Road Trip for Two! Week One

Do you know what the best thing is about going on vacation when you are retired? That dreaded feeling of vacation ending and having to go back to work is gone! Completely gone, it's awesome.

This may end up in two separate posts. Wally and I went on a two week road trip. We ate a lot of good stuff, saw a lot of family and friends and literally spent 15 days together pretty much non stop. And we survived!

I had this idea many months ago and was able to convince Wally how "fun" it would be. We coordinated dates with everyone and put the plan in place.

We drove from home to Boise on Monday, April 24th. We loaded the car with some items going to Wayne's house and Wally's really cool Skilsaw bag that he thought made a great overnight bag. Seriously, do you see the size of that thing?

Monday night was spent at Sue and Dennis' home in Boise. The next morning on our way to Salt Lake City we went to Logan, Utah to visit my great nephew Nathan. He just returned from a mission in Poland recently. It was surprising to realize how two years had gone by since we last saw him. He was working so we picked him up at work and went out to lunch. It was a short visit but so fun to spend some time with him.

After taking him back to work, we went to see the Logan temple and were treated to beautiful tulips and the sun peeking out from a rainy day.

 Wally had been joking earlier about cupcakes so I dazzled him with my smart phone skills and found a cupcake shop before heading out of Logan.

We then drove to Natalie and Scott's home in Millcreek where we would spend the next two nights. We visited with one of my old college room mates who I stay in touch with. Wally and I went out to dinner while Natalie and Scott went to a concert.

Wednesday night we went to Sicilia Mia's for dinner. I love Italian food and I love cheese. Drool over this video. That was my dinner, and also Natalie's lunch the next day.

On Thursday morning we visited my friend Loretta and her mother at their home, then went to IHOP and visited over breakfast. It was so good to see them. We then visited my sister Nancy in Springville, then we headed to Hurricane, Utah where my son lives with his wife and three daughters. We rented a condo in Sports Village in St. George.

Wally hadn't seen Wayne's family since last summer in June, so it was a lot of fun.

The condo was a pretty nice place. We had a full kitchen and lots of space. It was nice having a living room. Only problem was the bed was too tall for Wally! So we slept in one of the other beds.

On Friday afternoon Wally and I picked up the two older grand daughters and went up to Zion National Park. I finally got to go there! And it was beautiful. It's such a short drive from Wayne's house. The weather was perfect. There were lots of tourists there. Annelise took a lot of pictures with my camera and Avea took some photos with my cell phone. It was really fun. We rode the bus up to another stop and walked around just a little bit. You can see a lot from the bus ride.

After the park we went into the small town of Springdale to Zion Pizza & Noodle for some super yummy pizza. I probably should have warned you that this is as much about the food we ate as it is about everything else we did.

On our trip we went out a lot for a big breakfast mid morning, then we'd have a snack and then a great dinner. That seemed to be our pattern for awhile.

One of my favorite breakfasts of the whole trip was crepes at Bear Paw Café in St. George. We had eaten there before a couple of years ago. It's a busy place but worth the wait.

Those were so delicious filled with cream, strawberries and bananas.
On Saturday, Wayne and Andrea brought the girls over to the condo. We played games in the club house for a little bit. Air hockey with Avea was a blast, as was watching Annelise play pool. They had to leave for a little bit, so Wally napped on the couch in the condo and I relaxed by the pool.

Now, that's something I could really get used to. After so much rain in Kent, having two weeks of pure sunshine was incredible!

Later that day Wayne and family came back over and the girls and I went swimming. They all loved the water and we had a blast. Then we went out for Italian food nearby and then a quick stop at Wayne's to pick up some things that we were taking home.

Sunday morning we left St. George and headed north. We stopped at Cove Fort, Utah and toured the grounds with an older sister missionary. I had never stopped there before and it was pretty fun to see.

On our way back to Salt Lake we stopped and visited with Emily and Nancy for a little while. Back in Salt Lake Sunday night we went to Ruth's Diner with Natalie and Scott for dinner.

That pretty much sums up the first week of our trip.