Utah - Part 1

This week, I'm in the Beehive State - Utah.  I decided to stop here, on my way back from California, as my family is here visiting.  I decided to help my wife drive all the way back to Texas.  More on that in a few days. I will have to spend a couple of days working this week, while my family has fun without me...but it's worth it to be closer to them.


I arrived late on Friday night, and needed something for dinner.  I went straight to one of my favorite places: Zuppa's.  They specialize in salads:

The next day, we started the fun by heading up to Salt Lake City.  We were specifically headed toward the new City Creek Center - a brand-new shopping area, sitting right in the heart of Utah's capital.  It's a huge redevelopment of downtown Salt Lake.  About 23 acres...it replaces several malls and it's gorgeous.

From when it was still under construction...

The roof for part of the mall (above) is actually retractable...it's 230 ft long and at least 60 ft wide.  I'm guessing they will only open it in spring and fall...because it was around 98 degrees today, and the air-conditioning was welcome.

The fountains were really nice...there were several set-up that children could actually play in.  We took G-Man and his cousin M there, to see everything (including a nice Disney store).  They loved the fountains:

As it got hotter, the kids decided to soak themselves in one of the fountains.  Even L got into it and had a blast with the water shooting up from the holes in the ground:

The whole area is well-designed.  In the Food Court, there's a giant play area for kids...which is smart for this type of space in Utah.  Our kids had a blast:

On the way back from Salt Lake, I stopped for a soda at a convenience store.  As I passed an Icee machine, one of the flavors really surprised me.  Only in Utah would you find this much Napoleon Dynamite influence, after eight years:

All of G-Man's cousins (from that side of the family) are in town, so we had them all playing with each other that evening.  They managed to soak each other, so G-Man had to wear a big t-shirt, as his clothes were wet.  They had a pretty awesome time together:

Here's a video clip showing the whole thing in-action:

We let the kids eat dinner together.  One of G-Man's cousins, little A, loves beans.  I mean she loves beans.  When I walked into the kitchen after she'd eaten dinner, I got to see how somebody really appreciates black beans:

All-in-all a great day.  The good thing is that there are a few more to come, while we're here ; )  I'm anxious to visit with my side of the family, as well!