Trip Out West - Part 2 Salt Lake City Pioneer Day Celebration

Day 3 Pioneer Day
The 24 of July is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah, commemorating the arrive of Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. It is as big (if not bigger) celebration than the 4th of July and a holiday for many (including Jessi on Monday but not Peter :-( )

Since the 24th fell on a Sunday this year, we went to church (duh!) The theme for Sacrament meeting was Pioneers! (Imagine that).  The choir (including Jessi and Peter) sang Faith in Every Footstep and did a good job. Sunday school lesson was on Korihor in the book of Alma, and priesthood meeting was on temples.

In the evening after supper (roast - 21-day fix style - very good), we just visited and Jessi and Peter introduced us to Studio C episodes on YouTube.

Peter and Jessi's ward building

Enjoying a cool morning on the porch before church

Day 4 Pioneer Day holiday

Since Pioneer Day was on a Sunday, the holiday was celebrated on Monday. JoAnne got up early with PB&J to exercise and I went for a walk. After the evercise session was over, Kira and JoAnne joined me and we walked some more. This was pretty much standard for the rest of the stay in Salt Lake.

Peter had to work on Monday, but the rest of us went to breakfast after cleaning up. We went to a place called Angel Cafe. My omelet was really good and Jessi liked her quiche but JoAnne and Kira were a little disappointed. For one thing, it was expensive - like $5 for a glass of juice, I guess all the French words on the menu should have been a clue.

My omelet

After breakfast, I went back to the house, while the girls went to find out what Santa Claus does during the summer (aka shopping). They were gone for hours, but must have found Santa.

Loot from shopping trip

When Peter got home, we went up to Heber, Utah. You may recall that at Christmas, we had tickets for the Polar Express train ride that we had to miss because we could not get up I-80 because of the snow. The Heber Valley Railroad (formerly the Heber Creeper) allowed us to put the money on account to be used before the end of the year. So we used the money to ride the Fiddle and Firecracker Express. It included a fried chicken dinner with a bluegrass band and a train ride 7 miles toward Provo at a screaming 15 mph, which then turned around and came back to a spot where we could watch the Pioneer Day fireworks across the lake from Charleston, Utah. 

Sherrif and posse waiting for the bad guys

Locomotive changing ends of the train for ride back towards the station

Singing YMCA!

When we stopped for the fireworks, they put out chairs for those who wanted to get off the train. We were on the correct side of the car to see so we stayed on the train.

Video of fireworks

Time to go home.

Trip Out West - Part 1 Driving to Utah

We are starting on our trip out west. We will travel through 18 states and about 5000 miles. Kira has been visiting us at home for about a month and we will be taking her back out to Salt Lake with us. Since we are taking a bunch of Kira's stuff out to Salt Lake and we are driving, this qualifies as a "trip," not a "vacation." That is not a bad thing.

Kira's stuff loaded in the car

DAY 1

Most of the packing had been done the day before, but on Thursday, 22 July we were actually leaving. I had to work and JoAnne had a conference she was attending. I had hoped to get home a little early, but a power failure at work just before I left had me scrambling to get out of the office. JoAnne and I both got home about the same time. Since I had to still change clothes and pack up some last-minute stuff, she and Kira took the dogs to the kennel, then we were on our way by 5 pm. Our first day took us to Spartanburg (where we saw a pretty good downpour), Asheville, over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Knoxville, then to Cookeville, where we spent the night at the Country Inn and Suites. Check off South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Tennessee has some of the best welcome centers

Our hotel

Day 2

Taking time on Friday morning only to get breakfast (which was pretty good!) we are on the road again pretty early.

We go through Nashville, and then St Louis. We had planned on taking I-70 across Missouri, but traffic on the interstate was pretty heavy. In addition, we were going to get to Kansas City around rush hour. So we cut up some two-lane state highways to get on US-36, and interstate wannabee that took us to St Joseph, Missouri. Great choice. Avoided KC and still at freeway speeds. We spent the night at the Hampton Inn in Lincoln, Nebraska. We had dinner that evening at Chevy's - a Mexican restaurant that was a little higher priced than it should have been. Add Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska to the list of visited states.

Day 3

Up early again on Saturday to open the breakfast line at the Hampton Inn. Breakfast was really good. They had the fixin's for steak breakfast fajita's that were really good. Driving directions are easy from Lincoln. Get on I-80 and stay on it until you get to I-215 in Salt Lake.

