My Utah Vacation

I just spent about a week and a half in Utah.  I went down with the intentions of helping my daughter move into her new home, visit with family and friends and then come home within a weeks time.  Things just kept coming up and I stayed 4 days longer than planned, but well worth it.  The bad part was all the surrounding fires in the area.  My allergies did not particularly like the smoke.  This is a picture of the fire that started in Alpine, Utah (not far from where I was staying), caused from a backhoe.  It took a few days to even get this fire under control.  Luckily, this fire did not take out any homes.

These birds (Scrub Jay's)are the funniest little things.  Every night, my sister puts out peanuts for them to eat.  They swoop down, grab a peanut, then fly off.  The funny part is.......they usually fly off and bury their peanuts in the lawn.  It's pretty funny watching them bob their heads up and down many times, making sure their peanut treasure is pushed/buried in the grass, before flying off to get another peanut.  But, here is the hilarious part......as soon as they have buried their peanut and fly off to get another peanut, another Scrub Jay will swoop down, thug the peanut that was just buried, and fly off.  Too Funny!

 

I also got to spend some quality time with some of my high school friends.  We sat and talked/laughed for hours, literally.  We even planned to have a retreat at my home next spring.  Ah, reminiscing.........total therapy for the soul! 

As my sister and I were coming home from shopping, she looked up and saw all these pelicans flying around the sky.  It was interesting watching them.  They weren't just flying in a straight ahead manner, they kept circling around and around, inching their way forward.

One evening, my sis and I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken, bought some food and headed up American Fork Canyon for a picnic, of sorts.  It was so beautiful and relaxing.......after I cleaned up all the mess I made from an exploding pop.

After we were finished eating and chillaxing, we decided to drive around the campground that we used to go to as children with our parents.  This big rock (it is much bigger than it looks in the photos) was one of our childhood memories.  It was so fun, as I remember, trying to climb to the top of this rock.  We spent a lot of time on the old rock.

As stated earlier, I basically went to Utah to help my daughter get settled into her new home.  You know, as parents and no matter how old your children are, you still worry about them.  It was so nice to see what type of neighborhood my daughter was moving to.  It is one of the most wonderful neighborhoods and I couldn't have picked a better one for her if I had tried.  They are such a close-knit community.  Every year around July 4th, they actually block off the entire street with flashing road blocks and have a neighborhood party.  They have quit a few BBQ'ers that they park right in the middle of the road along with huge tables filled with lots of pot-luck food.  This party included everyone living around the block, too.  After eating and games, and when it gets dark, they all gather to one neighbors lawn and watch fireworks.  What a neighborhood...one of the best I've ever seen.