TRIP TO UTAH: SHOCK AND AWE

Last week I flew to Utah for a very quick visit before I hit the road to come home with Rachael and the girls.  The Hutchings family had attended a reunion in Salt Lake City, but Nate had to fly out of Utah on a business trip to India, leaving Rachael and the girls to make the journey home all by themselves.

Well, I just couldn't have that, now could I?

In spite of its brevity, it was a trip full of astonishing surprises, like this massive, awe-inspiring "sculpture" made of more than 100,000 books, which is currently installed in BYU's Museum of Art:

 

Utah peaches combined with Dave and Bonnie's backyard blackberries made for a dazzling breakfast that almost made me forget Utah winters:

And it was a pleasant surprise to enter Deseret Book and be greeted by Bob's great-grandfather:

The biggest surprise, however, occurred on Saturday morning when Rachael, the girls, and I stopped for gas in Scipio, Utah, population 290 in the 2000 census:

 

What in the heck (sorry, being in Utah brings that word out) is a baby zebra doing living next door to an Eagle Gas Station and a Dairy Queen in SCIPIO?  Well, he's keeping company with these guys:

We have two little girls who think Scipio is the world's best Vacation Destination:

It was tough to get away from there, let me tell you.

However, Rachael and I redeemed ourselves towards the end of our trip when we made another serendipitous discovery about an hour-and-a-half from home: Peggy Sue's Diner, located just off the 10 Freeway on the Calico Road Exit, 10 miles East of Barstow:

This roadside diner has been here since 1954.  Bob and I have driven past it at least 50 times in the last 28 years, but we've never been inside. Man oh man, have we been missing out!  The diner was full of the rich and famous:

 

The decor was classy:

 

. . . the menu was extensive:

 . . . and the food was so cosmopolitan:

But this is not all.  In addition to all these wonderful amenities, there was a Diner-Saur Park behind the restaurant, complete with a pond where Savannah and Ella could practice their duck-feeding, egg-hunting, and duck-chasing skills:

 

 

There was also fine art:

Stone turtle riding practice for little cowgirls:

And lots of material for the serious study of evolution:

Best of all, there was a stage and plenty of time, space, and Sonny and Cher blasting through the sound system for two little girls to rehearse their audition acts for America, You've Got Talent:

What an AWEsome place.  We'll be back.