A 33 Hour Vacation

I finished teaching summer school on August 8th. I really wanted to take all of last week off and go and do something. This summer's chemistry class seemed to go on, and on. They were a good group, but I think I am getting too old for teaching year-round. Anyway, Bubby could not get away last week (it was teachers back to school and she had lots of meetings) so we didn't get to leave town until Friday at 1:00 PM.

We drove toward Manti, stopping at Gary's Shoes in Richfield. It was good to see the owners, and we visited a little. Bubby said she didn't need any shoes, but she went home with a pair anyway. We found out that our old favorite Mexican restaurant in Richfield, El Mexicano, has moved to Salina, so we stopped for an early dinner. The chilies relleno were outstanding. We also stopped in Gunnison and went into a quilt/archery/diving shop (when you live in a small town, you have to diversify). Bubby found fabric for a quilt for our bed. It will be a big project, and of course, very blue.

We drove from Gunnison to Sterling and then to Palisades State Park. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we played nine holes of golf in the long shadows of evening. I thought this was a particularly impressive divot, so Bubby took a photo. We had so much fun, we wanted to come back in the morning for another nine, however, a tournament was scheduled, so we didn't get a reround.

We had a reservation at the Yardley Inn and Spa in Manti. We reserved the Wedgewood room, and of course it was extremely Wedgewood blue. They even brought our cold, lemon scented, water in a lovely blue decanter. Bubby insisted on a photo.

The bathroom was large and commodious. It had a nice whirlpool tub and a large shower. Of course chilled sparkling cider and chocolate were also part of the ammenities. The Yardley is getting a little threadbare, but it was a lovely stay, and we only got out of bed in time to eat our breakfast at 9:00 AM.

Bubby thought the bed divine, and we slept the sleep of the dead. After breakfast, we headed to Antimony to check out a family ranch for a possible family reunion site. It was definitely unsuitable, but we went up to Fish Lake and looked around and there are some possibilities there. We are returning for a second look with UP and AK on the 5th and 6th of September, so stay tuned.

When we finished at Fish Lake, we drove to Torrey and checked into the Boulder View Inn. It is a far cry from the Yardley Inn, but scrupulously clean and very reasonably priced. We watched a couple of "Office" episodes and walked down the street and had dinner at Cafe Diablo. What a memorable occasion that was. We started with a salad that contained coconut fried calamari and was dressed with an orange marmalade dressing. It was wonderful, but Bubby lost her interest when we found the fried head of the squid (it's the tentacles!). Bubby had the pecan encrusted chicken and I had a vegetarian tamale. Hers was excellent. I wouldn't order mine again. We went all out and ordered key lime cheesecake for dessert. It was served on a plate decorated with cream fresh and raspberry coulee and a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream in a twiel cookie. We did everything except pick up the dessert plate and lick it clean. What a wonderful evening. The grounds were beautiful and we ate on the veranda.

The next morning we rose early, headed home and were both in our respective sacrament meetings at 11:00 AM. I could stand at least another 33 hours of vacation, but it was sure nice to get away. We wish all of our readers could have enjoyed it with us.

Buboppy