Better Than McDonald’s

             We learned that Ryan and his family would be doing a tour of the main post office where he works.  We asked if we could join them.  On Saturday morning Richard drove Jaime and me downtown as she was still set on finding souvenirs bearing Utah’s name.  We also went to Trolley Square before driving to the post office to meet Ryan’s family.

It was a nice experience learning more about the structure of the post office.  Here is a more detailed example of what we saw.  Of course not exact.  We were not allowed to take pictures except in certain designated spots. Our tour guide spoke in a very soft voice.  He asked questions and gave out tee shirts for correct answers.  We walked away with two T-shirts and two string backpacks.

Afterward we asked if they would like to have lunch together and ended up going to the Old Spaghetti Factory (putting ourselves at Trolley Square once again).  Emma was most impressed and announced it as her new favorite restaurant.  She said the food was better than McDonald’s which made me laugh.  Well, yeah . . .

We parted ways after lunch.  Ryan's family had a ward bbq to attend that was different from  the ward reunion that we attended.  It was nice to see some faces from the past although all the visits among us felt quite brief.  Jaime was only five when we moved from the ward and so did not remember many but was able to visit with a few.

 

Day 4: Shopping and Sibs

 We checked out of Layton’s Comfort Inn and headed toward Salt Lake City.  Richard had decided that Jaime and I would need to bring some Salt Water Taffy home to our friends.  He decided that we would have to buy from the most expensive place he could think of:  Trolley Square.

Hey, Trolley Square does have its perks – but they are also rather pricey.  Wherever he believed the taffy was no longer exists – but hey, he did find some kitchen equipment that appealed to his eyes.  We made our purchase and headed out to Valley Fair Mall.  I do remember having purchased candy there.  But that was seven years ago.  Before the pandemic. Neither Jaime nor I especially cared about the taffy.  It claims it’s made with the salt from the Great Salt Lake (which by the way has not been that great for a couple of decades now) I wondered if there was any lake left.

 

While at the food court, Richard saw what appeared like a bowling alley.  We discovered an arcade and bowling had been added to the mall.  I took some pictures of Jaime enjoying herself along with some of the machines. 

From there we went to the West Valley Library.  Richard was happy to be in a real library again.  Jaime and I walked around to look at Fairbourne station.  She was disappointed that the water was not on.  I had not expected it to be. We did take a few pictures.  Mostly to compare then and now. 

Jaime went on a scavenger hunt leftover from St. Patrick’s Day.  We hung around until almost 3:30 and then drove to Midvale to have dinner with my brother Patrick and his wife Sunny and my sister Kayla and her family.  It was so nice to get to see them.  I should have invited Peggy who is a dear family friend who lives closer to Su Casa than either of my siblings do.  Jai was definitely happy to be at Su Casa as she misses the tradition of having gone there so often with grandma (her grandma; my mom)

After we finished eating and took some family pictures, Richard, Jaime and I continued to drive further south and made it to St. George sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.  

We stopped in Beaver to gas up.  Richard took our photos in front of the famous chair.

Randy greeted us at the door and put us up for the next four nights.