Amazing Trip...

Claude reached the time for his high school reunion. It has been 55 years since he graduated. They have a reunion every five years. Claude has only missed one of his reunions. I decided I would tag along on this trip so I could visit my sister. We plotted a travel and visit family day on Wednesday. Two full days of visiting family and attending reunion. And a final day to travel home. 

Wednesday, September 14th, we were up at 4:45am. Alarms were set for 5am but we woke up before them. This let us get on the road a little quicker than we planned. But, we would rather be early than rushing while being late. We had no traffic issues. Got a parking spot in the Value Lot and the shuttle was right there to take us to the terminal quickly. The slowest part was checking in. 

I printed boarding passes the day before and realized, after printing them, that Claude's said TSA PreCheck and mine did not. Ugh. This happened once before. That time I had to go through the normal security check-in. TSA PreCheck allows you to get through without taking shoes off. The line is a lot shorter. I called Delta and asked if they could fix this so I could print a new boarding pass for me with TSA PreCheck on it. I was told that I would have to get the agent at bag check-in to fix this when I got to the airport. It really went fairly quickly at the airport. I had the proper boarding pass and we thought we had the situation fixed for check-in for our return flight on Saturday. 

On to pick up the rental car. Claude said he wanted a sporty car. I checked all the websites and found a Mustang for the same price as the medium-sized cars. Perfect. However, it seems Budget only had one agent at the counter and the line had several people in it. We had no time commitments, so waiting was not an issue. As we waited, the line simply got longer. Finally another agent came back from lunch and the line moved a bit more quickly. We did the paperwork and were out to find our car. 

Claude was very happy with our Mustang. This is a car we will never own. Having one for four days would be great fun for us. We checked it over and then climbed in. May I just add here that sporty cars all seem to require you to slide into a low seat under a steering wheel. As one gets older, that is harder to accomplish. Claude was also parked very close to the car on his side. He finally got himself inside the car. Then...he turned the car on. On My Heavens! That car rumbled like thunder. Claude and I drive cars that are quiet. When we rode the Goldwing, it was quiet. Not used to the noise and we just looked at each other. I asked, "Is that us making that noise?" Claude grinned and said, "Yes." This was going to be a fun four days. 

Our first stop was to have lunch. We did not eat any breakfast and only had water and a cookie on the plane. Time to fill our personal tanks. We found Kneaders and each had a really good sandwich. I ordered ham and cheese. The cashier asked what kind of bread. I looked at their offerings and quickly said, "Rye!" She smiled and said, "That is an interesting combination. I wouldn't have thought of that." Clearly she has not spent much time in the east. 

We were now full and time to press on in that Mustang in a northerly direction. There was rain this day. It didn't have a huge impact on us. However, I enjoyed how the clouds hug the mountains of the Wasatch range.

We decided to stop at the Bothwell Cemetery first and make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. Bonnie and Evan are buried here. These are Claude's parents. Cordell and Julie have their gravesites here. Cordell has not passed but Julie has graduated to the next life. Cordell is Claude's brother. Krys was the first of us to occupy a spot in the family area. Krys is the son of Tami Myer's, Claude's sister. Payden is the son of Becky, Julie and Cordell's daughter. The final picture is Claude standing on our plots with his arm out over my spot. 

We then drove up the highway and right passed Bonnie's home. Claude' mother passed away in January. Usually, we would have spent our time there and family would have dropped in as they could to visit. This home has now been sold to Wyatt, Tami's grandson. It felt a little odd to not stop and go in to this family home. We would first stop at Tami's home and visit with her. Her hubby, Bill, was out hunting elk. After Tami, we drove over the canal to visit with Joann and John. Joann is Claude's sister. Both of these visits were so good. It was lovely to just sit and catch up with each other. 

As we drove to our hotel in Brigham City, I was able to get this picture of Little Mountain. 

We checked into our Holiday Inn Express where they had upgraded us to a suite. How kind of them. We had a nice room for this night and the next. 

Claude had already picked out our dinner spot. We would dine at Maddox. This was a favorite of his family. We got there before the rush. Even on a Wednesday evening, they had a lot of people waiting for a table as we left and more coming in the door. This is a place known for its steaks and homemade rolls. They serve you a basket with six homemade yeast rolls and two pieces of cornbread. With that they also give you a paper cup with whipped butter and another paper cup with whipped raspberry butter. I promise you I could have dined on homemade rolls and raspberry butter and nothing else and been a very happy girl. Yum!! I have a weak spot for chicken fried steak. This night I tried that only the steak was bison. Very good.

Back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Thursday, September 15th, we slept in. There is a two hour time difference. We were trying to adjust to that. Then we joined Claude's sister at the IFA parking lot in Ogden. This was a bit of nostalgia for Lynette. When Bonnie would have a doctor's appointment, she would drive to Ogden and park in this lot as it was just off I-15. Then Lynette would meet her there and drive her to wherever she needed to go. We hopped in Lynette's truck with her and Brian, her son, and off we went for a ride up Ogden Canyon. Lynette had a fun spot for us to have lunch together. 

