Beneath the Wraps

          I don’t know how old my grandma was when she decided to get her driver’s license.   She had been born and raised in Utah, but was then living in San Francisco.   I don’t know if she had ever driven at the time she had resided in Utah and maybe didn’t feel the need in San Francisco as she could rely on public transportation.           Grandpa Ralph was a retired bus driver and did know his way around. I am pretty sure that he had a car, and after he passed way, perhaps Grandma Mary had been missing that luxury of just driving somewhere and not having to wait for the bus or the streetcar or the BART or whatever.             I was too young to actually get all the logistics involved.   I just remember my own mom having mentioned it. I know that Grandma had purchased her own car but doubt that she had it for m...

         My brother-in-law’s sister had returned home from a lesson on perspective (I think) and posted a thought about her best and worst Christmas – both which had taken place in 2005. It was a great thought, and I asked permission to share it on my blog.   She said that her understanding was that it was up for Church publication and it would be best if I did not share.   I figured when it was published in Ensign magazine, I could refer to the link.   But I don’t see any evidence of publication thus far.          I saved a copy to my own personal files, but seem to have misplaced the ubs or it somehow got deleted or something.   I’ll find it eventually.   Meanwhile I have my own thoughts about one of the longest days of my life (starting out with a trip to the Medford Temple and ending with waiting for Greyhound)          Ju...

            Jenna had taken an art class last week. We’ve been taking TRAX of course.   It’s funny about that form of transportation.   Streetcars could be seen in downtown Salt Lake back in the late 30s.   I don’t know when the city decided to rip all the rail lines out.   So many changes have taken place through the years. For over half a century the streetcars and rails had been done away with in downtown Salt Lake. The garage that had been used to house the trolleys has since been turned into a shopping center. Meanwhile the rails have been re-dotting the Salt Lake map for the last two decades. Some existed from when the Union Pacific was built (I think) but most have been added by Utah Transit Authority. The Union Pacific Building gradually changed from cargo trains to Amtrax.   (I remember having gone to it a few times to meet my grandma) The building   is now the...

From my childhood, I remember seeing and hearing trains.   I remember being excited whenever a train would pass on the road and we would have to stop and wait for it.   My brother, Patrick, and I would often count how many cars were on each train.   My parents didn’t seem to be as excited whenever the arms of the railroad came down. A child’s perspective is so much different than that of an adult.   Mostly what we saw were cargo trains.   There were few encounters with passenger trains.    My grandma who lived in San Francisco would sometimes take the train.   We would go to pick her up downtown at the train station.        Patrick and I had also ridden on a train from Utah to Colorado.    We’d gone with my mom and my other grandma. I thought that it was exciting!   Especially going through tunnels.   And there were some LOOONNNGGG tunnels.   As I got older, I don’t recall...

            Last week I purchased bus passes for Jenna and me as Minerva (our neighbor who has been taking Jenna to school) said that her son wanted to start riding the bus again.  I am okay either way.  Morning commute’s not so bad – at least going to school.  Road painting caused delays on the return.             I was returning from the library the other day when a man at the bus stop insisted on talking to me.  I was far more interested in the book I was holding than in anything that he was saying and actually annoyed with his ignorance that I was trying to read.  He said he was looking for a job. Taking baths in the Jordan Canal is getting too cold.  He used to live in those apartments over there.  He still knows people.              He hadn’t shaved because he doesn’t have a razor....

If I had to gander a guess, I would say there are more forms of transportation in the water than on the land.   But I’m just guessing. There are tugboats, canoes, kayaks, yachts, ships, motorboats, sail boats, house boats, ferry boats, water taxies, steam boats, rafts, jet skis, paddle boats, surf boards and submarines to name a few.   Most of the water transportation that I’ve been on have been rides at amusement parks – rides that may very well work without the water, so I don’t guess they count – though the Water Skeeters at Lagoon and the Canoe Ride at Disneyland did require physical work unlike the tugboat kiddie ride or Tom Sawyers raft. So, outside of the amusement park I have ridden a ferry – well a few of them rather.   But the ferry in British Columbia was quite different from the said ferry that takes passengers on a guided tour.   We (or dad, rather) actually drove our car onto the ferry in British Columbia and dise...