Visiting Old Friends In New Places (And Seeing How Old Places Become New)

It was a pleasant surprise for me to arrive in Utah, make a mention of my whereabouts on Facebook, and then have several people contact me, wanting to meet and get caught up! It is nice to feel loved and appreciated by people, even if we live far apart from many of our friends. Lately, I have found myself getting downhearted about friends either moving away or growing distant due to the vagaries of life. It is funny how a little Facebook post can make me suddenly feel connected with people I haven't seen in years, and it is gratifying to know that friendships can survive a physical separation.

While we were in Utah, the girls and I were able to catch up with a few friends. One family we had not seen for several years. Another family we had seen just two months before! In both cases, it was great to catch up. While on the road, we also visited a few "friendly" places...spots I used to frequent when I lived in Utah. In some cases, those places have changed dramatically. In other places, they have remained essentially the same. In all cases, the reunions were anticipated and welcomed!

Right after visiting the Thanksgiving Point petting zoo, the girls and I drove a little ways south to have lunch at one of our favorite Utah restaurants...The Purple Turtle!

This is not fine cuisine...it's a greasy hamburger/milk-shake joint. But I'll be darned if it isn't super tasty. I would visit this restaurant often when I lived in Utah, often just before or after visiting the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple. But on this occasion, I ate at The Purple Turtle to remember my Grandma Eckhardt, who was the one who first introduced me to the restaurant when I was a brand-new college student.

Mmm...they do a mean fish-and chips meal at The Purple Turtle! Thanks for the tip, Grandma.

In addition, this was the last meal we shared with my parents on this trip, before they drove back to Colorado. It was nice to spend a little more time with them and wish them well on their journey home. Next time we see Grandma & Grandpa Nash, it will be in Colorado this summer!

After our lunch, we drove further south to Provo to visit the campus of my alma mater, Brigham Young University. After all, I can't miss out on any opportunity to indoctrinate my children and fill them with Cougar pride!

Our trip to BYU wasn't long, but it was eventful nonetheless. This time, the girls actually had a specific request...they wanted to visit the BYU Broadcasting Center so they could get a glimpse of Studio C!

 

Studio C is a sketch-comedy show produced by BYUtv. It's about 25% funny to very-funny, 50% mild chuckle-worthy, and 25% "What were they thinking?" That said, it features kid- and family-friendly humor, and our girls absolutely love it. It's a great show to watch together with them. They have been fantasizing about meeting the cast, and they innocently assumed that if we just "showed up" at Studio C, the cast would be waiting there for us. Who was I to crush their dreams?

Besides, I like visiting the Broadcast Center. As a former journalism major, going there makes me both extremely happy for the current crop of journalism students, and super-jealous that I did not have access to this amazing, state-of-the-art facility when I was a student. Our broadcast facilities were either in the basement of the Fine Arts building, or a huge warehouse in south Provo. To see everything set up in one sparkling new building is awesome!

So the good news first...we found Studio C! And we found the balcony for the audience!

The not-so-good news: as I feared, everything was locked up good, with no one in sight. The doors were all security-coded, and it was a quiet Wednesday afternoon.

You can see Aurora's disappointment oozing out of this picture

The girls were understandably bummed: after all, we'd come so far! But they were (mildly) appeased by taking some photos with the "cast":

On the way out of the building, I inquired about the possibility of a guided tour, and was informed that I needed to schedule them at least one week in advance. Well, so much for that option! But I did manage to snag the phone number of BYU Broadcasting's guest relations manager, so hopefully next time we visit Utah we can arrange a more up-close-and-personal look at the girl's favorite TV show.

After leaving the broadcast center, our next destination was just a short walk away...we dropped in to check out the new-and-improved Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, also on campus. This building was definitely an "old friend" for me; as a freshman, I lived in the now-demolished Deseret Towers, which sat just east of the small museum. I walked past the museum almost every day on the way to or from classes; I also visited it several times.

When I was a student, the museum was a crowded hodgepodge of taxidermied wildlife, but it was cozy and inviting for all that. It has always offered a number of educational programs to the community and I always remember seeing kids excitedly running around inside. In recent years, the Bean Museum underwent a major facelift and an extensive indoor remodel. I was curious to see how it had all turned out.

I barely recognized it when I went inside! It had a much higher, vaulted ceiling, with larger windows and a totally different layout. But it was impressive, and I thought all the animal displays were much more dynamic than they used to be. The girls enjoyed it too.

I also enjoyed a new display of Boyd K. Packer's nature carvings. Packer is an Apostle in the LDS Church, but his lifelong hobby is wood carving. The museum contains a couple of dozen examples of his work, and I was really impressed by his talent!

The museum had way more scenes of animals killing or attacking other animals than before the remodel.

 

 On one hand, these displays are cool to look at; on the other, it makes the museum seem a bit more violent than it used to be. That's nature for you, I guess.

We only spent a little more time on campus after checking out the Bean Museum; we briefly dropped in to the Harris Fine Arts Center to visit a very important spot for our family...

