With our packout finished and Bri’s training completed, we were ready for our next big adventure: a month of home leave. Since the moment we began to think about the foreign service as a career, we dreamed of having the time to travel as a family across the country, to see and experience the breadth and scope of America as a family. With that goal in mind, we decided that we would drive from coast-to-coast over our R & R and see several church history sites en route.
As Bri and I sat down to work out our plan, we got excited and a little over-ambitious in our planning at first, and had to scale back some travel up into the northeast before settling on a plan to head to Champaign and Nauvoo IL, Independence MO, Denver CO, Utah, and Newberg OR, and then head back to and fly out of Utah. We still had a couple of Harry Potter books on cd to listen to, but recognized that was still going to be a lot of time in the car. Bri came up with the brilliant idea to get each of the kids their own cheap mp3 player and load them up with books on cd and music. Needless to say, the mp3 players were a big hit with the kids and helped us all to survive a great but very long trip. We said our goodbyes to Oakwood again. We were excited to leave the cramped living quarters, but then again, we have good memories of our time there with our friends that we'll miss and we'll miss the 1950's community feel and ease of socializing and recreation. We know when we return in another two years (if we need language training again), we will be a little different. Thomas will be 15, Savvy 13, and Rhea 11. But there's a comfort in coming back to what we know and what has brought us joy here in Virginia before and I have a feeling we will still love it as we have before.
In what can only be the most inefficient start possible (Bri blames it on the Garmin), our first day we traveled through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia before finally finding a very over-priced Quality Inn with a pool in Jeffersonville, Ohio. 
In what can only be the most inefficient start possible (Bri blames it on the Garmin), our first day we traveled through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia before finally finding a very over-priced Quality Inn with a pool in Jeffersonville, Ohio. 
The next day, we proceeded through Ohio, Kentucky (another wrong turn), and Indiana to Illinois and back to the cornfields of our early marriage: Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.
When I first married Bri, he was finishing up the second year of his MBA at the University of Illinois in Champaign, and we were both excited to get back to the place where we were newlyweds. We rolled into town on a hot Sunday afternoon, and took advantage of the momentum to head up to the campus and to walk around. We went to Wohler Hall where Bri took his classes and David Kinley Hall where the MBA program was located, and the kids had fun sitting in the seats where their dad had sat as a student. We also went to Foellinger Hall, where Bri took his MBA exams and where he decided during a lecture by Ray Bradbury that he was going to go to law school.
When Bri graduated from BYU, he didn’t know what he wanted to do, and so he took a gap year and cooked and waited tables before finally deciding on going to business school – he didn’t feel very motivated in any one direction, and business school was only two years. Fairly quickly after starting his MBA, Bri realized he had made a mistake and he didn’t want to go into business. A few months into his program, he decided to blow off his studies one night to attend a lecture by Ray Bradbury, an Illinois alum who was in town and giving a lecture at Foellinger. During the lecture, Ray Bradbury told a story about how as a college grad he was working one job but kept writing stories on the side because he thought he wanted to be an author. All of his submissions were rejected until one of his short stories (about a dinosaur that falls in love with a light house) was finally accepted for publication, and the rest is history. Mr. Bradbury looked out at the audience and said, “I want to talk to one person in the audience – you are thinking of doing something that you want to do but that is inconvenient and not easy and everyone around you is telling you not to do. Do it anyway – it will make all the difference.” At the time, Bri was taking a business law class as part of his first year, and really enjoying it and had been thinking a lot about going to law school. So that night, Bri decided to do it – to finish business school and then go to law school. So we have Ray Bradbury to blame for the fact that Bri finished another year and a half of business school and then went to law school and an eleven-year career in the law. : ) I'm proud that he stuck out the two years of business school anyway. We acquired 90% of our student loans from his MBA, but he did it!
