Day 23 - Oct 28 - Day 2 in Logan

Day 2 in Logan UT started out with breakfast with my brother-in-law at another local institution - Angie's, "Where the Locals Eat."  And that slogan is right on the money!  

This is a good old fashioned cafe.  I had two eggs over-easy, hash browns (yum!), and sourdough toast.  The food, company and conversation were all top-notch.

After breakfast, I went up to Smithfield to visit my daughter-in-law Morgann and grandson William.  William and I had a complete "reading" of Dinosaurs by Brusatte.  We turned every page and looked at every dino in the book...and, get this, William is only two and knows the names of many of the ones in this book!  This is a book we "read" daily for several weeks this past summer.  

Then William and I went on an outing to one of my favorite local places, the Pepperidge Farm Factory Outlet Store, a place where you can buy goldfish crackers and other Pepperidge Farm cookies, etc., in bulk, plus goldfish t-shirts, and so on.

Then, later on, my son Matt and I played a round of disc golf, and then we took it easy for the rest of the evening.  

What a great day!  Stay tuned for what comes next...

Day 22 - Oct 27 - Life in Logan Day 1

With over 4000 miles under my belt so far, it feels great to have some more down time, and to be less than 200 miles from home.  

I'm spending a few days in Logan before the final leg of The Mud Dragons' Tour.

First of all, it's clear that I'm no longer in the t-shirt, short pants and flip flop world of Texas and Arizona!  What was my first clue?  Check this out...

The Mud Dragons' ride (er...my car) was covered in frost and light snow.  Brrr.  Welcome back to the mountain west!

While in Logan, I'm visiting my son Matt and his wife Tess and grandson Finn (and new puppy Bodie).  

We had quite the day...here are the highlights:

Our first major outing was to a local breakfast/luncheon hot spot, Herm's.  Anyone who's familiar with Herm's knows what I'm talking about.

I went with the meat skillet option...3 eggs, sourdough toast and cheese and potatoes over a bed of sausage, bacon, and ham.  Yum!  I was able to eat about half of it.  The leftovers are waiting for me to get hungry again.

The next event was a round of 9 holes of golf with Matt at his local municipal course: The Logan River Golf Course.

It was a chilly day, but it was a fun outing!  How did I do?  Well, if you don't count all of the second ball shots and lost balls, I broke 50!  Haha.  

And then this evening, we met up with my daughter-in-law Morgann and her William and Molly, plus her mother, Kelly, for dinner at Tandoori Oven.  It was SO good!!!

I'm sure we can't keep up this pace, but this was a fantastic day, and I'm sure tomorrow will be great as well.

And that's the scoop for today.  Cheers!

Day 21 - Oct 26 - Price to Logan - Friends and family

The Mud Dragons are now on the home stretch of their tour!  This is our last stop before heading home.

I haven't said much about my motel accommodations so far, because there hasn't been much to tell.  But last night was, well, different!  

As I typically do, once I know where I'll stay the night, I get on Priceline.com and line up a place to stay.  And last night was no different.  I drove into Price UT yesterday in the early evening, pulled off the road and took a look to see what special deals Priceline had to offer.  The two main contenders were a Quality Inn and a place called the Greenwood Conference Center and Motel.  Quality Inn was rated 2.5 stars and cost $10 more than the other one, that was, BTW, rated at 3 stars.  So, hey, I thought I may as well go for the less expensive, more highly rated motel.  

Without going into details, what I can tell you is that while I wanted the room to have a cool and retro vibe...what it actually had was a mixture of some updates and some old mis-matching furnishings.  Oh well, that's OK, but did make me wonder about the 3-star rating.  Then it hit me...this place probably was the nicest motel in town...in the 1970s.  No matter...what I really needed was a place to sleep.  Mission accomplished.

So, what was the excitement for today?  Five things.

First, I contacted one of my very best friends from my BYU-Idaho days and we met up for an early lunch.  He also retired this summer.  His name is Dan, he is a geologist, and we worked on interesting projected together.  We had a great time, eating and chatting, in Spanish Fork where he now lives.

Second, my son Matt, was working in SLC this morning and he invited me to meet him at TopGolf in Midvale.  I'd never been to TopGolf and that was fun!  Here's an image from their website.

Me teeing it up.

My son Matt getting ready to unload on one!

Third, arriving in Logan to spend a few days with Matt and his family!

Fourth, seeing my first snowflakes of the year.

Fifth, realizing how close I an to home.  It feels amazingly good to be this close.  

Hey, I drove the Wasatch Front to get here, and this reminds me of an experience my brother-in-law had with a co-worker (this is a true story!).

My brother-in-law lives and works in California, and he had worked with one particular co-worker for a some time.  At least long enough for her to know about the standards of members of The Church.  Then, she was assigned to go on a business trip to Salt Lake City, and she was there for a few days.  When she got back, she tracked down my bro-in-law and said that members of the Church had always been a mystery to her.  She couldn't figure out how they blew off steam.  She then said, I know you don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't do drugs and you don't fool around.  But after being in SLC, now I know how members of your Church let off steam, "THEY DRIVE LIKE HELL!!!"

After driving the Wasatch Front yet again, I have to agree with her.  I mean, is there another major city with an interstate running through it that has a 70mph limit, but people routinely go 75, 80, 85, even 90 mph, right through town!? With basically no worries at all of being stopped?  That's definitely what happens in and around SLC!  

On the plus side, speeds like these get you through town extremely quickly.

And that's the scoop for today.  Great friends, family, and good times.

Cheers!