread that had a little heat to it.  Glad I didn't have another jalapeno beer with it.  Michael had cracklings and potato soup.  We've seen fried pickles on menus here, although I thought those were a southern thing.  So after lunch we headed up into the mountains.  The fall colors are coming out already and the scenery is amazingly beautiful.  The road to the hike was quite curvy and at times very narrow with steep dropoffs and no guard rails.  We encountered a lot of traffic and when we finally got to the trail head we saw why.  It was in the middle of another ski resort town (Brighton) and it seemed everyone was there to take advantage of a last weekend of good weather.  When we couldn't find a place  to park, we decided to try the hike another day and took the longer but faster route around the mountain back to Salt Lake City and home.  Then it was time to catch the last bit of the Oregon Ducks game and play some more on the family tree website before a light dinner of chicken and salad at home.  Don and Brenda are on a short walk again now and then we'll all head to the hot tub for a while.  Another beautiful, laid back day in Utah.

Friday, September 16

We had breakfast in the unit and vegetated a little while.  Brenda and Don had been out for an early morning walk and scoped out Main St.  Then all 4 of us ventured out to walk around and explore a little more.  It was chilly, but beautiful.  Within an hour or so we were taking off sweaters.  Main St. is full of art galleries, high end home decor shops and restaurants, everything you'd expect in an upscale resort town.  We did find a local Mormon Church family history place so we went in to check it out.  We were told that they have nearly all the resources that they have in Salt Lake City, so Michael and I registered to get started on building our family trees.  There were a few glitches, but Bryan, the volunteer, did his best to show us how the site worked.  He was frustrated that it didn't seem to want to build the tree automatically, but we assured him we would work on it some more from home and come back if we couldn't get it working.

We had a very nice lunch at Wasatch Brew Pub where we had Polygamy Porter for Michael and Jalapeno Cream Ale for me.  I had an avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwich and Michael had the tomato basil soup, both of which were great.  We got back to the unit late in the afternoon and 3 of us took naps before a light salad for dinner.  We did venture out later for gelato at a place we saw earlier in the day.  They had a lavender honey flavor I wanted to try.   The clerk was quite snotty and the gelato wasn't that great for $4.50 so I don't think we'll go back.

Thursday, September 15 - to Park City, Ut

After breakfast in the hotel ($5 hot buffet), we loaded up and headed south to Park City.  Interstate 80 is now 80 MPH for most of that route and I find it terrifying.  Trucks do 75 and cars do probably 85 or so.  I much preferred the smaller highways of yesterday.  Saw lots of corn, potatoes, and sugar beets along the way.  The west side of the Rockies are magnificent. We stopped in Burley, ID at Conner's Cafe for some "homestyle cooking".  We love these local places where the townfolk all eat.  They had very good burgers, sandwiches and pies. When we got into Utah we began noticing that the farm/ranch homes were much larger and nicer.  There were lots of little towns that had tracts of huge homes and nothing much else around, except the local Morman temple, which are very easy to identify since they all look alike.    We arrived in Park City, UT at 4:00 pm and checked into our home for the next week, the Marriott Summit Watch timeshare (courtesy of an exchange with our Scottish timeshare buddy, Alex Barclay).  This is a 2 bedroom lockoff, so Don and Brenda have the studio side which has its own little kitchen and sitting area, and we have the larger 1 BR side with the full kitchen, dining area and living area.  We just open the connecting doors and have the whole place together during the day.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearses most Thursday evenings, so we got back in the truck and headed the 30 miles into Salt Lake City and stumbled onto a parking garage right downtown near Temple Square.  We went into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and had a light dinner in the Nouvoo Cafe.  Nouvoo (Hebrew for "beautiful place") is the town in Illinois from which Joseph Smith and his followers emigrated.  We had half salads and soup, all delicious and very reasonably priced.  Our 2 dinners totaled $17.  By now it was 7:30, so we walked over to the Tabernacle and got in line.  There is no admission, they just were checking purses so the line moved pretty quickly.  We found seats upstairs where we could see the whole scene.  We spent about an hour and it was a wonderful experience.  The last song they were rehearsing was "The Hills are Alive" from the Sound of Music.  I have never heard that sung more beautifully.  We were all enthralled and agreed it was well worth the drive into town.  When we got back to the parking garage, Don put in the ticket to pay and there was no charge.  The first 2 hours are free and we were at 1 hr, 59 min.  On the way back home we stopped at a very nice Smith's market, which is a Kroger store, and did our grocery shopping.  Then back to the unit for the night.

Wednesday, September 14 - Off to Boise

Don and Brenda came by at 9:30 am.  Michael was able to finish mowing the lawn in time, so we loaded up our stuff in the back of Don't big truck and off we went.  We went the northern route through Prineville and stopped for an early lunch at the cafe in Mitchell - hamburgers all around.  Then we had an uneventful ride down into Boise.  This route is more scenic than through Burns although it adds a little more time, but we all felt it was worth it.  We arrived at the Wyndham Garden Boise Airport at around 6 pm (Mountain time) only to be told that they didn't have a room for Don Johnson.  I showed them the confirmation email from bookings.com which clearly showed 2 rooms.  At first she said that they never got the second reservation.  Then after looking through her printouts of that day's reservations, she found it and agreed that it said 2 rooms.  Then she said that whoever assigned the rooms that day didn't see that it was 2 rooms.  Anyway, she said she would find us a room and let someone else worry about it later.  There was a big Shriner's convention there so I hope we didn't have an angry Shriner later.  After a pre-dinner beer in Don and Brenda's room, we had dinner in the hotel's restaurant and then off to our rooms.