When I first married Bri, he was finishing up the second year of his MBA at the University of Illinois in Champaign, and we were both excited to get back to the place where we were newlyweds. We rolled into town on a hot Sunday afternoon, and took advantage of the momentum to head up to the campus and to walk around. We went to Wohler Hall where Bri took his classes and David Kinley Hall where the MBA program was located, and the kids had fun sitting in the seats where their dad had sat as a student. We also went to Foellinger Hall, where Bri took his MBA exams and where he decided during a lecture by Ray Bradbury that he was going to go to law school.
When Bri graduated from BYU, he didn’t know what he wanted to do, and so he took a gap year and cooked and waited tables before finally deciding on going to business school – he didn’t feel very motivated in any one direction, and business school was only two years. Fairly quickly after starting his MBA, Bri realized he had made a mistake and he didn’t want to go into business. A few months into his program, he decided to blow off his studies one night to attend a lecture by Ray Bradbury, an Illinois alum who was in town and giving a lecture at Foellinger. During the lecture, Ray Bradbury told a story about how as a college grad he was working one job but kept writing stories on the side because he thought he wanted to be an author. All of his submissions were rejected until one of his short stories (about a dinosaur that falls in love with a light house) was finally accepted for publication, and the rest is history. Mr. Bradbury looked out at the audience and said, “I want to talk to one person in the audience – you are thinking of doing something that you want to do but that is inconvenient and not easy and everyone around you is telling you not to do. Do it anyway – it will make all the difference.” At the time, Bri was taking a business law class as part of his first year, and really enjoying it and had been thinking a lot about going to law school. So that night, Bri decided to do it – to finish business school and then go to law school. So we have Ray Bradbury to blame for the fact that Bri finished another year and a half of business school and then went to law school and an eleven-year career in the law. : ) I'm proud that he stuck out the two years of business school anyway. We acquired 90% of our student loans from his MBA, but he did it!
After walking around campus, we got some food and found our airbnb, which was a great little place and just what we needed for our stay. It also was just a few streets away from Bri’s old apartment and stomping grounds.
After a good night’s sleep, we headed into campus again. We found our newlywed apartment on Lanternhill Drive, stopped by to see the Urbana Middle School where I worked as a teaching assistant to Leslie, a girl with Down's Syndrome, had lunch at the famous Papa Del’s pizza, walked around campus, and went bowling at the Illini Student Union with the kids. It was surreal to be back to a place we haven’t seen in seventeen years, and we all enjoyed the beauty of the old campus. It hardly seemed like 17 years had passed especially when we saw things that looked the same. A surreal experience for me as I contrasted the feelings that I had then as a newlywed, a little insecure in our future as to how our lives would turn out but feeling hopeful that it would all work out. And all I had to focus on was what new dinner and treat I could make for my husband, cleaning and decorating a little duplex, enjoying my job, and teaching little Sunbeams with Bri at church on Sundays. And now here I was, returning with Bri and our three children after years of effort and highs and lows and being knocked around by life a little, with a lot more wisdom and experience and much more responsibility with the role of mother and supportive wife as we venture around the world for work and as I make sure everyone is healthy, whole, and progressing emotionally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually. Definitely not the plan we had all worked out from the family room on Lanternhill Dr. when we were talking about living on 20 acres in rural Oregon! ;)
After a good night’s sleep, we headed into campus again. We found our newlywed apartment on Lanternhill Drive, stopped by to see the Urbana Middle School where I worked as a teaching assistant to Leslie, a girl with Down's Syndrome, had lunch at the famous Papa Del’s pizza, walked around campus, and went bowling at the Illini Student Union with the kids. It was surreal to be back to a place we haven’t seen in seventeen years, and we all enjoyed the beauty of the old campus. It hardly seemed like 17 years had passed especially when we saw things that looked the same. A surreal experience for me as I contrasted the feelings that I had then as a newlywed, a little insecure in our future as to how our lives would turn out but feeling hopeful that it would all work out. And all I had to focus on was what new dinner and treat I could make for my husband, cleaning and decorating a little duplex, enjoying my job, and teaching little Sunbeams with Bri at church on Sundays. And now here I was, returning with Bri and our three children after years of effort and highs and lows and being knocked around by life a little, with a lot more wisdom and experience and much more responsibility with the role of mother and supportive wife as we venture around the world for work and as I make sure everyone is healthy, whole, and progressing emotionally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually. Definitely not the plan we had all worked out from the family room on Lanternhill Dr. when we were talking about living on 20 acres in rural Oregon! ;)
Here are pics from 17 years ago!
