I checked parking before leaving the house and found that the Pikes Peak lot was a full. Boo. That meant I had to go all the way out to the Mt. Elbert lot. Not my favorite lot. It is just too far away. For the distance, it should at least be a lower daily fee. Chris suggested that I leave a little earlier, like right then. I was packed and just waiting to leave.
This sad face was my last view as I backed out of the garage and watched the door close. Poor girl would miss her mom.
I found my way to Mt. Elbert and parked, noticing that a shuttle bus was close by. I hurried to the closest waiting area and it moved on before I could reach it. The blessing was that the driver must have seen me jogging with my luggage in tow to his next stop and waited for me. Lucky for me, since that was his last stop before heading toward the terminal.
I planned to carry on my luggage so I bypassed check-in and went straight to security. When Chris last checked, the wait on the south end was only supposed to be ten minutes. Hmmm, things must have gotten a little busy and by the time I finally got through security and its long winding line, I had waited 30 minutes. No worries, I still had plenty of time before my flight boarded.
For a Friday afternoon, it was not a very full flight. I found an aisle seat where my window seat mate had "claimed" the middle seat with her laptop. My perk as I enjoyed an empty middle seat next to me, and she slept most if the way.
We landed on time and I met up with my older brother Brad as I exited the terminal. We stopped at Costa Vida for takeout, close to Thanksgiving Point, and drove up the hill to his home. My parents were staying with him. I hadn't seen them since Christmas, and Brad since January. Nice to be together.
My dad went fishing with my other brother, Dallin, on Saturday morning, and Brad had to work. My mom and I shopped for awhile at the Outlet Stores at Traverse Mountain for the morning. I had an eye appointment with Brad just after noon. We hurried to pick up my dad as he returned from a very successful fishing trip and then headed to Draper and "The Practice" to see Brad and get my eyes checked.
When I had my eye appointment last October, my other Optometrist brother, Dallin who works with along with Brad at the practice, told me that though my prescription had changed, it wasn't enough to warrant a lens change if I wasn't noticing a difference with my glasses. I wasn't. Then. It was in the last couple of months that I noticed that my progressives weren't working quite so well no matter how hard I tried.
I also picked out a new pair of sunglasses. Most people, according to my brother, are not quite so picky as I am, but I need to be able to put the glasses on my head without the nose pieces catching in my hair; the nose piece needs to be a solid plastic piece. I finally found a pair of Maui Jim's.
We made a quick stop at Harmon's on our way back to Brad's. While in the store, it started to pour rain and hail. After checking out, we stood under the awning for a time waiting for the hail to let up, but it continued on. My mom just happened to have an umbrella in her purse, so Brad made a run for his truck and came back to pick us up under the drive through grocery-loading area. We dropped my Dad off at his car, and then wisely chose to head over to the gas station where we waited under the awnings until the hail stopped. It was crazy. My mom noticed that the back window in their car was opened. She opened up Brad's back window in his truck and yelled at my dad to close it.
We decided to chance driving home as the hail seemed to let up, but we hadn't gone too far when we pulled off at a Maverick gas station and weathered the hail storm under the semi truck gassing area. Fortunately the area was empty.
We waited for another five to ten minutes and then headed around the point of the mountain to Lehi. And suddenly the rain and hail stopped completely. The road was totally dry.
Brad and my dad worked on Brad's new deck for the rest of the afternoon while my mom and I snoozed and watched tv. We chose Zupa's as a place for dinner and went down together to get takeout. It is a popular restaurant in Utah now. I ordered a kale and quinoa sandwich with a Tuscan enchilada soup. It was so-so. The soup was seriously salty.
Sunday morning dawned not so early with the huge mountains looming in the East. I got up and went for a walk. I walked the same path as Saturday morning, but slower for a Sunday morning.
Church was at 9 am and then we relaxed for the afternoon until we went to Dallin's for a family dinner. We did not realize that it was not only Dallin's family, but also Donna's as well. People overload. The food was great, especially the desserts.
I went with my youngest brother, Mitch, and Brad on Monday morning to hike up to Timpanogos Cave. It was a popular early-morning exercise spot. Mitch does the hike numerous times a week. It kicked my butt. I started out at his pace but wow, I am not in that kind of uphill climbing shape. I had Brad and Mitch continue on ahead of me to the top and met them as they came back down. Still a couple of miles and a good workout. Mitch said that one of the ladies did this hike two or three times every day. Uggghh.
I had forgotten to check-in for my Southwest flight and was glad that I remembered about twenty minutes late. I got B16. Not too bad for checking in late. Must not be a very full flight.
Brad had the day off so he and Dad continued working on the deck. Mom was happy that I took her shopping. We went first to a great little shop called Rod Works. I got some great ideas. We then headed over to Thanksgiving Point and were sorely disappointed to find out that they had closed the Emporium and were planning to replace it was a butterfly pavilion. What the heck! Butterflies? That was the best store ever. Chris and I bought our first Christmas tree there and still use it every year.
We drove back to Brad's house (I drove my parent's car), made lunch, and then my mom and I went down to American Fork to Hobby Lobby and Seagull. We had originally thought to go to the Parade of Homes, but would have only had four hours or so. Seemed not worth it when you had to buy tickets for $15; Brad was happy to have Dad helping him on the deck. I didn't want to take away a good work day for him.
They stopped after 4 pm so that Dad could get in some more fishing time up American Fork Canyon. I came up later with Mitch for a picnic. We stopped at Jimmy John's for sandwiches. Dallin and Donna brought their kids up after their dinner so that the kids could fish with Grandpa.
Donna wasn't fishing, she just got stuck holding them.
I was up early Tuesday morning for my 7:50 flight back to Denver. Brad drove me to the airport, leaving his house just before 6 am. Security took about twenty minutes. As I arrived at my gate, I quickly learned that the Salt Lake Southwest Airlines computers were down. I was feeling proud of myself for using my iPhone to check-in, but to speed up boarding, I took my phone to the help desk and they created this lovely written boarding pass.
Our flight was a half hour late boarding and then leaving. I left my backpack on the seat next to me and was happy to have another empty seat beside me for this flight. I wasn't sure if anyone would be home when I arrived since the girls had to go to the high school to do registration stuff in the morning and then Amy took Kristen to swim lessons. I guess she brought Misha back to the house because she greeted me with a great big hug when I arrived.
I was impressed that the house was mostly clean and tidy. They are good kids.
Kristen and Amy returned home from swim lessons around 11:45. Kristen came racing up the stairs yelling, "Mommy....." So nice to know that I was missed.