Road Trip 2022--Utah

 Well, darn it.

Blogger decided to put the pics in reverse order again.

I thought it had fixed itself...

I had a great time in Utah with Andrew's side of the

family and also with B and W down in St. George.

Here are our adventures.

Starting at the end. Ha.

Since we drove Whitney's car out there,

I flew home by myself.

I love flying in to cities at night.

So cool to see the city lights from above.

I flew out of Vegas.

B drove me down to the airport.

While we were there, we went to a Rolex store.

And then my seatmate was wearing a Rolex!

I don't think I've never noticed one on someone before.

Crazy.

I don't understand expensive watch culture.

More fun aerial photography.

Wow, the earth is just beautiful.

I got lucky and was seated in the exit row.

Plenty of leg room for my long legs.

AND the middle seat was empty.

What? My lucky, lucky day.

Airport food is ridiculously expensive.

This is a $20 lunch.

Sheesh.

Giant crystals in the airport.

B and I went down a little early so we walk

around the Strip for a bit.

New York, New York

We spent most of our time at Bellagio.

They have a cool, free little art gallery.

They had some really cool pieces!

Also stopped and got breakfast gelato.

Did I just call it breakfast gelato?
Yes, yes I did.

So tasty!

And not terribly expensive!

We were too early to catch the fountain show,

but we went out front for a minute anyway.

LOVED their displays in their conservatory!

And I love thee lighting in there.

Isn't this a fun photo of me and B?

Pulling into town.

They have different laws about what's allowed to be on

the highway in UT/AZ/NV. I've never seen anything like

this is NC.

Love those canyons at the beginning of the

drive between St. George and Vegas.

So pretty!

The Wells are AMAZING.

They let us stay with them the whole week.

Whit had orientation, so needed to be in St. George,

but couldn't move into her apt until the end of the week.

So grateful to have fun friends around!

Dubs and I had LOTS of shopping to do while we were there.

There is a lot that goes into getting an apartment ready!

Also enjoyed some fun dinners with B-train.

Cup Bop is SO good.

Lucky for me, Macy was in down in St. George

for a tennis tournament the same week I was there!

I got to watch two of her matches.

It was SO fun to cheer for her.

She's awesome.

B-train took me out to Zion's one day.

Oh my goodness.

That place is spectacular!

We didn't stay long,

but I loved the time we spent there.

And I loved having B to myself for a while.

Whit's apartment!

She has a lot of decorating to do,

but it's ready for her to sleep in! Yay!

I got to do some birding while she was in orientation.

It's fun to see birds that we don't have in NC.

It's kinda camouflaged, but can you see

that bird standing on the fence?

There's another shot of it.

A little hummer that's different than

we usually see.

I stopped at the Jacob Hamblin home,

both to get a little church history AND to do some birding.

Whit and I went sunset chasing one evening.

Oh, how I love the desert landscape!

Fun girl!

There was a storm in the distance and it was

fun to watch the lightning, too.

Random store with Ninja Turtles in the middle.

Whit's graduating class got to make this UT logo.

Took some time for a pedicure.

Aaaaaaaahhhhh.

B took me climbing at Contact.

Got to spend some time with Morgan, too.

I like her a lot.

B's a great coach.

That's me WAY up there!

Here's his cute shed.

In the meantime, sweet Caroline started

high school back in NC without me!

I hate that I missed that and am grateful

that Andrew could drive her to school

for her first few days.

The Wells' cat, Jasper, decided I was his friend.

I'm not so sure about that.

Asian dinner with B, Whit, and Morgan.

Whit interviewed at Chick-fil-A

and will be working there in St George.

Woo hoo!

One morning JoEllen and Emily took me on a

hike to find some petroglyphs.

We got lost a few times along the way.

But eventually we found them.

Aren't they awesome???

Even though I LOVE living in NC, something about

the desert just feels like home to me.

We saw this BIG bird at the start of our hike.

I'm pretty sure it was a golden eagle.

W and I had a great time at the opening

BBQ. We enjoyed the food and games and

won some fun UT swag.

So fun to see B's name on the leaderboard!

He has the record for the Speed Climb.

Can you see that little rainbow across the sky?

Our first night in St. George, B came

over to eat some pie that Maddie made us.

I also asked George to play the piano for Whit.

And she and Emily sang some duets.

So fun.

Another BIG rainbow.

Gas prices are ridiculous in Utah.

Met Anna at Kneaders for our annual breakfast.

Love catching up with her.

Another rainbow!

They were everywhere this week!

Before we drove down to St. George, we spent a

few days in Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Sweat.

The 5'9" club.

I don't think Jack will be a member for long.

Grandma organized a big picnic up the canyon and

we got to see almost everyone! It was so fun!

These girls were missing Care Bear!

Grandma Sweat took Whit and the Huish kids

school shopping while we were there.

This is a fun name for a store--

Care Bear's bestie and one of her piggies!

I also LOVE listening to Whit sing

while Grandma plays the piano.

Ahhh, heavenly!

Grandma took us to a play at the Hale Center.

It was called Silent Sky and it was fantastic.

Also got a puzzle done while we were there.

And we drove out to Draper for a bit.

This park is so pretty.

Grandma loves sycamore trees.

She took us to the CUTEST store!

It's mostly a window-shopping store,

but we loved it.

And that was our road trip for this year! I'm so sad that Andrew and Care Bear didn't get to come out. But I'm grateful for the time that I had with my big kids and with our Utah family. It's weird to leave another kid out on the other side of the country. I hope Whit has a good year and works hard and learns a lot! Grateful for the scholarship that allows her to study and further her education.