Now:
17 years ago with the staff I worked with at Urbana Middle School!
Now:
A favorite park of ours but bigger and better now!
One of the beautiful campus gardens we liked to visit.
Bri and I have been talking about Papa Del's pizza ever since we left Illinois! Glad it was still around and thriving. Sadly, I'm gluten free and pretty much dairy free now. :(
The kids love it now. :)
17 years ago on campus:
Now:
Bowling at the Student Illini Building.
17 years ago bowling with Jeff, Diana, and Leslie!
Now with our crazy kids!
Thomas found a piano in the basement of the Student Union and played for us.
Penny and her assistant:
Waiting for the parade to start:
It was fun that we got a chance to see the parade from the ground and to be a part of the experience. After we finished, the organizers put us on the back of some little golf carts and took us back on the parade route through the parade, and we all agreed that was a great way to see all of the floats and participants. : )
After the parade, we had scheduled a visit with Leslie, a Down’s Syndrome student for whom I had been an aide and who inspired me to get my Masters in Special Ed. Leslie and I really connected when I worked with her, and during the visit her dad said that he still references me when he needs Leslie to do something (when Leslie wouldn’t take a bath, he asked her, “do we need to call Miss Micky?”, and she said “no” and got in the bath. : ). Leslie and her mom and dad came over to our Airbnb, and “surprised” Leslie with a visit to see me. Leslie had a hard time processing the event for the first half of our visit, but by the end she had slipped back into her old relationship with me and with Bri, and it was like old times. Leslie is now in her thirties, and she lives in a facility and has a job. We watched old videos and looked at pics together and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I will never forget Leslie, and I am glad she still remembers me too!
Then:
Now:
Then, on the morning of our move from Illinois to Las Vegas to start law school. Jeff and Diana were nice enough to bring Lesleie and say goodbye. Sad day for me.
Now:
Cute!! My kids, girls especially, loved trying to talk with Lesley and make a connection. They kept asking her questions to see if she could answer them. They're definitely teachers at heart. ;)
After Leslie left, we all headed over to one of two neighborhood aquatic parks, and we all relaxed in the lazy river and played on the water slides and enjoyed a warm midwestern afternoon. After we got the kids down, Bri and I took another walk through the neighborhood and pondered the passage of time and the twists and turns of a married life that started in quiet Champaign and ended (for now) in the foreign service and everything in between. The Lord has been good to us!
Wednesday morning rolled around, and we packed up and prepared to go. While we were getting ready, the kids trapped what they assured us was a “mole” in the dining room area. We confidently told them it wasn’t a mole, and Bri conveyed the rodent outside to release in the yard. To our surprise, it was indeed a little mole! We have no idea how he got in the house. Once packed up, we headed out of town, swinging around the campus for one last peek, by our duplex apartment on Lanternhill Drive, and by the (much expanded) library by the Lincoln Center where we used to check out movies when we were too poor to rent them (they now have a fun sculpture of the hare and the tortoise on books out front). We are both grateful that Champaign was such a great place to start out together, and loved our visit.
From Champaign, we headed four hours west to Nauvoo, IL. This is an important city for the LDS, and is
the city where the Mormons were centered when Joseph Smith and his brother were
murdered and the Mormons were driven west to the Rocky Mountains. Both Bri and I are descended from these early
Mormons and pioneers, and we wanted to get to know Nauvoo as a family. Nauvoo’s name means “beautiful,” and its
perch on a hill at a bend in the Mississippi river and the rebuilt temple there
really live up to the title of “Nauvoo the Beautiful.”
