Salt Lake City Trip

My husband is awesome.  For approximately a bazillion reasons.  Including one of latest wild hairs...  to get out of Dodge without the kidlets in tow.  His quick work trip to Salt Lake City last week turned out to be the perfect opportunity and after only a teensy bit of prodding I got on board. We finally had enough miles to score my ticket, he only had to work for a day out there and my folks were free to cover the kids... it was meant to be!  

We left (after hardly sleeping a wink, it's just WAY to quiet without that monitor in my ear) at o-dark-thirty and arrived there around lunchtime.  Trav took off for his business obligations and I walked down to a local bakery with free wi-fi and got comfy.  I had a long lunch, caught up on blogging, read the paper and planned my itinerary.  That was vacation right there!!  Then I headed into downtown to explore and to visit Temple Square.  I did the usual touristy stuff, then hit some local shops and even got to sit in on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal.  That was probably the highlight of the day, incredible!  Then Trav and I met back up at the hotel around 9:30 and collapsed.

Rabbit Trail:  Dehydration + jet lag + exhaustion + the climate in SLC = feeling very much bad!  It took me nine hours, three Goody powders, and all the water I could force down to make my head stop pounding.  I now have a whole new respect for what Travis experiences when he has to fly out there and then work nonstop for several days.

The next two days were our vacation.  And we filled them with luxuries we don't ever get to enjoy!  We hiked (nothing fancy, just a quick walk around a local trail), explored downtown, ate delicious food...  slowly... and without interruption, saw a movie, watched cable tv (oh the extravagance!) and walked the local shopping districts and farmer's market.  Without a stroller, two kids and all their accessories in tow.  We slept without the sound of a baby monitor.  We kept no schedule.  We were responsible for no one but ourselves.  And we didn't worry about the kids one little bit.  It was two days of unplugged bliss!

I don't care if it takes us another three years, I am already planning our next "just us" vacation.  Not only is it wonderful to get away together, it's also kind of nice to come home to this...

The kids had been counting down the sleeps until we came home, and not being sure if our plane would get in on time Grammy and Grampy told them it would be one more sleep just to be safe.  But we managed to arrive on time and surprise them...  Travis came in whistling and Caden immediately shouted, "Daddy!"  Then we peeked around the corner as Grampy snapped these shots.  Addison ran into my arms as she shouted excitedly, "I didn't have to wait one more sleep!"  Oh yes, getting away sometimes is a wonderful thing.  But coming home is better still.