We returned from our trip to Arizona Wednesday night to find all well here at home. It appears that Sarah, Joel, Eliza and Richard got along fine here while we were away. We appreciate Sarah and Joel running Rich back and forth to work on Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. They all had dinner here with the Barretts on Sunday, and then they went over to the Barretts for the Cinco de Mayo on Monday. From the blog pictures, it looks like everyone had a lot of fun.
Steven and I enjoyed our session at the Mesa Temple. We were selected to be the witness couple, so that was nice. (I knew I had creaky knees, but I didn't know just how creaky until I had to keep standing up during the session. Every time I stood, my knees could be heard creaking quite loudly!) After the session, we had a good dinner in the temple cafeteria. I thought it was funny that there was a shaker of cayenne pepper along with salt and pepper on every table. At the hotel in the breakfast room were three different kinds of hot sauce on every table. Must make sure things are hot if you're in Arizona!
When we returned to the hotel, we walked around the area for awhile, then went to our room to read and relax a bit before bed. The next morning we were up and on our way by 8:00 again. That's really quite a record for us. (Too bad it was actually 9:00 Utah time, and we would lose an hour on our way home.) We enjoyed our ride home across the reservation again. From Phoenix we drove straight to Flagstaff without going by way of Holbrook, so it was a little faster on the way home. We enjoyed the Vermillion cliffs and thought we'd stop at the cafe at Cliff Dwellers for lunch. But when we got there, we decided not to stay because there were lots of other people there as well and it was really noisy because they were all drinking and having a loud old time. We had hoped to have a nice quiet lunch enjoying the beautiful scenery of the area. But since that didn't work out, we drove on up the mountain to Jacob Lake for a rest stop. When I came out of the restroom, Steven pointed at a lady sitting at the counter and said, "It looks like this is where Nedra's daughter comes when she wants to eat out." I didn't think it was Nedra Pauline because her hair and makeup weren't all fancy like they had been a few days before. But then I could see that it really was her. I told Steven I thought she could tell we were looking at her and talking about her. Anyway, we then drove down off the mountain to Kanab, ready for some good Mexican food at Nedra's Too; but it turns out that Nedra's Too is closed on Wednesday. That's why Nedra Pauline was at Jacob Lake having a bite to eat! It was her day off! (That's funny because when I worked at Jacob Lake we used to like to go to Nedra's in Fredonia to eat on our days off.) On Saturday, the lady at the tourist center had told us about another Mexican restaurant in town, Escobar's, so we decided to go there instead. Steven had some cheese enchiladas verde and I had a fish taco, which were both really tasty. I especially loved the enchiladas verde. I would go there again just to have those--plus the homemade chips and salsa. I thought the chips and salsa were so good, in fact, that I got some to take home. Yum! After Kanab we got into quite the rainy weather. The weather had been great up to that point. So it pretty much rained on us from Beaver until we got to Utah valley. We did stop in Beaver for ice cream again; at least I had ice cream--raspberry pecan, which was very delicious. How come Steven didn't have ice cream at either of our stops at the cheese factory? He said none of the flavors appealed to him. But, I'm always sure that there will be at least one flavor that appeals to me! Anyway, we had a very fun trip and enjoyed being able to spend some time together and relive a lot of old memories and make some new ones. I think of it as a tender mercy from the Lord that things could work out so that we could go away together for a few days. Thanks to everyone at home for keeping things together and taking care of everything while we were gone!
Miracles, lessons, and gifts can be found in all sorts of places. --Christine Miller
Showing posts with label Arizona trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona trip. Show all posts
Friday, May 9, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Blog Vacation/Arizona Vacation
It looks like I've been taking a vacation from my blog. Things got busy in April with everything that's been happening I just haven't had time to sit down and write about it. We're having lots of fun with Sarah, Joel and Eliza who arrived on April 25 and will be staying with us for the summer. They sure keep things lively around our house!