We found our AirBnB, a little one-room studio with a loft called “Emma’s
Place” a few miles outside of Nauvoo on the river, unloaded our stuff, and
headed in to take a closer look. 
After dinner at a
sandwich place above the temple, we headed down to the LDS Visitor Center in
Old Nauvoo, and signed up for free tickets to the show “Sunset by the
Mississippi.” There, LDS missionaries –
including performing missionaries, who were mostly in their late teens/early
twenties, and senior missionaries, mostly in their late 60’s and up – sang,
danced, acted, and played instruments (including a full brass band). It was fun to see the missionaries –
especially the older ones – sing and perform to give us a sense of Old
Nauvoo.
They even involved the kids in the audience at the beginning of the show and they had a musical parade walking up to the stage where we sang the national anthem. The kids colored and made their own hats.
Next morning after breakfast, Bri, Thomas, and I headed up to the Nauvoo
temple.
We checked in at the front desk and headed in to do baptisms for the dead. Our church believes that, just as Jesus taught, it is necessary to be baptized to return and live with our Heavenly Father. As a result, Mormons believe that we can be baptized in our temples as a proxy for those that are dead, and then the dead can accept this physical ordinance if they choose in the next life to accept the Savior and follow his teachings. Youth beginning at age 12 can participate in this process, and we had the opportunity to have Bri baptize Thomas in the Nauvoo temple. This was pretty emotional for all of us, as we reflected on the history of our ancestors. The Saints (Mormons) that lived in Nauvoo in 1840 struggled to complete the temple and begin the work for their dead under very difficult conditions, being harassed and attacked by the enemies of the church both before and after their prophet and his brother were killed. They completed the temple only a few weeks before they had to abandon it and begin the trek west that ultimately led to the mountains of Utah. It was a wonderful experience to be able to return as their descendants to perform the work that they were so committed to 175 years after they were forced to leave.
After the temple, we picked up Savvy and Rhea and headed in to explore
Old Nauvoo. The LDS church has restored
several of the old buildings, and senior missionaries work inside of them and
give tours explaining the life and activities of those early Saints. We started out with a carriage ride through
the woods with a couple of lovely Belgian horses while we heard stories of the
early Saints. We enjoyed the experience,
and the missionary giving the presentation actually told a story about Bri’s
third great grandfather Edmund Nelson and his experience running a rock quarry
and living in Nauvoo.
After that, we had an oxen ride and another presentation on this method
of transportation that a lot of the early pioneers used.
And we visited the Nauvoo quarry just down the street where they got the stone to build the original temple.
They even involved the kids in the audience at the beginning of the show and they had a musical parade walking up to the stage where we sang the national anthem. The kids colored and made their own hats.
Next morning after breakfast, Bri, Thomas, and I headed up to the Nauvoo
temple.
We checked in at the front desk and headed in to do baptisms for the dead. Our church believes that, just as Jesus taught, it is necessary to be baptized to return and live with our Heavenly Father. As a result, Mormons believe that we can be baptized in our temples as a proxy for those that are dead, and then the dead can accept this physical ordinance if they choose in the next life to accept the Savior and follow his teachings. Youth beginning at age 12 can participate in this process, and we had the opportunity to have Bri baptize Thomas in the Nauvoo temple. This was pretty emotional for all of us, as we reflected on the history of our ancestors. The Saints (Mormons) that lived in Nauvoo in 1840 struggled to complete the temple and begin the work for their dead under very difficult conditions, being harassed and attacked by the enemies of the church both before and after their prophet and his brother were killed. They completed the temple only a few weeks before they had to abandon it and begin the trek west that ultimately led to the mountains of Utah. It was a wonderful experience to be able to return as their descendants to perform the work that they were so committed to 175 years after they were forced to leave.
