Trip to Utah

Matt and I flew to Utah Wednesday afternoon to visit his family for the weekend... they live outside of Salt Lake City. The scenery was beautiful. I took tons of pics (big surprise!)

Some highlights from the trip:

*Tyler getting arrested
Ok, this isn't a highlight per se, but it was pretty strange. Some teenager was traveling with his parents on our flight out to SLC. When we were getting off the plane in SLC, the flight attendant said "Tyler so-and-so, please come up to the front of the plane immediately". By the time we made it to the front of the plane, he was being handcuffed and arrested right there on the jetway. They were searching his pockets, etc. and his parents were standing there in shock. Weird.

*Visiting Temple Square
On Thursday, Matt's Dad took us to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City to see the buildings and to hear an organ concert at the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle organ was pretty cool... over 11,000 pipes (huge!) and they had lighting behind it that changed colors with the different songs. The acoustics in the place were amazing. You could hear a pin drop on the stage throughout the place without the help of a microphone (they demonstrated this at the beginning of the concert).

Just to give you an idea of how big this was, you can barely see the guy playing the organ in the bottom of the pics

Then we went to the conference center, which holds 21,000+ people. The Mormon Tabernacle choir performs at Christmastime there and lots of other events also take place there. I think the Olympics held some events in the conference center as well. It's hard to get a picture of just how huge this place is. And it was built so that there are no posts to block anyone's view.

Inside... another organ!


Matt and I on the roof


I was all about the reflection pics


We ate lunch at an old hotel that was converted into an office building. The restaurant is on the top floor and the food was really good. I got a good shot of the Temple from the window.



After lunch, we walked around the grounds for a little bit because it was such a nice day. There were lots of flowers and reflecting pools... all very pretty.

Flowers everywhere


Another reflection pic (inverted)


*Visiting Park City, Utah
We took a drive to Park City, Utah to check out the area and see where the Olympics were held. Unfortunately, the bobsled was closed so Matt couldn't do that. In the summer, you can go down the bobsled track on wheels (for $60) and in the winter, you can go down on ice (for $200). We were there between the two seasons. The zip line was only open on the weekends, so we didn't get to do that either.


We walked around Main Street in Park City and bought some chocolates. I got a caramel covered marshmallow... super delish!



*Hiking up Timpanogos and the cave tour
On Friday, Matt's neice, Jentri, ditched school and took us on a hike up Timpanogos mountain (about 6,700 feet up). You hike up this 2 mile paved path and at the end of the path, there is an hour long tour of the caves in the mountain. The hike was awesome and the views were amazing. The leaves were already changing colors. By the time I got to the top, I was definitely feeling the altitude. And it was really dry, so I was totally thirsty.

Jentri and Matt at the entrance to the path


The warning... some people on the trail looked like they should have heeded this warning!


Matt and I on the path


Me and Jentri


Jentri and Matt stopping for a rest


Another warning... this time about falling rocks


And yet another warning... this time about rattlesnakes... huh?!?


The view of the path down below us


Jentri looking over the side... no railings, just drop-offs!


We made it to the top!


Awesome views... the pictures don't do it justice!!!


I was a little bit worried about the cave tour. I am slightly claustrophobic, but I've been on cave tours before and been ok. I just don't like going through caves where it's dark and very narrow with low ceilings, especially with a big group of people. When they get stopped in front of me waiting for people to go in front of them... totally makes me feel trapped and that's when I get that "I'm gonna freak out" feeling. But, I made it through the tour just fine and we saw a lot of interesting formations in the cave.



The diagram of the cave tour


Matt and Jentri inside the cave


Me and Matt... this is one of those narrow hallways I'm talking about


The hike back down the mountain after the cave tour was a lot easier! We made it back down in 1/4th of the time it took us to get up there.

*Watching the Payson HS football game
Matt's brother-in-law, Brett, is the assistant principal at Payson High School and he was supervising the football game on Friday night. So, we went to check it out. It was their big homecoming weekend and they managed to pull off a 15-0 victory. Apparently, they are pretty bad, so this was a big deal for them. Matt scored a Payson HS Bleacher Creature t-shirt. Actually, the cheerleaders were throwing the shirts into the crowd and he was looking at one cheerleader while another one threw a shirt at him. It knocked him upside the head and I picked it up and handed it to him.



*Boutique shopping with Matt's sister Jeri
On Saturday, while Matt veg'd out on the couch watching some college football, his sister took me shopping around the area to some of her favorite boutique stores. I bought some really cool jewelry from a friend of hers that makes her own jewelry. I saw lots of other stuff I wanted to buy, but I didn't want to have to check my bag on the way home, so I restrained myself.

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Our flight home was delayed for no good reason... they just didn't bring the plane out of the hangar until about an hour after we were supposed to take off. Awesome.

Here's a link to the rest of the pics.