Familia.....

Why do I wake up so early?  This always happens on mornings when we are doing something different, like driving the 'Bird down to Salt Lake City, or more specifically Sandy, UT to attend the wedding of my brother's (Dwyer) daughter (Ingrid) on Sunday.  Originally we had planned to leave Missoula around 7 am and arrive in Sandy late afternoon, but, as is often the case, the Jello had a better idea......we decided we would get up at 5 am, and leave no later than 6 am.....it's about 540 miles, and that's easily 8+ hours with stops.  Of course, instead of waking up at 5 I woke up at 4.......hmmmm....got to work on that.

On the "realistic" side of things, it worked out better because we were under way by 5:30 headed east and south on I-90 toward I-15 and then straight south.  Just a few minutes into our drive we came upon on of the many wild fires burning in Montana, Idaho and Utah.

TLE led off driving and we changed off about every 90-100 miles, which is easy since we can hardly pass a Rest Stop without "stopping" for a few minutes.  By 10:30 we were approaching Idaho Falls.  TLE asked what was on Yelp for breakfast so I typed in "cafes" and the first one up was "North Hi-Way Cafe"......Yelp rates it at 4.5 stars which caught my attention right away.....I would have to agree with Yelp.  We sat at the counter, and I had the Hi-Way Hash, which was amazing.  This place is packed all day, so the service can be a little slow, but it is friendly, and they keep your coffee cup full!

Loved this sign!

After the late breakfast we headed over to Fred Meyers (supermarket) to fuel up.  Fred Meyers is part of Kroger, and we had unused fuel points, so we used them to fill up the 'Bird, and then continued on our drive south.  We continued to see fires burning on the hill and mountainsides as we continued south.  Eventually we crossed into Utah.

We are always striving for "uneventful" when we travel, and that would be the perfect word to describe our 540 mile drive.....we arrived at the Marriott Residence Inn around 2:30, so exactly 9 hours of driving, but you know, it didn't seem that long.

Within an hour, or two my family began to arrive.....first my mother, Virginia (lower right in the picture below) arrived with my sister, Hilary, and her family.....then my brother Philip and his family (Hilary is just to my right, and Philip is just to her right).  My other brother, Dwyer (top row, 2nd going from left to right) lives in South Jordan, just 4 miles from the hotel we are in.  We all sat and chatted for a while before retiring back to our individual rooms to get dressed for dinner at Dwyer's home at 5:30.

Ingrid (top row, 4th going from left to right, or right to left!) is Dwyer's daughter, who is getting married Sunday

We had a wonderful time talking and laughing as we always do when we get together.   Eventually my brother, Dwyer, brought out a bottle of single malt Scotch, and we began to share old childhood stories.  Amazingly, we all remembered them the same way.....how is that possible?

Around 9:30 it was time to head back to the Marriott.....I had been up since 4 am with NO NAP.....I know many of you are shocked right now....a day without a nap!

I found out my Dodgers had won again over Philadelphia, 5-0, making them now 42 and 8 over their last 50 games.  I keep thinking they will come back to earth and start playing like the Dodgers I have known for the past 25 years, but the longer this goes on it becomes more than a fluke.  However it turns out I'm enjoying the ride right now!

Thanks for stopping by!