Grampa and I left on our trip to Arizona on Saturday, May 3. We've been having a really nice time. We left Orem about 8 a.m. which must be a record for us. We stopped at the Cheese Factory on our way south and had some ice cream, at least I did. I had chocolate peanut butter. Very tasty! Then we went on down to Kanab, arriving just in time for lunch. We ate at Nedra's Too, which is run by Nedra Pauline, the daughter of the original Nedra. The original Nedra's restaurant was in Fredonia, and it's where I used to love to eat while working at Jacob Lake. That restaurant is now closed. :( But Nedra's Too is going strong in Kanab. We had a most delicious lunch. I had a tamale and Steven had a cheese enchilada--still made from Nedra's original recipes, so everything tasted as good as in the old days. It was way fun to eat there! From Kanab we drove up the plateau to Jacob Lake. It's kind of sad up there since the fires and beetles have taken out so many of the pine trees. When we got out of the car we both commented that it didn't even smell like Jacob Lake. No pine smell. I told Steven I've never been to Jacob Lake when it didn't have that same pine-y smell. Weird. Everything about the lodge is a little disappointing to me, as well. It's just not like the old days. Frankly, I don't think it's kept up like it was back in "The Day." Too bad.
Well, from Jacob Lake we headed down off the plauteau. I relived my bike ride (on a rickety old bike) down that same road 40 years ago! Wow! I can't believe I ever did that plus, I can't believe it was that long ago! At the bottom of the plateau we headed out across the reservation. The vermillion cliffs were spectacular, as always. (This is the same trip Tiffany and I took in October '06 coming back from Mississippi, only in reverse order. But we were driving most of it at night, so I was glad to see it in the day time.) We got to Holbrook at about 5:00, AZ time. We checked in at the Holiday Inn Express and then went exploring on Route 66. We went past the TeePee Motel; and although it's fun and retro-looking, we were glad we weren't staying there. We saw a car from Illinois that was there for a retro experience, I'm sure! We then went and had a hamburger and fries at the Dairy Queen which is next door to the service station where Dad worked during the summer of 1968 prior to leaving for his mission--40 years ago! We were having a 40-year flashback! We thought the Dairy Queen should make more of its Route 66 location. After we ate we went and walked around the service station. It was closed for the day by now. Dad looked in the window and was amazed how it looked just the same as when he worked there. He wondered if his old boss, Jay Williams, still ran the station. From there we drove around Holbrook looking for things that were familiar to Dad. He was kind of sad about how the former mission home and other places looked.
The next morning we got up and went to 9:00 church at the church not too far from the hotel. It was funny--when I woke up, I thought it was 6:30. So I got up and went in to have a bath. It wasn't until after my bath that I realized I had gotten up at 5:30! I had set my watch to Arizona time, but I was sure my watch said 6:30 when I got up. Dad knew what time it was all along, but he didn't say anything. He just got up and started getting ready. So we had a nice leisurely morning and didn't even have to hurry to get ready for 9:00 church. You'd think I'd let Dad have a break from having to get up at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, but I didn't. When we went to church it turned out to be the same ward that Dad attended when he lived there in Holbrook, but it was a different building. Right when we walked in, an older fellow came up to us and said, "You look like familiar spirits!" I think that's probably his usual greeting for visitors. But when Steven told him who he was, he found out that Steven, at least, really was a familiar spirit. The man was Jay Williams, Steven's old boss from 40 years ago! He's also the member of the stake presidency who gave Steven his stake presidency interview before Steven went to the temple in Mesa prior to leaving on his mission. So being there at church was like a step back in time for Dad. It was fast and testimony meeting, so when time came for the bearing of testimonies, Bro. Williams got up and asked Dad and me stand up. Bro. Williams said that Steven had come back to Holbrook and that his dad was the mission president there 40 years ago. He said, "If you want to know what Pres. Taylor looked like, just look at his son. He looks just like him." You could tell that Bro. Williams has many fond memories of Dad and the rest of his family. Dad also got up and bore his testimony and said how good it was to be back in Holbrook. After the meeting, the bishop's wife came up and introduced herself and said she was Cynthia Rose, an old friend of Barbara's now married to Craig Stuart (the bishop), a fellow Dad knew from high school. She wanted to know all about Barbara and the rest of the family, plus she filled Dad in on a lot of people that he used to know in Holbrook.