Taggert's Grill was a fun place that we had never eaten at before. Lynette alerted us to their concern about rattlesnakes there. Signs were up telling us to be careful. There was also a family of peacocks. I learned from Lynette that the peacocks will attack a rattlesnake. This is why they are on the front of the Taggert's Grill menu. We ate on what would be the patio. However, they have put up glass walls all around so the snakes don't come into the facility. I had something new to me. It was spiced apple, ham and cheese wrap using a homemade tortilla. It was served with honey mustard. It was absolutely delicious. Taggert's is also known for its homemade desserts. They are elegant. Claude picked out one for us to share. He thought it was a chocolate cake with cherries on the top. He was a little disappointed that it was a heavy chocolate cheesecake. It was delicious. Claude is not as big a sweet lover as me. Brian helped to finish it off for us. 

Lynette drove us back to Ogden on back roads. Lovely drive. When we got to the IFA parking lot, Lynette suggested some roads we might want to take that Mustang out on for the afternoon. She really thought we should put it through its paces. We said goodbye after the really good visit with Lynette and Brian and headed up the road to Hardware Ranch. I took pictures of the fault line along the Wasatch Front. I am always fascinated by this stretch mark on the mountain. 

Hardware Ranch WMA is an open area up in the mountains. The elk come down to feed in the meadow. There is a big parking area where you can come and take a wagon ride out among the elk as they feed. Claude's family came here when he was a child. They would also use this canyon area to camp or picnic in as a family. Very nostalgic for Claude to be here and remember his childhood. He commented that he was only now truly aware of how much it took his parents to do those outings with six children. 

Next we drove to Logan, Utah. 

We would stop at the Logan Temple and I would walk the grounds to take pictures. This is where Claude and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity. I have wanted to take some pictures of the temple. We were married 52 years ago. The temple has been renovated and an annex has been added. We would have entered and exited through the east doors. It was so pleasant to walk those ground and see it through the lens of a camera. I took a couple of pictures of the view from the west end of the temple looking out across the valley. 

We still had daylight left. We decided to drive up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake.

Bear Lake is known for having the best raspberry shakes. We drove through Garden City and all the places were closed that might have had a raspberry shake. It was the end of the tourist season and it was now 6pm. We turned around to head back to Logan. As we got to the last gas station, I saw a sign that said 'Raspberry Shakes'. Claude quickly turned in and I went in to purchase two raspberry shakes. It was so cool watching him make these shakes. The cup they are served in had an extender placed on it that makes the cup about three inches taller. The kid then scooped out ice cream and packed it tight filling the cup and to the top of the extended portion. Then he blended that all up so it was soft. Next he add two big scoops of a raspberry mixture. Back to the blender to blend that in with the softened ice cream. Then he carefully pulls the extender off the cup and twists it as he pulls it off to give you the curlicue on the top. You must eat these with a spoon as they are very thick. Yummy!!

Back over the mountain to Logan we drove.

When we arrived at our hotel in Brigham City, it was dark. We got out of the car and then noticed that the Mustang had a surprise for us. There is a white image by each of the doors. It was the Mustang logo shining on the ground. How cool is that?

This day Katelyn posted these pictures of Joel and Emelia. Be still my heart!

Friday, September 16th, we would check out of the Holiday Inn and head to Bountiful, Utah. My sister, Junie, and her hubby, Steve, live there. We would have a really good lunch made by Junie at their home. Claude would visit until about 2pm. Then he headed back to Brigham City for his high school reunion. I stayed with Junie and we drove to Farmington to visit with Kim, her daughter. Hunter, Kim's son was there as well. Junie and I grabbed a soda and went back to her house to work on a puzzle for the remainder of the day. I was able to visit briefly with Steve, Junie's son. Claude returned when the reunion was over. We spent the night with Junie and Steve. Good visit with them. 

Saturday, September 17th, Saturday morning we were up very early and out the door by 7am. Off to the Salt Lake Airport for our flight back home. Everything was on time. We arrived at the Cincinnati ten minutes ahead of schedule. We stopped at Chipotle's for dinner. Then on to our home in Georgetown.

Junie gave me a sign for our flower beds. I put it in the back yard. It has turtles on it!! Simply lovely. 

We unpacked and settled in for the night. This was a great trip. We saw all the family we could visit with and we had time to ourselves in the fun Mustang. We both felt really good about this adventure. There is something really good about being home after a trip. You love the travel and it helps you appreciate your own home even more after the trip. 

Sunday, September 18th, has been such a good Sunday. We had great talks in Sacrament Meeting. I always love Primary. Claude picked Fazoli's for lunch. He took a nap. I labeled pictures from our trip. I went to the church and facilitated our Emotional Resilience Self-Reliance course. Claude had a Stake Priesthood Meeting in the evening. I was able to get the wash done and a start on my Blog. Now it is really Monday morning at 3:11am. I can't sleep. So, I am finishing my Blog. 

I feel richly blessed.