We ate donuts to our heart’s content at Si’s before Chad and his sweet family joined us for pictures and last minute chit chat. Ready or not we said our goodbyes, piled into the van, and headed to Hill Air Force Base, just north of Salt Lake City, where Jen, Cyd’s daughter, and her family were expecting us for dinner. It’s a beautiful six-hour drive. We drove past pastures with sheep, cattle, and horses and got a chuckle out of turnoffs for places like Whiskey Springs, Starvation State Park, and Mayflower not to mention the gigantic pink dinosaur welcoming us to the town of, you guessed it, Dinosaur. We even passed a drive-in movie closed for the season.

We got to Hill in the early evening just in time to enjoy a delicious crock-pot roast with Jen, 1st Lt. Rhett, five year old Jolie, three year old Rafe, and six month old Maverick before settling into a small suite at the Guest House on base. We enjoyed hanging out all the next day basically getting in the way. ;~} I went along to drop Jolie off at kindergarten, played with Rafe while Jolie was at school, and cuddled Maverick as much as he would tolerate. That night we enjoyed a pizza and ice cream cake birthday dinner for Jennifer’s 28th. The big news was their winter transfer to Wright Patterson AFB, a stone’s throw from Murphy and Josie in Cincinnati.

The next morning we reluctantly left the happy family with promises to visit in Ohio next year. We drove south a couple hours for a short, fun stop in Wales at the home of Josie’s brother David, who is teaching at the local college, and his wife Kelsey. We had met Eli, their two and a half year old, but until yesterday had not met three week old Lincoln, who is one beautiful little guy.

We stopped for the night in Panquitch, a retro, couple of intersections, two story jumping off point for Bryce and Zion National Parks. Our large, admittedly basic, motel room with two queens and a double was a steal for $55 including tax…and breakfast! We either got used to the musty small or the heater and bargain of it all overrode it.