People Watching in Airports

People watching in airports is hampered by security regulations now. This whole business that only allows ticketed passengers at the gate means I don't get to see people say their hellos or good byes. (Yes, I am that nosey.) It's different when I just see people gliding by on the automatic sidewalk. Or sitting across from me with their carry-on luggage and whatever crap they bought in the airport.

Utah

I am in Utah with Paul for the week.  He has family here and we're just hanging out, eating, playing games, drinking and sightseeing.  We've had Christmas and we're going to have a New Year's Eve party.  These people know how to party.  It's a very good time.

We're in a small town outside of Salt Lake City.  The geography here is so new to me.  For one, this is my first time in Utah. I'm used to traveling through states where I've lived and I know basically where the major cities are and what their suburbs are.  That is not the case here.  Also, I'm used to mountainous regions being to the west.  Here, we're in the middle of Utah Valley and there are mountains all the way around us.  Another thing -- we're right next to the Wasatch Range.  It's kind of odd to look up and see a mountain peak soaring 11,000 feet above me.  In Denver, you're so far away from the mountains that you can't get a real sense of how big they are.  And once you get closer, the foothills are so huge that you've lost sight of the mountain peaks and still can't see how tall they are.  So this perspective on mountains is quite breathtaking.  I'm loving it.

Last night we took the UTA Trax system into Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square.  I took lots of pictures.  I am, by no means, a photographer and my camera is rather puny but last night we worked quite well together.  I got some good shots that I'm pleased with, especially considering the lighting that was available.

Here's the inside of the train.  They are nearly identical to the Light Rail cars in Denver so I felt right at home.  This particular train was pretty empty.

Some of the scenery out of the train windows.  I was kind of excited to go to Sandy.  You see, one of my favorite television shows is the HBO series, Big Love.  It's set in Sandy, Utah and I thought that Sandy was a fictional place until Paul told me it is, indeed, a real town.  Not only is it a real place, that's where we got on the train.  So I had to take a photo of this sign.

This is the shopping center where we got coffee before walking to Temple Square.  It's pretty and it has lots of cool shops in it.  If I appreciated shopping and crowds more, I'd probably really enjoy a place like this.  But I don't so it's mostly good for people watching and coffee sipping.  And photo snapping.

A pretty cool mural in the Union Pacific Train Station.  I love real train stations -- you know the ones where people can get on an Amtrak train and it takes them hundreds of miles away, overnight with dining cars and sleeping berths and stuff.  All of them are old and very cool with granite floors and big, carved wood moldings and these cool murals.

A cautionary piece of advice that is posted at almost all street corners.  It made me giggle.

Some other cool shots of downtown Salt Lake City.  It's very pretty and there is a lot of striking architecture.  I was just in awe.  I think Christmas is a particularly good time to experience new cities because they're all gussied up for the holidays.  This way, I get to have these beautiful first impressions as my only impressions.

And now, the main event for last night:  Temple Square.  I must preface this by saying that a friend-slash-co-worker recommended that we "go to Temple Square to see the lights" and I kind of went, "Oh. Yeah, I guess that sounds nice."  I mentioned it to Paul in passing, not really expecting that we'd go because 1) we're neither one religious, and 2) Paul was, at one time, LDS and doesn't have much inclination to revisit that.  So I didn't think there was much reason for us to go.  But when I said it, he was like, "Oh yeah!  We should do that.  The lights are pretty fantastic and the history is interesting."  So we went.  And I am so glad we did.  It is beautiful!

See what I mean?  Gorgeous, no?  I am simply amazed that my camera took photos this clearly at night.  It was really something.

After we finished with our lightseeing (get it? Lightseeing instead of sightseeing? Ha ha!) we got back on the train and headed to a place called Trolley square.  I hear that there is lots of history surrounding that place as well but I'm unclear on most of it.  Anyway, here it is:

Yes, it's a crappy, crappy, crappy picture.  The rest of our group was running across the street while I was taking this picture and I was in a hurry to take it so I didn't get left behind and then a car almost hit me.  Oops.  But I'm okay.

