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| On Mindy's couch at baby Enzo's blessing. I'm putting this pic at the top of the post because I like having pictures at the top of posts. And I turned it black and white because my face looked really blotchy in the color version and I'm vain like that. |
Halfway through our Utah trip I tried to sit down and write a post . . . and my sitting down lasted all of 12 minutes. I think that was about the longest stretch of blogging time I had the whole two weeks. We had an excellent time, jam packed with family and friends and excursions both hither and thither. It was wonderful and exhausting, often simultaneously. When we lived in Minnesota the first time (98-05) we made plenty of trips back to UT, but things were different then. The kids were younger and had few opinions about seeing friends of their own. We didn't stay in close touch with many friends from our former wards, so we made fewer "friend dates" ourselves. The Wilkeys didn't live in Utah. Mindy and Peter didn't live in Utah. Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt didn't live in Utah. (Does it seem like everybody moved back to Utah in the last few years to you, too?) Heck, Forrest's mom and dad lived in Minnesota with us! So I think I underestimated how much more running around we'd be doing, and even with all our going-and-going there were still people we missed seeing. But, in the end, all of it was the best kind of running around: hanging out with people we love, having fun, spending time as a family. A veritable whirlwind of togetherness.
So, without further ado, here's my rundown of the first few days of our Utah extravaganza:
Wednesday, August 10: We took off before 9:00 a.m. (hey, that's a feat, don't you think?) and started the road trip equipped with iPods, DVDs, laptops, smart phones, puzzle books, fruit roll ups, trail mix, Capri Suns, and a bag full of novels. I've got to say, that first day on the road the time really flew. Traveling with big kids? Oh, so much easier, especially when everybody's got their earphones in. Plus, we had some nice scenery:
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| Clean energy. Isn't it purdy? |
After a few emergency bathroom stops for he-of-the-ridiculously-small-bladder-who-shall-not-be-named, we found ourselves in South Dakota's Badlands. We'd never taken the I-90 route to Utah, always favoring the I-80 route with its uninterrupted freeway access (and super boring scenery), so this time we thought we'd shake things up a bit. The Badlands look like somebody took Southern Utah and made a shrinky dink out of it. The formations are smaller and greyer, but they're still cool. And the kids liked scrambling about on the rocks.
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| So the canyon isn't nearly as deep as Bryce Canyon, but my reptilian brain still responded with panic every time my 4 year old came close to the edge. Yes, I realize there are bars there. But what if he climbed on top of them and then jumped? (Never mind the fact that the drop off freaked him out almost as much as it freaked me out.) |
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| A lovely profile. |
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| I love this picture. Teenagers, and still friends. Mostly. :-) |
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| Love that blue Midwestern sky. |
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| The Bubba. |
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| Post Scamper |
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| Now that's a scenic picture. If I do say so. |
Along the way, I kept noticing that we were sharing the highways with an inordinate number of retired, leather-clad bikers. I knew that South Dakota offered some nice scenery and the lure of the open road, but what in the heck was going on?
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| Snapped from my car window at 75 mph. Nice job new lens! |
Once we got close to our hotel it Rapid City, it became clearer and clearer: we happened to be passing through South Dakota smack in the middle of the
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Mostly these weren't scary bikers, though. Mostly they were nice, grey haired old guys who grinned at Wyatt as he raced through the hall of the hotel and made grandfatherly comments about how I had my "hands full." It was actually kind of fun. Added color and interest to the drive and all that. Thanks, bikers!
Thursday, August 11: Forrest is a man of many passions: donuts, biking, turtles, Tina Fey,
novels about 19th century sea captains. Another passion to add to the list? Fish hatcheries. I can't imagine under what circumstances it would ever occur to
me to visit a fish hatchery, but because I'm married to my husband I've become well acquainted. Turns out there's a lovely (really!) fish hatchery in Spearfish, South Dakota, recommended by one of Forrest's coworkers, so we took a bit of a detour in order to explore. We took even more of a detour when Google Maps sent us straight up a mountainside, searching for the elusive hatchery amidst dozens of private cabins, but eventually we figured things out the old fashioned way (follow the signs!) and made our way to the hatchery.
