Our Utah trip: Part 1

Wednesday, Kyle and I woke up before our lethargic bodies were ready , and by that I mean 8:30 am, in order to get in a last run before we took the trip to Mormonville, Utah. You may know it by it's other name, Salt Lake City, however since that Lake seems to be drying up quiet quickly, they may need to change the name, and Mormonville is clever, don't you think? I mean it is better than some of the names we have in Texas: Hell, Purgatory, among others.

Wednesday:

• Flight 2pm-4pm in Utah. It was direct, no layovers, no stops, it was fantastic! And what was even better, they had FREE Wifi in both airports, which was why I was able to write about our fabulous HALLOWEEN post!
• Jennifer didn't arrive however until 10ish, and as our best friends are 80 years old and go to sleep before 9pm, they couldn't stay up to greet her. (Actually they had a valid excuse as they had to wake up at 5am to go to work, but it's more fun to call make fun of them)

Thursday

• Jennifer woke up as Leslie was leaving for work, in my opinion because she way too much energy but her excuse was the time difference from NYC to Utah; her body's time was two hours ahead, and with the extra hours in the wee morning with no one to entertain her, she went grocery shopping for Bisquick and pumpkin pie ingredients. Kyle and I woke to what sounded like someone covering the entire kitchen in aluminum foil. We were surprised to discover pancakes were generously being made by our energetic best friend.
• After making breakfast and throwing together the ingredients for vegetarian chili in the crockpot in proper Suzy homemaker style, we got ready for our day of intrigue into this little/big city. (200 thousand people live inside SLC, but 1 million live in the greater SLC area, however there are only 2 million in total in all of Utah.)

• We shopped. Well, Jen shopped, we watched. And ate at a fabulous little Greek restaurant.

Jen wasn't as enthusiastic about the billions of photo ops as I was :)

• The temple is basically the epicenter of the city, and therefore wasn't difficult to find. The visitor center was interesting, but the best part by far was Ida Mae, our 93 year old tour guide who took us to the top of the Mormon office building to view the city in all it's Mountainous glory.
• It took us 10 min to cross the room because she moved slower than molasses in January, but she was an excellent guide, and we found ourselves quoting her throughout the rest our trip. At one point when she was leading us to the elevators to go up to the observation deck we were abruptly stopped by the over protective security guard, who was then promptly scolded by this little old lady.
• 
• Adam and Eve fully clothed in Roman attire

Jesus among the stars and the planets in Heaven

• Dinner- vegetarian chili- was fantastic. And the Bisquick mix doubled as a biscuit mix which we accidentally let fall to the ground, yet still ate (five second rule people).
  
• We then gathered around the television set to watch "The Office," which was painful yet somehow satisfying to watch.

Friday

• Friday began with Leslie sleeping nearly 12 hours. She has to sleep for two now and if the Pennycook Ness baby is anything like Leslie, it will appreciate sleep.
• We then packed a lunch and headed off towards some mountains for wilderness hiking. As we didn't actually know what we were doing, we got lost several times along our route which sometimes had a clear path and sometimes didn't. Our National Geographic instincts weren't as skilled as Lewis and Clark's and when our confusing and unmarked path took us to a cutting and jagged ridge, a breeze, which some might describe as a deathly gale blew with all it's might attempting to dislodge us on our journey, and throw us to a harrowing fate among the bottom of the cliff, but I am happy to proclaim that we reigned victorious hikers and without any harm save a few blisters. And as explorers, we discovered a "living room" which is the name hiking enthusiasts have bestowed upon the very cleverly stacked pile of rocks placed in such a way to have the feel of chairs, couches and a coffee table.
• While hiking underneath the sun, it is easy to forget the cool temperature of Utah in fall. We remembered quickly however as we picnicked next to the drained lake with the geese and ducks.
• A nap was required before our visit to the...

To be continued..... (It's so exciting, I know! You are all in such anticipation, and I am keeping you from finding out what happens which is cruel torture, however, this post is getting way too long to be considered interesting so it will be in two parts, yes you must wait.)