Time to crank out some more vacation blog posts--in the next few installments, I'll share some pictures & thoughts from our week in Utah!
Our Fourth of July weekend was a very busy one--unfortunately, much of that "busyness" involved traveling. On Saturday, July 3, we bid Colorado a fond farewell and drove through the Rockies to the Wasatch Front in Utah, where we'd stay with my sister's family in Saratoga Springs, UT.
The drive through the Rockies was, as always, fantastic. Such beautiful vistas; the Denver-Grand Junction leg of I-70 is one of the most scenic routes I've ever driven. Everyone should try it sometime. We stopped for a quick break in Glenwood Canyon; the pictures don't really do it justice, but it was breathtaking. We also got to look down on several rafting/canoeing adventure tours floating by on the Platte River:
While heading west to UT, we took a brief detour into Rifle, CO, where my cousin Michael Nash and his wife Ramanda live. We hadn't seen them in years and it was wonderful to visit them & their children. They were, as always, very generous, sweet and funny!
This is Aurora with Mike's lovely girls: (L-R) May, Mikie, and Ashley. They
loved Aurora and rarely put her down the whole time we were there.
And here's Cousin Mike, as he and Aurora get to know each other...
Their backyard was huge & chock full of neat stuff, like a thriving garden (complete with raccoon blood; Mike had killed one amongst the vegetables the night before), a chicken coop filled with chickens, and a bunch of kids' toys & games, including this see-saw--look how excited Lorelai is!
After our stopover in Rifle, it was hours more of driving...5 more boring hours...ugh. However, there was family at the end of it, so that made it all worthwhile! We had most of the evening to crash at Jocelyn & Paul's house; since the 4th of July was on a Sunday, and since this is UT we're talking about, all the big fireworks shows took place the night we arrived. We declined the invitation this year; maybe we'll catch a full-scale fireworks show in 2011!
However, on the 4th itself, there was still plenty of fun to be had (following church, that is):
We set up the Carlin's grill pit & made s'mores for everybody (here's cousin Abby toasting some marshmallows);
Nate & "Uncle Paul" sat around talking guns & bullets; they later went on to do some shooting down by Utah Lake...
and the kids all took turns jumping on the Carlins' new trampoline. Lots of fun indeed!
Then it was FIREWORKS TIME! Paul bought a ridiculous amount of bottle rockets, fountains, blooming ground flowers, sparklers, firecrackers, etc. last time he passed through Nevada. Needless to say, the party went on wayyyy past certain kids' bedtime...
Sorry, those are the best fireworks pictures I have (doesn't Jocelyn look a little "overwhelmed" holding all those sparklers??).
But there wasn't much time for sleep, despite the
late bedtime. We had to get up early the following morning, to drive down to Provo, for the Freedom Festival Parade. I won't go into much detail on this, since Nathan wrote his own blog post about the parade
here. However, I will add a few pictures...
(the girls really enjoyed the "giant Pongo," as they called him)
Aurora was still a little wiped out from the night before. Luckily Aunt Jocelyn was able to lend a hand...
Behold, the Founding Fathers (only this time, they're being pulled by a truck and they're drowning in glitter). Hee hee...
The parade was lots of fun; I enjoyed it in spite of the crushingly huge crowds & the hot weather. We're glad we tagged along with the Carlins (getting out of Provo, though, was a bit of a chore). However, the highlight of my day was yet to come, as our family headed to Pleasant Grove for our Utah dining tradition...
Oh, Purple Turtle, how I've missed you.
Yes, it's a greasy spoon. Yes, you can feel yourself getting fatter just reading the menu. But who cares? It's so darn tasty. I always used to get their fish and chips, but today I went for their salsa & Swiss burger...
It's HUGE!! And cooked to perfection. On this trip, we noticed a new menu item--sweet potato fries (just like regular fries, but with more vitamins)! We had to try them:
They cost a little extra, and you don't get as many fries as you do with a serving of regular fries, but they were still very yummy and just the right texture (it can be hard to cook sweet potatoes just right, without leaving them too crunchy or overcooking them into wilting). Unfortunately, though, the sweet potato fries didn't taste quite as good as the regular fries when paired with that ubiquitous Utah condiment--fry sauce.
Finally, though...the REAL reason we keep coming back to the Purple Turtle...
...the shakes. Oh,
the shakes!!! What you're seeing here are two SMALL shakes (yes, the overflow cup is normal for the small size). They have over 30 shake flavors, and I haven't had a bad one yet. They are incredibly thick, creamy, and delicious, and are guaranteed to shorten your life. We ordered a strawberry cheesecake shake, and a peanut butter cup shake. Nate & I got the big cups, while the girls finished off the little cups. We were all quite stuffed at the end.
So there you have it, folks...that's how our busy 4th of July weekend went down. We were tired at the end of it, but we had a lot of fun. And here's how it looks when 2 little girls stay up late watching fireworks, then spend the whole next day at a parade and the Purple Turtle (not to mention driving all over UT County):
Nighty-night, slugs! More on our Utah adventures later.
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