We decided to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory which is inside the shopping mall at Trolley Square.  This is what the wait line for Old Spaghetti Factory looked like.  Lisa, Paul's sister-in-law, went in to ask how long the wait was for a group our size (8 of us) and came out to report that it would be at least an hour.  So some of the group went off to shop and the some of the group went off in search of beer.  I went in search of beer because I am not a shopper.

We actually ended up waiting about an hour and 20 minutes for our tables but it was definitely worth it.  Old Spaghetti Factory isn't exactly original or authentic food but it's very tasty and a really good deal.  I ordered an entree that was easily enough for both Paul and myself.  It came with iced tea or coffee, all the bread I wanted, a side salad and, the best part yet -- spumoni!  Yumyum, yummy, yummolicious!  I would have taken photos but the lighting was terrible and nothing would have shown up.  I did get a picture of the trolley car that is inside the restaurant, though.

Pretty cool, huh?

When we were done eating we walked back to the train and I got some more photos of things that I found to be interesting.

This was pretty neat.  It was at the stop where we waited for one of our return trains.  It's a poem written by a 14-year-old girl named Ruby, I believe.

 This was a funny little train seat all by itself.  Cole called it the lonely hobo seat.

And this is what greeted us when we arrived back in Sandy.  It was freezing fog -- quite the interesting sight.

Anyway, as you can see, we're having a fantastic time.  There is lots of great stuff in store for our remaining days here, too.  I'll be meeting Paul's mom tomorrow and maybe meeting an online friend on Thursday.  I hope the weather cooperates.  We're under a severe winter storm warning right now and it doesn't end until Thursday night or Friday morning.  Gah.

Yay for Arkansas!

Yay for the people in Arkansas, anyway. At least some of the people. This is a good time. All the siblings, I repeat all, are here. That's no easy feat considering our circumstances and geography. We are having a blast.  So, until I can devote more time to a follow up post on this subject, I'll leave you with some word snapshots -- a toast to the matriarch in honor of her graduation; rounds of Boggle with iPhones at the ready for proving or disproving a word's legitimacy; a dozen chatting, laughing people crammed into the kitchen because that's where we always end up. And there's so much more to come!

Sent via Pony Express

I'm in Arkansas

I'm in Arkansas with family.  It's nice, except for the humidity and the mosquitoes.  And in truth, that is a small price to pay for hanging out here in my parents' house with my brothers and sisters that I rarely get to see.

I have a pretty great family.  For the majority of my life so far, I've taken them for granted.  In the last few years, I've realized how good I have had it all my life.  The more people I meet who say things like, "You have my sympathy" or "Ugh, good luck" when I say I'm going to spend a week with my family, the more I realize that most people do not enjoy their families the way I enjoy mine.  It makes me sad for them and even happier for myself.

I picked up the kids from the ex-husband on Friday morning and we hit the road.  Seven-hundred-ten miles on I-40 is too many miles on I-40, or any road for that matter.  Ugh and double-ugh.  We did break up the monotony by stopping at Cadillac Ranch and painting a few cars.  I have photos of that but I will have to post them another time.  We were also chewed up and spit out by hordes of mosquitoes.  Poor Samuel got the worst of it and has been hopped up and/or strung out on Benadryl and Motrin ever since.

We spent Saturday with my Granny and her beau.  He's nice and he really seems to make her happy and seems to like us so it's all good.  I also met my brother's girlfriend of 3 years for the first time.  It's obvious they make each other happy.  That makes me happy.

Yesterday we spent the day hanging out around the house.  The kids divided their time among playing Mario Kart, jumping on the trampoline and 'babysitting' their various dolls.  I explored the attic (which is huge!) and found a box of stuff that I left when I moved out.  My favorite doll from childhood was in there, along with a jar of sand I collected from White Sands, New Mexico when I was 12.  There were some godawful clothes in there, too but we won't talk about that.

Today we went to Chuck E. Cheese for fun and games.  The kids procured cheap plastic crap that will most likely be lost before we leave but we had a good time and got some fun photos.  Lance is arriving here any minute for a week or so himself.

Tomorrow we will go to a water park near here for swimming, sliding and sun.  I'm excited.  It sounds similar to the one I take my kids to at home in Colorado, only a titch bigger.  We'll picnic and spend the whole day there.

