Salt Lake City and the Hallorans

Our big summer trip this year took us out west, but not to California.  The ultimate destination was Idaho for a celebration of Nana Banana and Sport's 50th wedding anniversary.  But we realized that we had an opportunity to work in a visit to some great friends if we flew into Salt Lake City.  And that is how we found ourselves pulling up to the front door of the Hallorans after a quick flight from Cincinnati.  This trip was well overdue since we had not seen Fiona, Charles, and Iain for about six years.  It is an understatement to say that we enjoyed hanging out with them.

Fiona knew that we would want to be active during our brief visit, so the morning after our arrival we all went on a hike up to Lake Mary which is at the Brighton Ski Resort north of Salt Lake. The hike was a lot of fun, and the scenery was spectacular.  We spent so much time with these crazy kids when they lived in Lexington, and it was good to see how easily we picked up right where we left off.  Of course, some things were a bit different.

For instance, Reese had not even been born yet when the Hallorans still lived in Lexington.  So, although Callie remembered the Hallorans, Reese was meeting them all for the first time.  But it took Reese only a few minutes to realize that Fiona is generous, smart, and funny, and clearly the adult you want to be around as much as possible.

At one point, Fiona was telling Callie all about Callie's birth and the early years of her life.  Callie was hanging on her every word, and loved hearing Fiona tell the stories of her life in a way that only Fiona can.  Needless to say, both Callie and Reese were more than happy to spend most of the hike with Fiona rather than their parents.  And that worked out just fine because we had some great conversations with Charles and Iain.

After our hike we drove over to the next canyon where we hit the Park City Silly Market.  Park City is a pretty cool place and we could have stayed there for hours on end, and the kids certainly enjoyed the pineapple/ice cream/slushy extravaganza that Fiona purchased for them.  And that was only the first part of the day, because then we went back to their house for a cookout with Megan and Ricky Sethi, who were also visiting the area with their son and Ricky's parents.  Ricky's parents may be two of the sweetest folks we have met and it was a wonderful evening.

Needless to say, all the kids have grown up a ton in the six years since the Hallorans left Lexington.  It was so great to see the three of them hang out reading books, getting a tutorial on Minecraft from Iain, and watching esoteric Japanese animated movies that Fiona explained quite well to the girls.

Unfortunately after two night we had to take off, leaving our wonderful hosts behind.  These three hold a special place in our hearts and we promise that it won't be another six years before we see them again.

Leaving Salt Lake City was tough, but we had to get on the road because it was over a four hour drive to our destination in southern Idaho.  Luckily everyone was prepared for the journey.  And lucky us, when we got our rental car we were upgraded to an SUV with Sirius radio.  The extra space and the variety of stations made everyone's lives better on the trip.

We also managed to keep a vacation tradition alive by stopping to eat our lunch in a scenic area.  This particular lunch occurred at a camp site in Caribou National Forest just over the border in Idaho.  We ate our sandwiches by the stream, stretched our legs, and prepared for the final push that would bring us together with the Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen clans.