After the temple, we picked up Savvy and Rhea and headed in to explore
Old Nauvoo. The LDS church has restored
several of the old buildings, and senior missionaries work inside of them and
give tours explaining the life and activities of those early Saints. We started out with a carriage ride through
the woods with a couple of lovely Belgian horses while we heard stories of the
early Saints. We enjoyed the experience,
and the missionary giving the presentation actually told a story about Bri’s
third great grandfather Edmund Nelson and his experience running a rock quarry
and living in Nauvoo.
After that, we had an oxen ride and another presentation on this method
of transportation that a lot of the early pioneers used.
And we visited the Nauvoo quarry just down the street where they got the stone to build the original temple.
After a picnic lunch, we explored several of the restored buildings in Old Nauvoo, including the Scovil bakery (and homemade gingerbread!), print shop, tin shop, and the brickyard (where we picked up a brick).
We also made it to the blacksmith shop where they showed us how wagons were made, as well as horseshoes and we picked up square nails bent into rings – they called them “prairie diamonds” :).
During the final portion of the blacksmith shop presentation, the
missionary was demonstrating how the original smith would bang out horseshoes
from heated metal, and we noticed he was having a hard time holding onto his
hammer during the demonstration. At some
point, he removed his gloves, and we saw that his hands were deformed, leaving
him with essentially two sets thumbs and forefingers on each hand. As we walked out, each of the kids came up to
me with tears in their is eyes and shared how touched they were to think of the
challenges this man must have faced throughout his life. It was a tender moment that we all shared as the
kids spontaneously experienced and acknowledged an unexpected moment of empathy
for the challenges of another person.
Bri and I talked with the kids about the importance of standing up and
being an advocate for those that have different challenges and needs in life.
We later asked this senior missionary to take a picture with us. We will always remember this experience.
Walking across the grass we found these leaves. Basically just the skeleton of the leaves with the outer form and inside veins still present with the "meat" of the leaves missing. We had never seen anything like it so we had some fun playing with them!
After our long day, we drove across the river and into Iowa for dinner at the Domino’s there before heading back for another performance, “Rendevous on the Mississippi.” This performance told the story of the Saints being driven out of Nauvoo and forced west, and I’m pretty sure I saw Bri holding back a few tears.
Walking across the grass we found these leaves. Basically just the skeleton of the leaves with the outer form and inside veins still present with the "meat" of the leaves missing. We had never seen anything like it so we had some fun playing with them!
After our long day, we drove across the river and into Iowa for dinner at the Domino’s there before heading back for another performance, “Rendevous on the Mississippi.” This performance told the story of the Saints being driven out of Nauvoo and forced west, and I’m pretty sure I saw Bri holding back a few tears.
Savannah in
particular, loved the “love story” that was a side story in the play, so we got a picture with the actors!
At the end of the long
day, we stopped at the grave sites of Joseph and Hyrum Smith by Emma’s
home. The kids were really tired at this
point, so the visit was short and sweet.
Friday morning, Bri and I headed into the temple to do a session
together, and marveled at the beauty of the temple.
When it was restored, the church tried to
recreate the original structure and finishing to the extent possible, and it
was beautiful and unique among the many temples we have visited. After the session, Bri and I grabbed the kids
and headed to the Land and Records Office to research where our ancestors had
lived in Nauvoo. We found the areas
where several had lived and felt more of a kinship to realize that individual
pieces of land – most just fields and groves now – had been where our kin had
lived and worked (and, in some cases, died).
After Land and Records, we headed to the Family Living Center – a long
building where the kids could experience several different types of Old Nauvoo
activities as taught by the senior missionaries. We participated in weaving, breadmaking (with
some yummy samples), and ropemaking.
Afterwards, we escaped the heat and headed into the visitor’s center to
watch the performance, “The Promise,” and again pondered life in Old Nauvoo and
the Saints’ trip west.
After The Promise, we headed to “Pioneer Pasttimes,” where we played
catch with hoops, raced the little bears up the jute rope, and tried to walk on
the stilts.
Friday morning, Bri and I headed into the temple to do a session
together, and marveled at the beauty of the temple.