On Wednesday my Paw Paw and his wife are coming over to visit.  I haven't seen them in at least a year and a half.  Also, some time during this week, some of us siblings are planning an epic game of Monopoly.  'Twill be much fun!

And on Thursday the kids and I will leave just after lunch time and drive to the western side of Oklahoma City.  We're planning to stay at a nice hotel, swim and then on Friday morning we'll tour a museum that looked interesting on the way over.  I'll drop the kiddos off with the ex-husband on Friday evening and head home myself on Saturday.

Palisade, Colorado

Oh, what a weekend! There aren't words for most everything we did and saw and ate and drank. So I'll post photographs with some brief explanations. Keep in mind that the pictures can't possibly do any of the subjects justice. It was magical.

The bed and breakfast where we stayed --
 a charming Victorian that has been stunningly renovated and is run by the sweetest couple.  We had fabulous breakfasts every morning and relaxed in the heavenly hot tub in the evenings.  We can't wait to go back.

The view from the backyard.

Our room and bathroom. Told you it was stunning.

The winery across the street.  We had a personal tour with the winemaker and his wife.  That man is a viniculture genius.  He really knows his stuff.  I learned a lot about wine and how to better appreciate different varietals. They liked us, too because they invited us back that evening for an Independence Day celebration with some of the best food I've ever had.  We're talking roasted pork rib quesadillas with cherry jalapeno salsa, green salad with mandarin oranges and white wine dressing.  Oh, man.  It was tremendous.

The town is small so we did a lot of walking.  The railroad tracks run right through the middle of town so we had to wait on a train.  In case you didn't know, it's rather loud.

We saw some interesting signs.

And some interesting plants.  I still have no idea what this was.  It almost looks like a fungus that has overtaken the the tree but I can't be sure.

One of our favorite places to eat, ever.  They serve the best Greek gyro I've ever had.  I might change my mind if I have a real gyro in Greece some day but since that's not happening any time soon I'll keep going back here.

This particular day, however, I had a garden veggie sandwich with sweet potato fries.  It was so good I'm still thinking about it.

We toured another winery.  This one wasn't as interesting because the tour was given by an employee of the vineyard.  I know it's not possible to tour with winemakers all the time, but it does add a nice personal touch when we can.

Scrap metal sculptures outside another winery.

Awards won by our favorite winery.  I loved every single wine I tasted at this place.  It's called Garfield Estates and they are fabulous.  Paul joined their membership club and I won a free bottle of wine when I entered their drawing.  Yay!

We also ate at the Palisade Brewing Company.  They're an interesting place.

The brew delicious beer and serve delectable French dip sandwiches.

On the way home we stopped at Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs for lunch.

I had a veggie burger that was To. Die. For.  And, of course, more sweet potato fries.  For the record, Palisade Cafe and Grill makes better fries.

We lunched on the patio by this fountain.  The weather was perfect.

After lunch we walked around town a bit before getting back in the car for more driving.  Glenwood Springs is a great place to vacation.  This pool is fed by natural hot springs.  I'm dying to go there and get in it some day.

There are both Hotel Colorado and Hotel Denver in Glenwood Springs.  I don't think that should be allowed.   It's too confusing.

I'll give them a pass though, because Hotel Denver is attached to Glenwood Brewpub that makes more good beer.

More sights in Glenwood Springs.

  And then we got back on the road for the rest of the drive home.  We saw thousands of dead trees like these.  They're being killed off by the bark beetle.  It's a sad but necessary part of natural forest life.

The Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel.  Did you know that it's 1.7 miles long?  It feels like it, too.  Funny tidbit -- that car in front of us has a license plate that reads HRVRDMAN and the plate is inside a frame that says 'Harvard Alumni' on it.  Um, you think?

On the other side of the tunnel we hit this.  Record-breaking holiday traffic.  We sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 2 hours.  It was bad.  It was maddening.  It was hot.  It was yuck.

I left out a big section of our trip.  On July 4th we went up onto the Colorado National Monument, took lots of pictures and had a picnic.  We watched the fireworks down in Grand Junction.  I'll put that in the next post because there are almost as many pictures of that as there are of the whole rest of the weekend.