Unfortunately, the hatchery itself was undergoing renovations and had no fish. Okay, not NO fish. They had one pond full. But no actual "hatching" of any kind was going on. It was a pretty place to visit, though. Super tricked out, as far as your average hatchery is concerned:
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| They had a train (to the left), as well as an old boat (not pictured). |
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| Fish hatchery statuary! I mean, really. That's hatchery love. |
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| No other hatchery I have ever had the pleasure of exploring boasts a "Fish Culture Hall of Fame." |
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| Forrest, trying to shake off the lack of actual hatching, searching for Rainbows in the water. (Not metaphorical rainbows, of course. He wasn't THAT bummed.) |
By the end of the day on Thursday I was already sick of fast food (how did that Spurlock guy of
Super Size Me fame do it?). But we pulled into the Salt Lake Valley with time to spare and were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa Sweat, cheese dip, chilled shrimp and cocktail sauce (hit the spot!), and a new king sized bed in the basement (yay!). I'm not sure if my mom and dad really thought that three or their four kids would wind up living out of state when they built this house almost a decade ago, but it's sure a nice place for travelers to stay.
Friday, August 12
The first order of the day on Friday was to go visit Mindy and brand new baby Enzo. Oh, he's a cuddly one! You know how Forrest loves fish hatcheries? I love new babies, especially the kind that will snuggle up against my chest. Enzo is one of those kinds. Divine.
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| Wyatt loves holding new babies too. Just gotta be careful supporting that neck. |
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| Elise, Enzo, and Lilly, who's suddenly a big girl with silky blonde hair. |
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| Jonas, sans glasses. Those baby blues hide behind those frames sometimes, so it's nice to see them sparkle. |
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| Enzo giving us the thumbs up. |
That night, Grandma and Grandpa Sweat planned one of my very favorite things of our whole Utah vacation: a trip to Sundance with Tony and Cindy's kids to see
The Sound of Music performed live. We stopped for a bbq in the canyon (good old Ledgemere campground) and the kids splashed around in the creek, which I hear was raging early on in the summer but has calmed down considerably.
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| Ethan leaping from one rock to the next while Wyatt looks on, concerned. We'll let you estimate his trajectory and decide whether or not he made it. |
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| The girls. |
It's a bit of a hike up in the mountains to arrive at the Sundance theater, but a little huffing and puffing is worth it.
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| I love this pic. It was taken by a kindly stranger who probably didn't have it in him to tell Forrest to scoot down in order to achieve more pleasing photographic symmetry. Anyway: a little asymmetrical, but still a great shot. |
Before the play began, we had plenty of time to hang out and play cards:
Roll (or be carried) down hills:
Have photo shoots (one shoot took more coercion than the other):
And just enjoy each other's company:
Then, finally, the hills were alive. I managed to snap one illicit shot of Maria striding down the hill toward us (no photos allowed!) before I had to put my camera back in the bag:
It was a great show, full of strong actors and talented singers. The actress playing Maria was particularly good. Her soprano was almost as clean and pure as Julie Andrews'. I had fun joining in on the sing-alongs, too. It was a lovely night, even if it was after midnight before we got everybody in bed.
Saturday, August 13
I didn't take a single picture Saturday. Whoops! In my defense, a large part of the day was spent at Cowabunga Bay, a water park, and the last thing I wanted to do was risk getting my camera wet. Plus, who wants pictures of themselves in swimwear? Besides Matthew McConaghey. Hey! How about for the sake of visual interest, I'll just put a shot of old Matt up for everyone to enjoy?
(We can add Matthew to the list of things Forrest likes, somewhere after Tina Fey and before sea turtles. This doesn't threaten his masculinity in any way, of course.)
We had a lot of fun at the water park and the kids enjoyed the slides, even though waiting at the top of the stairs with the wind whipping was chilllllly. Whoo doggies! Then we came home and Forrest and I rustled up some chicken enchiladas and we spent the night hanging with Tony and Cindy's family at my Mom and Dad's. When I was telling Cindy how much running around we did on this trip, she pointed out that this year, especially, they've had all sorts of people coming INTO town. Their weekends (and weekdays, too!) have been booked with traveling families hoping to get a piece of them. So thanks, Tone and Cindy, for always being so willing to hang with the Hallstroms! It wouldn't be the same without you. So you can never move. :-)
And now I'd better wrap up part one. I'm not even going to apologize for this being long: either you'll read it or you won't. I just wanted to get everything down. You know, for posterity. Because THEY will certainly be fascinated by our adventures at fish hatcheries and water parks. Won't they?