When it was restored, the church tried to
recreate the original structure and finishing to the extent possible, and it
was beautiful and unique among the many temples we have visited. After the session, Bri and I grabbed the kids
and headed to the Land and Records Office to research where our ancestors had
lived in Nauvoo. We found the areas
where several had lived and felt more of a kinship to realize that individual
pieces of land – most just fields and groves now – had been where our kin had
lived and worked (and, in some cases, died).
After Land and Records, we headed to the Family Living Center – a long
building where the kids could experience several different types of Old Nauvoo
activities as taught by the senior missionaries. We participated in weaving, breadmaking (with
some yummy samples), and ropemaking.
Afterwards, we escaped the heat and headed into the visitor’s center to
watch the performance, “The Promise,” and again pondered life in Old Nauvoo and
the Saints’ trip west.
After The Promise, we headed to “Pioneer Pasttimes,” where we played
catch with hoops, raced the little bears up the jute rope, and tried to walk on
the stilts.
Afterwards, we headed to the cemetery where Edward Partridge (the first
Bishop of the Church and one of Bri’s ancestors) was buried, along with many
others that had died or been killed.
I found a Buckwalter and a few other people that I think are relatives. 
We had to stop and get a picture of the kids with the corn fields—they
were everywhere!
We had to stop and get a picture of the kids with the corn fields—they
were everywhere!
We had to stop and get a picture of the kids with the corn fields—they
were everywhere! And then we had to stop
and get a closer look at the Mississippi River and the lily pads and an otter
collecting tree branches nearby.
When the Saints were driven out, they headed down Parley Street and then
crossed a frozen Mississippi. The
performing missionaries hosted a quiet, reflective experience on Parley Street,
leading small groups from station to station, where actors portrayed different
early Saints and told something of their lives.
We reflected on our ancestors’ experience as we participated, and one of
the stations told the story of some of Bri’s ancestors when their father died
on the plains. As we headed back up
Parley Street in the darkness, thousands of fireflies came out, and we
reflected with gratitude on our heritage and on our wonderful trip to Nauvoo
the Beautiful.
Thomas loves taking pics of the moon and was having fun with that and
the camera with the delayed closing of the lens because of the low
lighting. This pic looks like a space
shuttle. 😊
Saturday morning, we said goodbye to our Airbnb and loaded up the van,
said goodbye to Nauvoo, and headed west.
Saturday morning, we said goodbye to our Airbnb and loaded up the van,
said goodbye to Nauvoo, and headed west.
We listened to Jim Dale’s masterful reading of the Harry Potter books en
route – we’ve been reading/listening as a family for the last couple of
years. About a half-hour out of Nauvoo,
we stopped at Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were
murdered by a mob. It was sobering to
stand where these two great men were killed, to be in the room where they spent
their last days, to walk the stairs up which the mob surged on their way to
kill the brothers, to put our fingers in the hole in the door made by the
bullet that killed Hyrum, to walk on the ground outside where Joseph fell after
being shot from the second-story window.
We are grateful for Joseph and Hyrum and the lives they lived, and
appreciated the chance to see the location of their martyrdom.
A few hours into the drive, we stopped in Hannibal, MO for Bri to make a
long-anticipated pilgrimage to Mark Twain’s boyhood home. Twain is Bri’s favorite author, and we all
enjoyed seeing Twain’s childhood home.
After a few more hours, we arrived at our next destination: Independence
and Liberty, Missouri. Indepdendence is
the city where the Saints congregated before they were driven from here east to
Nauvoo, and Liberty is where Joseph Smith received several revelations while
unjustly imprisoned in Liberty Jail for four months. The church operates a large domed facility
that covers the original jail, and it was sobering to stand in the place where
so much suffering and soul-searching and revelation occurred.
After Liberty, we
headed to an AirBnB in Kansas City set in a restored, turn-of-the-century
neighborhood, picked up some groceries, and settled in for the night.
