The Journey Back Home

After exploring the canyons of Utah, we started the drive back to California. The trek took us to Grand Junction, CO to drop off one of our crew members at the airport and then to Salt Lake City. We decided to take a break from driving in Salt Lake, so we visited the Temple. We walked around the visitor's center for a bit and got to talk to a couple of girls that were on mission in Salt Lake City. It was really cool to listen to their story, learn a little about their faith and hear what they did on their mission.
We also made a pit stop at Decades on State Street. If you are ever in Salt Lake City, be sure you check it out. I picked up a sweet pair of cowgirl boots (red and black with stars and rainbow stitching!) and an awesome bag for less than $50. I could have easily spent hours in there looking at everything they had and I will definitely be going back if I am ever in Salt Lake again. Intrigued? Check out Gala Darling's article on Decades and other vintage stores in Salt Lake City.
From Salt Lake, we drove to Winnamucca, NV to stay the night. Where is that? It's some unimpressive town somewhere in the middle of Nevada. We ended up stopping at two motels that night because the person working at the first one was too drugged up to understand what we were saying. The next morning, we got the hell out of Winnamucca and drove all the way to Lake Tahoe. We spent the day in downtown Truckee going shopping and being happy to be back in California. We went wine tasting at Uncorked and enjoyed a lovely variety of wine. Later that night, we headed up to the Squaw Valley for trivia night at an Irish pub. We were tied for first after the first round, but then the questions got ridiculous and we lost to a bunch of stoner skiers.
The next day, I tried snow boarding for the first time. Since I live on the sunny Central Coast, snow is not something I ever get to see. I have seen snow falling from the sky about three times in my life, most of them being on my various trips to Utah and I've never gone skiing or snow boarding before. Let's just say that snow boarding has not become one of my favorite pastimes. I spent most of my day on my butt in the snow or with my face in the snow. I will not be strapping myself to a snow board again anytime soon.
After we brushed the last of the snow off, we got back into the government van and drove back home to the Bay Area. It felt really good to be back home after being away for so long, but it felt strange to be by myself for the first time in three weeks. While on the road, Mary Beth, Chris, Brad, Noah and I spent pretty much every waking moment together and it was strange to be alone again. Nevertheless, I had a marvelous time in Utah and I look forward to going back someday.