Hello from Salt Lake City, UT

Hello from Salt Lake City, UT

Sunday afternoon  July 21, 2013   (second travelogue of this trip).

Well, as Paul Harvey would say:  “now for the rest of the story”. 

After teaching the class in Denver I was supposed to catch a 10:00 pm flight to Salt Lake to meet up with Pat at her convention. Well the plane was three hours late and I got to the room at 3:11 am  That is two weeks in a row.  As I mentioned in a previous post,  a bit over a week ago,  I was flying back from Seattle (taught a class at Boeing) and that plane was delayed 4 hours (got home just before 5:00 am). Did I mention that I hate flying? 

Friday was my birthday (71, but who is counting?).  I had hoped to at least be in the air to Salt Lake by the end of the day – didn't happen.  As you read the rest of this post, you will see that I had a great belated birthday.

Pat and I are staying at the Hilton Inn, City Center (map).  She would have preferred to stay at the Marriott, but they were booked up – even though she registered for the convention (and rooms) within minutes of the site going on line.  She said that there were 5800 Stampin' Up! demonstrators attending this year.  That is up from past years, but this was the 25th anniversary convention.

Pat and I got to have dinner last night with a great bus friend and his wife.  I always try to see Kent when I am in the area.  He has has been fighting cancer for several years and has managed to “beat the odds” through some experimental treatments.  You would not know about his journey, as he handles the situation much better than most folks would in the same situation.

We also got to attend a very special Mormon Tabernacle concert. The performance included both the choir and and orchestra as well as two extremely talented guest artists:  Nathan Pacheco and Lindsey Stirling.  The concert is free, but you need to order tickets early.  Words can't describe how amazing the concert was!!  Then to top it off when we came out, the full moon was right over the beautiful spires in Temple Square (see photo).

I am actually posting this from Salt Lake.  We are in the airport waiting for -are you ready?- a delayed flight!  Right now, the delay is only 40 minutes – yeah sure!

We had a very leisure morning today.  Pat was tired from her convention and I was tired from lack of sleep.  We arranged a late check out and that allowed us to have nice, albeit expensive, breakfast at the hotel.

That is all for this trip.

Hello from Craig, CO

Hello from Craig, CO

Sunday evening:   July 22, 2012   (third travelogue of this trip).

We are at the Hampton Inn in Craig (map).  We stayed here last year on our way out to Salt Lake City.  It is a great place and we have been impressed with Hampton Inns in general. 

Our trip today started with the climb out of Salt Lake on I-80 to Park City and then on US-40 through Utah into Colorado.  Even though we have taken this route several times, we enjoy the varied scenery and the small towns.  The road itself is in good condition and fairly easy to drive. 

Last night was very special.  Lynn, one of Pat's downline, obtained tickets to a special presentation of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  The special guest performer was Katherine Jenkins.  She has an unbelievable voice (described as mezzo-soprano) and is also known for her great performance on Dancing With The Stars.  Our seats were perhaps 20 rows back and almost in the center of the stage.

The concert was held in the Mormon Conference Center.  The auditorium is indescribable.  The stage is huge and it seats 21,000 people (most of the seats were filled).  It is reported to be the largest theater style auditorium ever built (reference).  The photo below was taken from a newspaper review of the first night's concert (here).  You can see the huge array of pipes for the pipe organ, the choir and the vast number of members of the orchestra.  The acoustics of the auditorium are fantastic.  Without question, the performance was amazing.

Tomorrow we will continue our drive on US-40 to Empire where we will intersect with I-70 and then home.  It is a bit less than 200 miles.

That is all for this trip.