July: Utah Time!
We hadn’t been to Utah for over a year*, so our Tahoe trip was a great opportunity to slip in a Utah trip, too.
When we got in Sunday night we went right on over to La Frontera, a Woolley Family Favorite, and met up with my in-laws Amy and Doug. La Frontera is known for its Chile verde and for good reason, so yummy!
And then it was up to Highland with us where we found all the Edwards enjoying the Olympics.
Monday, July 29 — Up and at them, bugging Rogue the cat and starting the day with a nice little neighborhood walk.
While we were in Utah I worked 4 out of those 5 workdays. So I enjoyed different views from around the house while Liz was out meeting up with friends and stuff.
But then in the night I got to do fun things like go with Kristen’s family to a new (to them, and now us) taco place in Midvale called Del Barrio. It was very good and deceptively elevated cuisine in there.
Tuesday, July 30 - Another nice morning walk, another day of working out of the house, and then a Brazilian feast with Liz’s High School friend Tanelle and her husband, Adam.
Wednesday, July 31st - A morning walk! A day of working! Then I cooked barbacoa for dinner and Elijah joined us and then we took an evening walk! A perfect day in a lot of ways.
Thursday, August 1 — And now for something different! Liz and I drove down to Ephraim to check out Snow College, the institution where Liz’s higher learning began. I’d never been to Ephraim or its excellent Walmart before and let me tell you I had a great time! I wish I had gone to Snow College!
Leaving the music building we bumped into a professor of Liz’s from back in the day who totally remembered her so we had a sit down catch up in his office and it was pretty awesome and then, driving through town, we passed Liz’s bishop’s house from back in the day and the bishop’s wife was outside so we stopped and said Hi and wound up going inside and had a sit down catch up with the bishop’s wife and the bishop’s wife’s husband and it was totally awesome. After that we drove by the Manti temple (which I had never beheld with my mortal eyes before) as well as the under-construction Ephraim temple and then had a rather bad lunch at a German cafe in nearby Spring City (though I give what I saw of Spring City a big thumbs up) and then drove up to Heber to meet up with the Berthrongs before calling it a Utah night (and also bumped into a previous bishop of my own [and his wife] so it was a big day for reuniting with bishops).
Friday, August 2 — Lunch at Don Joaquin brought some delight to my workday. It was Liz’s first time and, a couple of bites in, she proclaimed it was the best taco she’d ever had outside of Mexico. My heart skipped a beat — what a familiar assessment! A magnificent lunch at a magnificent place, and they’ve added suadero and carnitas to their menu! (Along with quite a lot of other things, but I’m still just getting tacos). And Tawna was with us, too!
Post work we went up to Layton for C&B Chicken, which is the same as Maddox chicken.
And from there we went down to Salt Lake City for Elijah’s birthday party where I found myself out on the balcony explaining my camera to some partygoers…
While meanwhile the Snow College Kids held a joyful little reunion.
What a party! Happy Birthday to Elijah.
Heading back to Highland, we stopped at an In n Out so I could try a new burger order I had thought up: Double Double Animal Style, No Lettuce, No Tomato, Whole Grilled Onion, Chopped Peppers — it was great! Next time I’ll get it as a single so the onion stands out more and get double (or triple??) chopped peppers.
Saturday, August 3 — The day we fly back to Columbus. What a nice long vacation it had been! We had lunch with Kristen and Cory at La Casa del Tamal (what a great place and what a generous amount of ceviche they give you if you order ceviche) before they dropped us off at the airport. A nice visit indeed, hoping it’s not too long before our next one!
