a whole lot of rambling, but mostly because I like to ramble

there's an unmistakable feeling in the air. It's the same feeling I get every year at this time. We sleep with our windows open and in the morning we're almost too chilly to only have our light summertime blanket over our bodies. Every morning I say to Mike "should we get the down comforter out?" and he always says "maybe". That means "you decide" because he's really sweet like that. He will make due with whatever I choose.

I drove home to Utah late last night from this last trip to Las Vegas and Southern California. The drive was long and Tiffany puked all over herself and all over the car, but for the most part, it was beautiful. Honestly, when you're coming from Vegas, almost anything is more nice to look at but the drive north home is stunning and it comes incrementally. First, The Gorge. Really?  It's just stunning. You see these cliffs that reach so high up you almost can't see the tops even when you crane your neck out the window. Then you automatically look down below the road and the valleys are red and sparse, but with a muddy river crawling across it. I could tell you a joke about that river but I won't. (yes I will. I once heard this from a Young Women's/church leader on the way back from Girls' Camp in Brian Head. question "why do they call it the Virgin River?" answer "because you never see the bottom of it!")

After The Gorge, you reach St. George. St. George...where do I start?  I spent a zillion summers there as a kid. We had a family condo on a golf course there. Every summer we'd go and mostly during the 4th of July. Tennis would be on tv and our parents would watch it while we'd go outside on the lower deck and eat a billion otter pops. Dads would go golfing at 6 am to beat the heat and they'd be back around noon to take the kids swimming. I loved it! I realize now they were trying to cool off since St. George frequently reaches over 100° during the days. Sometimes over 110°!  Heaven love them and their dedication to the sport!  Anyway, we'd play mermaid or superman and wonderwoman all while jumping in and out of that pool. I loved that pool.

Around noon we would head inside to have some kind of lunch, most often tuna fish sandwiches or pb&j, which was just fine to us because we also got to have as many fresh picked apricots as we could stand. Chips were abundant and so was kool-aid!  After that, the mom's would go golf. In the heat. Really?  Now that I'm an old lady, I wonder how they did that. Bless their hearts. While the moms were golfing, we'd all smear lotion on our burnt backs and cheeks and play Uno upstairs in the cool bedrooms that are still where I imagine my "happy place" to be even to this day when I'm in need of going to such a place in my head.  Imagine cool rooms with fluffy beds and plenty of paper and crayons and markers to use.

Dinner was either made at home or we'd go to the famous Pizza Factory that was/is owned by our family friend Bill. All of us and the cousins would get pizza and a salad bar. Even as little kids. SALAD BAR!  I realize now how strange that is but even my own kids and even my brother's kids still do that. As a matter of fact, in Vegas yesterday I was visiting with my sweet sister in law Mandy as she got her boys ready for school. (Side note, she was in a cute dress with an apron on. She's adorable and I love her.) She asked them what they wanted for lunch. Derek, who is 5 asked for toast with jam. Dylan asked for salad with ranch. How cute is that?  Anyway, dinner-pizza factory. Good. Oh and then we'd beg for a new tshirt from there. Most often we'd get matching shorts too. The 80's were awesome.

Anyway that was a super long rant about St. George, but that's where my memories lie. I could go on and on about St. George but I'll save it for another time. PS to my blogging cousins and siblings, I reserve the right to blog about the Ghost Hunt. It's mine. SO there.

Next you crawl up I15 up toward Cedar City. Lava rocks and green trees and red sand and cliffs?  What else can I even say?

Then miles and miles and miles of open grassy areas pouring out in the middle of hills covered with trees. Farmers water their land with those big long pipes with huge wagon wheels on them. I've always been fascinated with those watering devices. What are they called, anyone?  Anyone?  So curious!

Beaver!  Cheese factory!  Super clean X-Large bathrooms at the Texaco!  That's all I know about Beaver.

Fillmore, no reception on my phone.

Nephi!  All I can say about Nephi is that when my adorable soon-to-be husband Mike was getting baptized, we made a trip up to Utah with Tiffany. We took him to see all the sights of SLC, and Temple Square. It was the most spiritual trip of my life, and I loved every second of it. What does that have to do with Nephi? We were stopped in Nephi and saw my old van. The one I shared with my ex-husband. See, our divorce had been final for about a week and Mike and I were on our first "real" date and we stopped in Nephi to go to the restroom and there it was. I guess my ex-husband was meeting a girl for the first time there, she lived in Idaho. Anyway, it was weird to see my old car at a random gas station in the middle of nowhere. My ex married that gal about a week later. Mhmmm.

So then you come over this hill into the Utah Valley. I always get happy there, and it is called Happy Valley, so it fits. The mountains are awesome, you see Timpanogos in the background hovering over everything and the legend of that mountain (click!)  is so beautiful and sad at the same time, it just feels spiritual even looking at it.

Anyway, the drive yesterday was long and tiring, but the sights and views were astounding as always and waking up to the crisp air that reminded me that fall is peeking over the horizon just made it an even happier homecoming. Hey fall, hurry up. I have scarves I wanna wear.