Sunday morning, we headed into Independence. Here, different
religious groups that broke off from the LDS church after Joseph and Hyrum were
killed contested ownership of some of the Mormon assets, remained, built
churches, and worshipped for 170+ years. The largest of these – formerly
the Reorganized LDS (now Community of Christ) have an enormous, nautilus-shaped
temple that we wanted to see, as well as the original site for the LDS temple
in Independence, MO that has never been built. The LDS church operates a
visitor’s center in Independence, and we went in, talked to some missionaries,
and got our bearings on the lay of the land. We visited the temple site
and located the spots where the temple cornerstone was laid, and all put our
foot on the spot.
We then went across the street to the RLDS temple. This is a large
and beautiful structure, with a large playground-style map of the world, a
rooftop garden, and a large conference center surrounding a organ and
congregation chapel, where the roof rises up in a nautilus shape 175
feet. We went to the front desk, met a worker there who gave us a tour of
the RLDS museum (which includes some possessions and photographs/paintings of
the early church members) and then gave us a tour of the facility. We
enjoyed the beauty of the temple and getting to know these spiritual “cousins”
better before heading out and back to Independence. 
The temple grounds had flags representing all of the countries where
their church is located. Savannah was
quick to find the Angola flag! And they
had a flat globe of the world made out of brick.
We then went across the street to the RLDS temple. This is a large
and beautiful structure, with a large playground-style map of the world, a
rooftop garden, and a large conference center surrounding a organ and
congregation chapel, where the roof rises up in a nautilus shape 175
feet. We went to the front desk, met a worker there who gave us a tour of
the RLDS museum (which includes some possessions and photographs/paintings of
the early church members) and then gave us a tour of the facility. We
enjoyed the beauty of the temple and getting to know these spiritual “cousins”
better before heading out and back to Independence. 
The temple grounds had flags representing all of the countries where
their church is located. Savannah was
quick to find the Angola flag! And they
had a flat globe of the world made out of brick.
Back at the AirBNB, we
relaxed, took a walk, watched Harry Potter, and rested. It was nice to be
in a big space and in a quiet neighborhood for the day, and we all recharged
and prepared for the two-day drive to Denver and to Sundance.
Monday morning we packed up, straightened the rental, and dropped the
key where we found it and headed out.
It’s been seventeen years since
the last time Bri and I made this drive, and we couldn’t help note the changes
in our lives and circumstances between the two trips. Last time, Bri and
I had everything we owned in a Penske rental truck towing our Chevy Lumina
while I drove the Pontiac Sunfire (looked just like this truck that we passed),
and were on our way to go to law school in Nevada with dreams of the west and a
new career in our sites. I headed out to Las Vegas the summer of 2000 and
rented us an apartment, but on our drive our entire future was unknown and
before us, and we kept in touch with walkie-talkies (pre cell phones, at least
for us). Now we had three rugrats in tow, heading back to the west for a
few weeks before heading to Europe on another diplomatic assignment, Bri’s
legal career long since concluded. On this drive, Bri and I could not get
over the passage of time and how unexpectedly our lives have run – never in a
million years did I think we would be abroad as diplomats!
We arrived in Townsuites in Littleton (Denver in the early evening and
checked into our rooms (paid for courtesy of Marriot points we scored from the
Oakwood Falls Church) and had dinner. The rooms were great, and we put
the kids in one and Bri and I took the other.
Next morning, we headed west towards and through the Rockies, with our
emotions running high as we passed through this gateway to the west. We
played a lot of John Denver and Jim Croce as we passed Breckenridge, Vail,
Aspen, Loveland, and finally through. Soon Colorado blended into Utah,
and we were back at home. It has been two years since we were back, and
we were all excited to enter the state…and then drive for another several
hours. Eventually we hit I-15 and more familiar routes, passed through
Provo and the Wasatch mountains, up the canyon, and arrived in Sundance early
evening. We were greeted by my dad and Becky, and enjoyed catching up a
bit as we walked up to the creek to let the kids get out some pent-up energy
from a long drive.
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