We Are Here!

It has been quite a trip.
When last we spoke, I was in Butte with Karen.
The Calgary group was dealing with blowing snow
and quarter mile visibility. Fun!
We, on the other hand, had beautiful blue skies,
so after a quick breakfast of a banana, Karen took
me to the Butte Copper Company (a store)
where we browsed and looked at all the amazing
things made of copper.  She ended up buying a
really cute necklace/pendant of the map of Montana
wrapped with a tiny little copper wire.
I found a fun bracelet with buffaloes on it
and a couple pair of earrings.
Off to Walmart for a few essentials and then
back to the house for a nap and sandwich.
Mom, Dad and Rod showed up in the
afternoon, the roads had cleared up
and the rest of the trip was uneventful.

We had a lovely dinner of beef stroganoff
Karen had made in her crockpot, visited for a bit,
and then noticed it was starting to snow!
Sure enough, after a good night's sleep in
the basement spare room, we woke to a
couple of inches of good, wet snow.

Karen and I made a breakfast of eggs, ham and cheese
and then we hit the road.
After learning I haven't driven in snow for
36 years, Dad decided he would prefer to drive
his car for the first bit until we got out of the snow,
(Wonder why???????? Lol)
But once it cleared up, we swapped drivers
and continued south.

We made it to Logan late in the afternoon, Kyle met us at
our hotel, it was Sooooo good to see him!
We had a good visit and then off to Olive Garden
for fettuccine alfredo (over broccoli for me).
While at dinner Kyle got a call asking him to
work that night.  So we finished dinner,
took Mom and Dad back to the hotel
and then went over to Kyles place to check
out the digs and visit before he had to work.

Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear.
The men went to get Kyle a replacement battery
for his truck (free!!!) and some oil changing stuff
across the street at Walmart.
Then it was off to Salt Lake to meet up with Sondra.
We had a fun afternoon with her and Matt!
We made sandwiches, visited in their awesome
back yard, went to Brian's shop and saw his
amazing cement work he is doing these days,
and then headed over to Taffy Town for 72 flavors
of salt water taffy!  It was fun to pick out flavors,
and after a couple of pieces we gave it to Mom. Hahaha

Back to Sondra's for a yummy chili dinner in beautiful
hand thrown ceramic bowls, delicious cheesecake,
and more visiting, then time for goodbyes
and off to the hotel.
Matt gave us each one of his incredible spoons!
I can't wait to use them!

The next leg of the journey was uneventful,
lots of driving, but the roads were great,
the weather was sunny and warm,
the company was enjoyable whether I was
riding in the Uhaul with Rod or
driving the car with Mom.
We drove all the way to Page, Az and found
a nice room at a hotel (I ran out of points for
Hampton Inn) had a nice dinner at Denny's
(with a horrible waitress)
and then to the room for a well earned sleep.

Breakfast in the hotel at 7ish and back
on the road for the last leg!
There were no scary mountains,
just lots of big wide sweeping turns,
big hills, but nothing twisty and turny.
I drove through Phoenix, but Rod knew
a route from his trucking days,
so even though it was Friday afternoon,
it wasn't any worse then Ft Lauderdale and
not as bad as Orlando.

Dad drove the final leg after we stopped
in Cassagrande for a Dairy Queen.
It was Great to pull on to Summer and see
all the familiar homes and family waiting
for us!

To be continued .....