Going & doing and having fabulous adventures: Park City, SLC Cemetery, and more memory lane

Hello lovelies, I'm here.  In my previous posts I mentioned going & doing and having fabulous adventures. So you can't blame me if I've been out "going & doing and having fabulous adventures" and completely shirking my blog owner responsibilities. But I couldn't stay away long and now I'm eager to report back on a little escape my enthusiastic friend Charisse and I made up to Park City.

We had no plan. I picked her up and off we went, up through the canyon and right off the freeway, no biggie. Park City gets a lot of publicity, but in all reality there isn't much there.  Little downtown is basically only one street (below) with some fun shops and galleries. If you are not budgetarily restricted and in the mood to be a tourist, there would be plenty to splurge on.  Charisse and I are not exactly spending these days, so we did a lot of window shopping and still managed to have a great day.

I didn't pass up this fabulous "hat", it was a steal and reminds me so much of the one my mom has.  If I remember next time I'm in Ohio I'll snap a pic and post it for your viewing pleasure.

There is a free trolley that drives up and down the two main streets all day long. We had to jump on and give it a go...I think I expected too much, or maybe I've ridden public transportation too much to call it a novelty, but it was still fun.  Fun, as evidenced by the picture below of my dear friend Charisse.

It's been a few years, but the first time I ever went night skiing it was right up there on this slop.
It was magical.

Did you read THIS POST where I took a wild walk down memory lane?

There were a few places I missed so Charisse humored me and we took our day back down Katherine's Earlier Years.

The University of Utah Hospital, where I had my first (after college) real life job.

It looks so different, bigger, improved, wow.

And this little gem below, oh, just a simple apartment that I shared with roomie Nikki Brown.

Our (one bedroom/bath/yikes) apartment was on the far end of the top level.

Crazy how many memories I have from this place.

I loved this neighborhood. This apartment was just two blocks from the SLC Cemetery (next photo) and I used to go on walks there at dust. 

Nikki met her husband when we lived in this apartment.

I had my braces removed when we lived here & my wisdom teeth too. 

Nikki taught me how to drive a (her) stick shift so I could borrow her car to go to my follow up appointment at my oral surgeon's office.

I had the (now) funniest experience one late night where I thought it was the Second Coming! It was really just out neighbor playing his music too loud.

Well, now I just feel old, so let's keep going...

This is the cemetery, Charisse and I spent well over an hour driving through in search of exciting grave stones.

Many of the past presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are buried here.

I don't know what it is about seeing their graves, but you just feel like you are standing on holy ground when you are there. It makes me think about the angel that came to the women at the grave/tomb of the Savior. I know it's not supposed to be funny, but I imagine him with this sort of grin, "why do you seek the living among the dead?" ...you silly women.

As we were meandering the graves we happened upon three sisters enjoying a meal around a freshly covered grave. The previous day they buried their father right next to their mother that passed a few years previous. These sisters were inspiring and a complete joy!  They offered us cupcakes..."in celebration of their fathers life."  And they told us stories of their father. They said that the year after their mother died their father called a mandatory family birthday dinner at her grave.  "And we're having steak, I'll pick it up on the way over!" he said to them. I just imagine how much love this man had for his wife. 

No matter how many times it happens (I mean, the world if full of people in love) it's challenging to stomach what I want so greatly, and yet... 

Back to the grand tour:

As we drove around looking for President Brigham Young's grave we saw this:

That is the view I had every time I walked to/from school. It was great. Odd, it's a bit of a sketchy area (this is more the neighborhood from the last post) but in the same way there are amazing homes and businesses (like the church office building and the temple) so it's a strange ying/yang thing happening.

I did manage to find the grave of Brigham Young.  It is in this beautiful little garden with some other graves.

And since we were on the search for the dead Charisse let me drag her to West Valley City cemetery and we found the grave of my great uncle Harry. 

So there you have it...a day full of tourist adventures and parading through my past. 

Crazy and fun, and fabulous company.

More adventures coming soon