Sunday, October 17, 2010

Spontaneous road trip weekend

Friday morning when we woke up, Tim spontaneously asked if we could go to Logan when I got off work. Always up for an adventure, of course I consented. We headed out of Provo at around 4 pm, and arrived in Logan just in time for Trace's surprise birthday party. You see, Trace is Tim's childhood and high school friend, but we never get to see him and his wife and daughter very often because Logan to Provo is a little far. We decided to make a sleepover of it, and spent the night in their beautiful home. I forget people our age are allowed to buy beautiful homes and decorate them perfectly. I couldn't believe Michelle's decorating skills - the house was out of a catalog! Not to mention her organization. Wow. At first I thought the house was clean and neat because of the party and having company over, but then I opened the hall closet to put up some games and everything was stacked neatly in tupperware containers and well-labeled. I was jealous of the spaciousness and the bathtubs and the perfect new appliances. One day, our time will come. Until then, we'll appreciate our cozy little basement.

We had such a fun time, didn't go to bed until midnight (Theodore didn't fall asleep until 11... he was a party animal!) and ate German pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to the Farmer's Market, but before we got there we stopped by my friend Brittany's to visit her and her new twin girls. They were so tiny and adorable. We only were able to stay about 15 minutes because Theodore had a break-down from exhaustion so we got him into the car. He didn't actually asleep, which was fine by us because I'd rather him sleep through a drive than sleep through the Farmer's Market. He played around in the grass, we ate navajo tacos and pumpkin cheesecake (which were to DIE for), and drank some Winder milk (if only we could afford Winder milk, it'd be awesome). I bought some homemade laundry detergent for $5 and sampled just about everything under the sun (Tim and I joked about we go to the Farmer's Market and usually eat more in samples than we buy... which is very true). And lovely enough, Trace and Michelle decided to join us and so we got to hang out with them a little longer. Tim also ran into a friend from high school, which was weird. I forget that can happen anywhere in Utah for him. Not so much for me. Anyways, the weather was gorgeous, the food delightful, the atmosphere was awesomely granolie and laid-back. I love the Farmer's Market crowd. There were so many Subaru Outbacks and Chariot trailers. Just our kind of people.

After the Farmer's Market, we packed our sleeping baby into the carseat and headed to find a hike. We took a turn for a scenic drive down to Huntsville, Utah on Highway 165. Biggest. mistake. ever. Ok, maybe a gross exaggeration, but wrong move nonetheless. Because about 10 miles of this semi-major road (that is on our road map I might add) was UNPAVED and incredibly rocky. So, for about an hour we crawled down this road, in hope of seeing civilization in front of us. We finally came to Liberty, Utah and returned to the wonder of paved road. Note to self: check the map key to figure out what a dotted line indicates. Even if something is called a "highway" does not mean it is driveable in a Honda Civic.

We made it to Huntsville after saving a lost puppy from certain death (the owners were thrilled) and almost witnessing a SUV turnover while turning a sharp corner (it had barely flipped when we drove past, the emergency vehicles hadn't even arrived), and decided to visit the Trappist monks. It was a little disappointing compared to the sweet* monasteries in Egypt where you could hang out with the monks and touch their relics and such. This monastery was a small church and a gift shop. The honey is delicious though so we bought a large container of it (they keep the bees there at the monastery so it's as local as you can get). I loved that even though the check-out line was long and there were lots of people waiting, the monk who was ringing everyone up took time to talk to each individual. He was remarkably observant and sharp considering how old he looked. It was refreshing to see someone with no concept of rushing. And it was even more refreshing to notice that nobody in line was getting annoyed.

After the monastery, we grabbed lunch at Subway and headed for a hike in the mountains (I can't remember the name). We forgot the baby backpack, but did have our "off-road" stroller so we decided to try it out. Well, the path was entirely too rocky and fairly steep, so we failed. We let Theodore play in the rocks for a while, avoiding the mountain bikers racing down the path. He was getting sleepy and so were we, so we decided to go hiking another weekend and head home for now. We spent the night at Tim's parent's and headed down to Provo the next day, only stopping in Salt Lake for a short time to test-drive a few cars (did I mentioned we're buying a new car? More on that, later).

All in all - pleasant road trip. Besides the rocky road mishap, it could have been perfect.





* I realized after I wrote this: "dessert" monasteries. Har dee har har.

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