After Church we checked out of the hotel and headed on our way to Snowflake and Phoenix. (It turns out that Jay Williams owns the Holiday Inn Express where we stayed! He invited Dad and me to come to his house for lunch after church, but Dad told him we needed to be on our way, But thanks, anyway.) In Snowflake we drove up by the temple, which is absolutely beautiful! We parked in the parking lot and ate our lunch of bagels and cream cheese which we had gotten at breakfast at the hotel. (I told Dad that lunch turned out to be on Jay Williams, after all!)
From Snowflake we headed on to the Mesa/Phoenix area. We were driving the same route that Dad did 40 years ago when he went from Holbrook to Mesa for his temple endowment prior to going on his mission. He and Grandpa and Grandma T. left Holbrook that night about 8 or 9:00 after Dad had finished his 10-hour shift at the service station and Grandpa had taken care of his mission president duties. Grandpa drove as far as Heber, which is about 60 miles from Holbrook. Dad took over the driving in Heber while Grandpa and Grandma slept up in the front seat. Dad says he remembers driving the 60 miles from Heber to Payson and fighting to stay awake. He remembers going through Payson, but that's the last thing he remembered. The next thing he knew, he was waking up at the intersection going one way to Phoenix and the other way to Mesa--1 1/2 hours later! He said he remembers his head jerking back and waking up suddenly just as the car was approaching a stop sign. Grandpa woke up and said, "Are we here already?" Dad, still kind of dazed, asked, "Where are we?" Grandpa told him they were at the intersection to turn to Mesa. I've heard this story before and marvelled at it. But after actually being with Dad and driving down that road, I marvel even more and am grateful for the protective blessing that was with Dad and Grandpa and Grandma that night. That is one scary road down the mountain! I was a nervous wreck when we finally reached that intersection; and Dad was even awake the whole time, and it was daytime! I'm so grateful that the Lord was watching over the future missionary and the mission president and his wife so that they could complete their trip safely and go on to do their work and live their lives.
At the intersection, Dad and I turned towards Mesa and drove to Susie's house. She and Quinn were there, so we were able to visit with them for a little while. Susie has a really nice house with a pool in the back. She says she likes living there and enjoys the warm weather. After visiting for a little while, Steven gave Susie a blessing with the help of Quinn. We're hopeful she can get her iron and white blood count up so that she can have her knee replacement surgery. We had brought some family baby gifts for Kurt and Martha's new baby, Aaron; so we left those with Susie and Quinn. Kurt and Martha live just a few blocks away from Susie, but they weren't home from Church yet, so we left the gifts to be delivered later.
From Susie's we drove over to Chandler and found the Fairfield Inn where we had reservations to stay. It was a nice place in a quiet business park with other hotels around. Marie Callendar's was right there, so that's where we had dinner.
After breakfast the next morning (Monday), Steven went to his meetings and I stayed at the hotel. I enjoyed walking around the area in the nice, warm air. I watched some TV and read for awhile (my research reading for Tiff's Zion book), then went and had a late lunch at Marie Callendar's before Steven came back from his meetings. We relaxed there at the hotel for awhile, then went exploring. We wanted to find the big mall there in Chandler; but silly us, we didn't print us off a map from the computer in the hotel lobby, so we just drove around not knowing where we were going. We never did find the mall. We realized that at one point we should have turned south instead of north and we probably would have found it. But, oh well. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Red Lobster and had dinner--stuffed flounder for me, and broiled flounder for Steven. It was quite tasty! We thought maybe we should have had Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo, but it would have been hard to beat the meal we had at Nedra's Too on Saturday, so we opted for seafood. We were hoping that the family at home was having fun at their Cinco de Mayo party at the Barretts.
This morning, Steven went off to his meetings again. I went walking for awhile, then came to do my blog on the hotel computer. They've got a nice setup here. Later I plan to do some more reading and TV watching. It's just kind of nice to do whatever. When Steven gets back this afternoon, we're going to the Mesa Temple to do a session. Dad hasn't been back since he went for his endowment 40 years ago, so it should be nice to go there.
