Monday, October 29, 2012

Red Butte Gardens

Friday afternoon we had lunch at the Lion House.  This is the house where Brigham Young lived with his 20+ wives and 56 children.
A child slept under each one of these dormers. 
After lunch we went to the Red Butte Gardens, another beautiful display of Utah flora and fauna.
Crab apple tree
I loved these purple daisies.
Another view of the mountains.
Angela, this pic is for you!


Another beautiful waterfall.


More spectacular Fall colors.
Salt Lake City
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for the Zija gala later that evening.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Zija Tour

Friday morning we went on a tour of the Zija home offices and warehouses.  It was very interesting to see how the Zija is packaged and stored.  This is Paul's name on a plaque in the main office.










 We then went and registered at the convention center.
 Paul putting his raffle tickets in the drum for a chance to win many different prizes including 3 Mercedes.  He didn't win.  Sigh.

Paul with the founder and owner of Zija and its president.

Thanksgiving Point

Thursday afternoon found us at Thanksgiving Point.  We never did figure out why they named it that- it had nothing to do with the holiday.  There was a little village, a big corn maze and a huge museum of ancient life- DINOSAURS.  The museum held little interest for me, but Paul wanted to see it so we walked through at record pace and snapped some pictures to show the boys when we got home.

Thanksgiving Point also had some absolutely stunning gardens.  It was situated on 50 acres and it took us about 2 hours of walking to see it all.  It was worth every step and every minute.

The Fall colors were spectacular.
Mountains in the background everywhere you looked.
Of course, like just about everything else here, it was Mormon.  Which can be deceiving because there are Bible verses everywhere.  I just enjoyed the beauty along with the Scripture, which is still truth and still powerful.


Lots of carp.  Lots of BIG carp.
In the rose garden.
Beautiful mums.
An interesting water feature.
We couldn't get enough of the Fall colors.
Beautiful man made waterfalls.

It was a lovely day.  The weather was perfect and the company was wonderful.  We hadn't eaten all day so after our long walk through the gardens, we ate at a Steakhouse.  Paul got a great deal with a Groupon and the steak was one of the best I've ever had.  What a great day this was.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Utah Bound!

 We left for the airport at 3am Wednesday morning.  Paul and I never went to bed the night before because we had too much to finish up before the trip but we were excited and not tired at all (yet!).  We got to the airport with no problems, got through security, walked the loooooong  walk to the gate because the tram wasn't working with 90 minutes to spare.  Wow.  I was a bit anxious because I hadn't flown in over 13 years.  We finally got called to board, stowed our luggage, sat down, put on seatbelts and waited to leave.  And waited, and waited and waited.  The plane was an hour late.  Which isn't a big deal unless you only have a 30 minute window to make your connecting flight in Denver.  We of course missed the connection and ended up waiting in the Denver airport for six hours.  The airline gave us vouchers for breakfast and lunch and for future trips.  We finally made it to Salt Lake City around 4:30, glad to finally be there.
 We drove around a bit and went to dinner at Pat's BBQ, a quirky place with amazing food.  We then went back to the hotel and crashed for 12 hours!  We were up and about bright and early
Thursday morning, and what a spectacular day it was!
 City Courthouse
 Beautiful trees
 Walking down the street of Salt Lake City
 Next we went up an 11,000 foot mountain via a tram.  I wasn't sure about the tram ride, but I didn't want to miss the view so I swallowed my anxiety and went anyway.
 The view was worth it.  And the tram ride was super smooth.
 Cold at the top.


 Top off the world!


 Making a snowball





 The tram
 Beautiful aspen trees.



 We loved the pop of yellow from these trees on the mountainside.

Next stop?  A place called Thanksgiving Point.  Pics coming soon.