Trip Out West - Part 4 Las Vegas

Day 7
The title of this is a little misleading, as none of us actually took any pictures in Las Vegas. But more about that later.

We got up bright and early on Thursday morning in order to beat any traffic while leaving Salt Lake. Must have been early enough since we didn't have any issues.

We wanted to take the time to visit the recently dedicated Provo City Center temple. This was the former Provo Tabernacle that was gutted to the bare outside walls in a fire back in December of 2010. The building was completely rebuilt as a temple, which is a story in itself.

Building after the fire

We got to Provo around 8 am which was a great time for the early morning sunlight. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Proof we were there

We drove on down to Cedar City were we visited the campus of Southern Utah University and saw the new Shakespeare theater. I think I like the old one better, but I haven't seen a show in the new one. Then we went to see the Cedar City Temple that is under construction. It is going to be awesome. Maybe not Provo City Center awesome, but awesome none the less.

Cedar City Temple from I-15 north of town

Southern Utah Art Museum
Lots of paintings of S Utah
Plus a photo gallery of the Utah Parks Company
Where my Grandpa Turek and dad used to work

New Shakespeare theatre

Trying to look inside

Chick-fil-A at SUU!!!

Temple

We tried to go to Cafe Rio, but it was really busy and the line was not moving so we decided to go to the one in St George instead. We did get gas in Cedar.

We drove to Jason and Sherri's house (where dad lives) and visited for a short while. Then we all went over to the Viking chapel where all of my brothers and sisters met us. We had dinner together and just visited - which is to say no one bothered to take pictures :-(.  After that we went over to Mike and Kelly's house along with dad, and visited some more. Thanks for letting us stay over!!!

Add Arizona and Nevada to states visted

Trip Out West - Part 3 Downtown Salt Lake

Day 5
On Tuesday, Peter had the day off. We all wanted to go to the temple together while we were there. But which temple? Jordan River was closed, so that left Draper, Oquirrh Mountain, and Salt Lake City. We chose the Salt Lake Temple. Jessi and Peter had been there before (they live in the Salt Lake Temple district), but none of the rest of us had. After morning exercises we headed downtown. We aimed for the 10 am session, but we were just a little late for that, so we did some looking around at Deseret Books to kill some time. There were some things we needed to pick up there anyway. We made it to the 11 am session. We all had family names to do. I think we all really enjoyed the session although I was a little distracted taking in all the things to see in the Salt Lake temple (wood work, metal work, paintings, etc). I am glad we had Peter and Jessi to follow around. I could have gotten lost. The session seemed to be a little shorter there.

 After the session, we went back to Deseret and picked up all the things we needed there. Then we went to Gateway Mall for lunch at Toucanos Brazilian Grill and to see the new Star Trek movie.

Toucanos serves "CHURRASCO (shoe-HAS-ko) style dining, where fresh meats and vegetables are grilled and brought directly to your table by our meat servers. While your Tucanos Cue remains green side up, our meat servers will continue to bring fresh selection of meats and vegetables to your table. When you have finished or would like a break, simply turn your Tucanos Cue red side up and our meat servers will skip your table." I have been to Rio de Janeiro and their churrasco compares very favorably with what I had in Brazil. And the prices for lunch were very reasonable. (The grilled pineapple was really good!). The meal comes with a very good salad bar. Best part is I just found out there is a Toucanos in Greenville!

After eating, we had some time to kill. We were in a mall so you can guess what we did. Peter and I went on ahead to Barnes and Noble to kill time before the movie Star Trek Beyond started. We really enjoyed the movie, but afterwards we apparently had not had enough shopping, so...  There were some good deals at Lucky Brand Jeans so we spent some time there saving money.

By the time we got home, the 100 degree heat and the shopping had worn me out.

Day 6

Jessi and Peter both had to work on Wednesday. We took Kira's stuff to her apartment and helped her get it organized. After that we went to chick-fil-A for breakfast and discovered the sandwiches we ordered were free on that day at all the Utah Chick-fil-A locations.  JoAnne and I got some laundry done and started repacking for the trip to Vegas and then home. Jessi was able to work from home that afternoon, so we were able to go to Cafe Zupas for lunch. I also logged into work and did a couple of things. We fixed crock pot pork carnitas for supper, and other 21-day fix recipe. All the 21-day fix recipes we tried were good. 

Moving Kira's stuff into her appartment

View from Kira's driveway

JoAnne took time to water the garden at Jessi and Peter's house

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