At this point I will note that were set to arrive in Salk Lake on Pioneer Day weekend, so I could not help thinking about my pioneer ancestors who made this same trip by wagon train or handcart. Crossing Nebraska on I-80 for the first 1/3 of the trip follows the path of the Mormon/Oregon trail ( from about Grand Island to Ogallala). It would take us about 10 minutes to cover the same ground as they did in one day. My impression of crossing the plains was how much everything looked the same. I can't imaging walking 10-12 miles every day, and when stopping everything looks just like it did the day before. The winds across Wyoming were pretty strong, and right off the nose of the car. It did not help gas mileage but we still managed about 32mpg. There was a lot of highway construction across western Nebraska and all the way across Wyoming. They would close down half of the freeway essentially making it a two lane road. Good news was the speed limit was usually set to 65 mph in the construction zones. Bad news was there was always someone in front of you that would not go that fast. I-80 rejoins the Mormon trail at Ft Bridger, Wyoming and follows it down Echo canyon in Utah. At that point the trail turns right to go over big and little mountain to Emigration Canyon, where I-80 turns left to go down Parley's canyon. We get off on I-215 in Salt Lake to go to Cottonwood Heights and Peter and Jessi's house. Add Wyoming and Utah to the list. THIS IS THE PLACE!

These sculptures were at some of the rest areas in Nebraska

Just Can't Wait to be King!

Matt and Vanessa Reception Video

Pre-Memorial Day Weekend in Mississippi 19 - 23 May

JoAnne had a bonus day off this year at school (a snow day that was not used) so we decided to turn it into a four-day weekend trip to Mississippi. We both worked on Thursday, 19 May, but as soon as we got off work we headed out (by way of the kennel in McConnells for the dogs.) We went as far as Opilika, Alabama where we spent the night at the Hampton Inn. Next morning we were on the road by 5am local time and were at Matt and Vanessa's house by 10am. We picked up Joshua at noon from his last day of school, then went to do a little shopping. Nanni bought Joshua a Star Wars video game, and a PAWS helmet for Nathan. We had lunch at Osaka Japanese Hibachi in D'Iberville (pronouced DEE IBERVIL - apologies to any French speakers out there!)

After lunch, we went back to the house. JoAnne and Matt had a light saber battle in the front yard. Matt decided to wash his new car, and I figured I may as well do the CR-V while we were at it.

Those are light sabers - just ask Joshua

Notice the use of the human shield!

Nanni bought Nathan this PAWS
bike helmet

Of course, if the water is turned on, the boys want in on the water action, too.

Friday night, the grownups (aka the Grumps) went to see Captain America: Civil War and ate too much popcorn. Movie was fun.

Keelser Exchange

Saturday, we all went down to Keesler AFB.  Matt was on call, but he hoped he would not be called in, but took two cars just in case. Sure enough, just as we pulled into the Exchange parking lot, he was called in. Fortunately he was only there for a couple of hours. Nanni and Vanessa found some things they liked at the BX.

Afterwards, we went to the base marina where they were having a military family appreciation day sponsored by the ELKS. Free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips (crisps for Jessi and Peter in England) and a drink. The boys got to go fishing, and they had a paleontologist do a dinosaur dig in the plastic swimming pool filled with sand. Matt joined back up with us while we were there.

There was a British sports car club showing off their cars.
None of them were right-hand drive :-)

Sittin' on the dock of the bay...

Watching the kids "dig" for fossils

Nice looking airplane parked out beyond the trees

It was getting pretty warm, and it was too early for supper, so we went to a local mall to hang out in the air conditioning. The boy rode a carousel and then we did some shopping for books.

After an hour or so, it was time to eat, so we went to a seafood place call The Reef. Most of us had the Royal Red shrimp. It was really good.

That evening we watched Ant-Man, since he was in the Captain America movie the night before and we didn't know anything about him. Movie was actually pretty good.

Sunday was church, and since Matt is bishop we kind of felt obligated to go. After church, we came home for left overs for lunch and taco salad for dinner. We mainly just hung out waiting for Matt to come home (it was kind of a long wait.) Vanessa and I got on the computer and did some family history work. She found names to take to the temple on Tuesday (24 May).

Nathan (aka Taz) enjoying quiet Sunday afternoon

Monday morning, came, like it always does. JoAnne and I got up and went for a walk, had breakfast, then packed up for the trip home. We finally got home a little before 9 pm.  Now if we can just get motivated to go to work!