Over the river and through the woods!

I don't know when or who wrote the song - but going to grandma's house has always been an adventure. Since we've been married we have lived about a six or seven hours drive from Lori's parent's. The younger the kids the more often we made the journey to grandma's. Now that their older it has become a once or twice a year event - but it's usually been on Thanksgiving. I don't know how many rivers we've crossed, there are a number of canyons or woods - but most of the way is covered by sagebrush and then at the end even cactus. When people ask what we're doing for Thanksgiving I always love to see their faces when I tell them were going to Vegas. "Hey baby let's go to Vegas" and "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" might be the themes of the parting crowd, but when we go it's the same as any other visit to the in-laws in a normal suburbia neighborhood. We never go to the strip or see much of the glitz and glamor - except occasionally we go to the casino's, because they have the best movie theaters or bowling. Most of my wife's family lives there, so it's no big deal to them that we come - but its a highlight for our family. Since most of these stories are for historical remembrances there are a couple of memories I should point out. After Lori and I were married we were making our way to Vegas on a unorganized honeymoon to make it to our wedding reception. In a small town named Meadow we were at a gas station and a little bird flew into the store window and died. For years I've turned off the radio or TV and had a moment of silence as we pass Meadow in remembrance of the little bird that lost it's life as we were beginning our life together. On the way there we always eat in Nephi and gassed up in St. George. On the way back we eat and gas up in Cedar City. It's almost like we're creatures of habit - everyone is fine as long as we don't change the agenda. We always need to switch seats at each stop and we had a portable TV that with the help of bungee cords and a makeshift stand made it nice to pass the time. I'm just glad we never got into and accident and that would go fling thought the windshield. When they would say how much further - the answer was in the form of how many more movies they needed to watch. For the first ten or fifteen years we would stop in Kannaraville to see Lori's Grandmother. When we make it to Vegas then the fun begins - well that depends on who you ask, we do do some things that we can't do in Logan. Spencer was the one that had the hardest time at grandma's - all of his cousins were girls and sitting around and visiting only made it fun for a couple of minutes. SO we went to the go-karts, Red Rock canyon, movies etc. Now the girls always want to go shopping and spend time with thee cousins. No matter what way you look at it - being with family was always the highlight of the trip.