Grampa and I left on our trip to Arizona on Saturday, May 3. We've been having a really nice time. We left Orem about 8 a.m. which must be a record for us. We stopped at the Cheese Factory on our way south and had some ice cream, at least I did. I had chocolate peanut butter. Very tasty! Then we went on down to Kanab, arriving just in time for lunch. We ate at Nedra's Too, which is run by Nedra Pauline, the daughter of the original Nedra. The original Nedra's restaurant was in Fredonia, and it's where I used to love to eat while working at Jacob Lake. That restaurant is now closed. :( But Nedra's Too is going strong in Kanab. We had a most delicious lunch. I had a tamale and Steven had a cheese enchilada--still made from Nedra's original recipes, so everything tasted as good as in the old days. It was way fun to eat there! From Kanab we drove up the plateau to Jacob Lake. It's kind of sad up there since the fires and beetles have taken out so many of the pine trees. When we got out of the car we both commented that it didn't even smell like Jacob Lake. No pine smell. I told Steven I've never been to Jacob Lake when it didn't have that same pine-y smell. Weird. Everything about the lodge is a little disappointing to me, as well. It's just not like the old days. Frankly, I don't think it's kept up like it was back in "The Day." Too bad.
Well, from Jacob Lake we headed down off the plauteau. I relived my bike ride (on a rickety old bike) down that same road 40 years ago! Wow! I can't believe I ever did that plus, I can't believe it was that long ago! At the bottom of the plateau we headed out across the reservation. The vermillion cliffs were spectacular, as always. (This is the same trip Tiffany and I took in October '06 coming back from Mississippi, only in reverse order. But we were driving most of it at night, so I was glad to see it in the day time.) We got to Holbrook at about 5:00, AZ time. We checked in at the Holiday Inn Express and then went exploring on Route 66. We went past the TeePee Motel; and although it's fun and retro-looking, we were glad we weren't staying there. We saw a car from Illinois that was there for a retro experience, I'm sure! We then went and had a hamburger and fries at the Dairy Queen which is next door to the service station where Dad worked during the summer of 1968 prior to leaving for his mission--40 years ago! We were having a 40-year flashback! We thought the Dairy Queen should make more of its Route 66 location. After we ate we went and walked around the service station. It was closed for the day by now. Dad looked in the window and was amazed how it looked just the same as when he worked there. He wondered if his old boss, Jay Williams, still ran the station. From there we drove around Holbrook looking for things that were familiar to Dad. He was kind of sad about how the former mission home and other places looked.
The next morning we got up and went to 9:00 church at the church not too far from the hotel. It was funny--when I woke up, I thought it was 6:30. So I got up and went in to have a bath. It wasn't until after my bath that I realized I had gotten up at 5:30! I had set my watch to Arizona time, but I was sure my watch said 6:30 when I got up. Dad knew what time it was all along, but he didn't say anything. He just got up and started getting ready. So we had a nice leisurely morning and didn't even have to hurry to get ready for 9:00 church. You'd think I'd let Dad have a break from having to get up at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, but I didn't. When we went to church it turned out to be the same ward that Dad attended when he lived there in Holbrook, but it was a different building. Right when we walked in, an older fellow came up to us and said, "You look like familiar spirits!" I think that's probably his usual greeting for visitors. But when Steven told him who he was, he found out that Steven, at least, really was a familiar spirit. The man was Jay Williams, Steven's old boss from 40 years ago! He's also the member of the stake presidency who gave Steven his stake presidency interview before Steven went to the temple in Mesa prior to leaving on his mission. So being there at church was like a step back in time for Dad. It was fast and testimony meeting, so when time came for the bearing of testimonies, Bro. Williams got up and asked Dad and me stand up. Bro. Williams said that Steven had come back to Holbrook and that his dad was the mission president there 40 years ago. He said, "If you want to know what Pres. Taylor looked like, just look at his son. He looks just like him." You could tell that Bro. Williams has many fond memories of Dad and the rest of his family. Dad also got up and bore his testimony and said how good it was to be back in Holbrook. After the meeting, the bishop's wife came up and introduced herself and said she was Cynthia Rose, an old friend of Barbara's now married to Craig Stuart (the bishop), a fellow Dad knew from high school. She wanted to know all about Barbara and the rest of the family, plus she filled Dad in on a lot of people that he used to know in Holbrook.
