Road Trippin' (part 1)

So here's what's been going on. I've been driving a lot so I've had a lot of time to think about this post. I know that some readers are actually just skimmers (I feel your pain Renee) and I don't mind. This is as much for me as it is for you. Oh, and since I don't feel everyone in blogland knows me, I'll be going off on tangents because things that I think are fun may not make sense, so I'll try to explain.... If you're skimming, fine. If you're reading, I hope you have plenty of time.
I headed up to Joslin's house for the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. We had Olympics barbecue, Olympics guac, and Olympics juice. All of which were delicious. I enjoyed the closing ceremonies (though not as much as the openings). When the 6 Chinese pop stars were singing Joslin said, "I'm glad the next Olympics will be in London so we can understand what they're saying." I agreed.
I woke up early the next morning and headed up to Las Vegas to see the Youngs. But on the long drive I encountered this:
Baker, California is the Gateway to Death Valley and home of the world's tallest thermometer. I, personally, would be much more impressed if this huge monstrosity was full of mercury instead of just a tower with lighted signs up the side of it. But then I figure the 45 residents of this town of restaurants and gas stations would probably start going a little crazy(-er) if there was that much mercury in the center of their town.
I decided on the long drive to Vegas that I would try to eat the foods that I've been missing. So far, SOOOOO good! I was planning on stopping in St George to have a meal at Cafe Rio...

(Side bar. When Marina (my now sis-in-law) and I were in college, we noticed that whenever someone else would mention Cafe Rio, another person would say, "I LOOOOVE Cafe Rio," complete with eyes rolling to the back of their head. So after this discovery, whenever either of us heard the name Cafe Rio, one of us would dramatically proclaim our love for the brightly colored burrito shop with an extremely long wait. Okay, back to the travelogue).
I mentioned Cafe Rio (try to say it and do the eye roll. It will make my blog more fun) and Suz informed me that they were in vegas. Done and done.
I spent the afternoon with Suzanne, picked up the kids at school, went swimming in their pool, went to get some Thai food once Danny got home, went to target and it was off to bed. Whew. I miss them a ton.
The next morning I was off to see my great friend, Yiviani Arb. We used to dance together on the ballroom dance company at SUU. She has a cute boy, Benjamin and a girl on the way, due in December. I played with Ben and chatted with Yivi and that boy tired me out. I tried to take a picture but he seemed to prefer to be on the other side of the camera: It was so good to see her and catch up. What a great woman and mother. I wish she lived closer to San Diego.
After only a couple hours there, I went off to Washington (St. George-ish), UT to hang with my fantastic high school friend, Kim Brown and her kids. We just chatted and laughed and caught up while the kids were playing. I even got a Pokemon sticker out of it. It's pretty awesome. Thanks buddy! She gave me a tour of her beautifully decorated house with a crazy floorplan. I think those kids are pretty lucky because they have a slide AND swing in the basement! Anyway, I can talk to Kim for hours (and I have) but I had to press on on my journey to Cedar City. She's so fun and she's a great mother too. I had to take a picture because I'm a blogger. Kim thinks she's not photogenic, but I think she looks fantastic. Right?.... To be continued....