 

...namely, the spot where Glenn Barrett proposed marriage to Sandra Hindbaugh more than 40 years ago! If that moment hadn't happened, Nathan may never have been born...and I wouldn't have the beautiful family I have today. It happened here, on the steps leading into the de Jong Concert Hall. It was nice to drop in and feel a connection to that moment.

We also took a brief foray into the BYU Store; I couldn't leave without getting a sweet treat! But after that, it was time to drive even further south, into Spanish Fork. Our friends the Shaffers were waiting for us!

The Shaffers were Sahuarita residents for many years...until they moved to Utah last spring when dad Ben graduated from law school. They have four girls and they are just about the same age as our girls, so it was a sad day when they left. Happily, I was able to get in touch with mom Windy and we were able to swing by their new place for a quick visit.

The girls had a lot of fun playing in their backyard and exploring the Shaffer's new house. What a great view from the backyard!

It was great to catch up with Windy and see how her family is doing. Plus, she made us homemade gingerbread, which I greedily devoured. Yum...I miss Windy's cooking!

I am so glad the girls got to see their friends again! (Now, if they would just be better about writing to each other; I have really wanted the girls to have pen pals).

 

 

The most surprising development of the afternoon? Windy (who repairs band instruments for a living) had an extra trombone sitting around the house, and offered it to Lorelai! A free trombone, just like that! It was a very tempting offer...but since we'd flown in from Arizona, I didn't see any easy (or at least cheap) way to transport it back. Maybe this summer I can investigate the possibility of someone picking it up and bringing it to us. It would be nice to have a trombone of our very own, instead of renting one. We'll see what happens!

On the way back north (to the Carlin's home in Saratoga Springs), we quickly drove through the center of Provo, where the newest LDS temple is being constructed:

This building used to be the Provo Tabernacle, and it was home to many large church meetings and conferences, as well as many local concerts. A few years ago, an electrical fire ended up burning down most of the tabernacle's interior. It was a sad day for such a beautiful, historical building; Nathan and I both had many happy memories of the Tabernacle (Nathan first felt impressed to ask me to marry him inside the Tabernacle, for instance!).

Luckily, the walls of the Tabernacle survived, and in a surprising move, the LDS Church opted to convert the building into a temple. It's still being finished, but it was a real thrill for me to drive next to that building and see it clean and gleaming, like a phoenix risen from its ashes. The golden angel Moroni statue atop one of the spires was the cherry on top! I cannot wait to return to Utah once this temple is dedicated (hopefully within the next year); its outside looks much the same, but I will be very excited to see how much it has changed on the inside!

The next day (Thursday, the 19th of February) was our last morning in Utah. It was time to pack our bags, load up the rental car, and head north towards the airport. But before boarding our plane, there was one more family I wanted to visit...a wonderful friend whom I hadn't seen for a few years.

Dawn Wells was my college roommate for my first two and a half years of college. We have very different tastes and temperaments, but it didn't take me long to fall in love with her (in a platonic sense, of course!). She was beautiful, smart, kind, talented, caring, and a beacon of spiritual strength. We had many heartfelt conversations, hugs, and laughs. We managed to successfully coexist as roommates and mostly avoided stepping on each other's toes. She has so many qualities that I still aspire to achieve in my own life, and I am so glad that we have managed to keep in touch for close to twenty years now (my goodness, I'm getting old).

Another bonus to keeping in touch with Dawn is that she married Dan Wells, a guy from our freshman ward and a very cool dude. He has since published several novels and has many more in development...one of his books is even having a movie adaptation made as of this writing! Basically, Dan is living my childhood dream of being a published author and it is really fascinating to hear his perspective on everything. I was genuinely surprised when Dawn married Dan (they seemed to have so little in common!), but they are a terrific couple and they balance each other out very well.

I haven't been able to visit the Wells family for a few years because they took their entire family and moved to Stuttgart, Germany for two years! Most of Dan's books have a large following in Germany, and their family wanted to have a great international "adventure." It was thrilling to read about all their experiences. Selfishly, though, I was very happy when they returned to America. They currently live in North Salt Lake City, not far from the airport. I was so happy to see them well situated in their beautiful new home. Our visit was all too short (we had a plane to catch), but I sincerely hope we will see each other again soon. After all, they have a few extra rooms in their new house; perhaps they won't object to our staying a night or two next time we're in Utah? *fingers crossed*

After seeing the Wells family, it was a short drive to the airport. Following a hectic check-in, we managed to get on board our plane in time. Unfortunately, the second leg of our flight was delayed by an hour. Oh, the irony...it was a tiny Phoenix-to-Tucson express flight! I could have almost driven home in that same amount of time! The girls and I were exhausted and grouchy, but we persevered and managed to survive the trip home.

Another "old friend" (Picacho Peak, as seen from the airplane window)

Aurora slept through the whole last flight. We all wished we could join her!

I was so grateful for all the people and places I saw on our family's little trip to Utah. Old friends and new, old places with new looks...sometimes these experiences make me feel a little old. At the same time, though, they remind me how fortunate I am to have had so many wonderful experiences in my life.