After Church we checked out of the hotel and headed on our way to Snowflake and Phoenix. (It turns out that Jay Williams owns the Holiday Inn Express where we stayed! He invited Dad and me to come to his house for lunch after church, but Dad told him we needed to be on our way, But thanks, anyway.) In Snowflake we drove up by the temple, which is absolutely beautiful! We parked in the parking lot and ate our lunch of bagels and cream cheese which we had gotten at breakfast at the hotel. (I told Dad that lunch turned out to be on Jay Williams, after all!)
From Snowflake we headed on to the Mesa/Phoenix area. We were driving the same route that Dad did 40 years ago when he went from Holbrook to Mesa for his temple endowment prior to going on his mission. He and Grandpa and Grandma T. left Holbrook that night about 8 or 9:00 after Dad had finished his 10-hour shift at the service station and Grandpa had taken care of his mission president duties. Grandpa drove as far as Heber, which is about 60 miles from Holbrook. Dad took over the driving in Heber while Grandpa and Grandma slept up in the front seat. Dad says he remembers driving the 60 miles from Heber to Payson and fighting to stay awake. He remembers going through Payson, but that's the last thing he remembered. The next thing he knew, he was waking up at the intersection going one way to Phoenix and the other way to Mesa--1 1/2 hours later! He said he remembers his head jerking back and waking up suddenly just as the car was approaching a stop sign. Grandpa woke up and said, "Are we here already?" Dad, still kind of dazed, asked, "Where are we?" Grandpa told him they were at the intersection to turn to Mesa. I've heard this story before and marvelled at it. But after actually being with Dad and driving down that road, I marvel even more and am grateful for the protective blessing that was with Dad and Grandpa and Grandma that night. That is one scary road down the mountain! I was a nervous wreck when we finally reached that intersection; and Dad was even awake the whole time, and it was daytime! I'm so grateful that the Lord was watching over the future missionary and the mission president and his wife so that they could complete their trip safely and go on to do their work and live their lives.
At the intersection, Dad and I turned towards Mesa and drove to Susie's house. She and Quinn were there, so we were able to visit with them for a little while. Susie has a really nice house with a pool in the back. She says she likes living there and enjoys the warm weather. After visiting for a little while, Steven gave Susie a blessing with the help of Quinn. We're hopeful she can get her iron and white blood count up so that she can have her knee replacement surgery. We had brought some family baby gifts for Kurt and Martha's new baby, Aaron; so we left those with Susie and Quinn. Kurt and Martha live just a few blocks away from Susie, but they weren't home from Church yet, so we left the gifts to be delivered later.
From Susie's we drove over to Chandler and found the Fairfield Inn where we had reservations to stay. It was a nice place in a quiet business park with other hotels around. Marie Callendar's was right there, so that's where we had dinner.
After breakfast the next morning (Monday), Steven went to his meetings and I stayed at the hotel. I enjoyed walking around the area in the nice, warm air. I watched some TV and read for awhile (my research reading for Tiff's Zion book), then went and had a late lunch at Marie Callendar's before Steven came back from his meetings. We relaxed there at the hotel for awhile, then went exploring. We wanted to find the big mall there in Chandler; but silly us, we didn't print us off a map from the computer in the hotel lobby, so we just drove around not knowing where we were going. We never did find the mall. We realized that at one point we should have turned south instead of north and we probably would have found it. But, oh well. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Red Lobster and had dinner--stuffed flounder for me, and broiled flounder for Steven. It was quite tasty! We thought maybe we should have had Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo, but it would have been hard to beat the meal we had at Nedra's Too on Saturday, so we opted for seafood. We were hoping that the family at home was having fun at their Cinco de Mayo party at the Barretts.
This morning, Steven went off to his meetings again. I went walking for awhile, then came to do my blog on the hotel computer. They've got a nice setup here. Later I plan to do some more reading and TV watching. It's just kind of nice to do whatever. When Steven gets back this afternoon, we're going to the Mesa Temple to do a session. Dad hasn't been back since he went for his endowment 40 years ago, so it should be nice to go there.
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