Utah Bucketlist

As you may or may not know, I just spent a little over 2 months in Utah.  I spent the first part of that studying for my Boards (which I passed and do not have to worry about again for 6 more years... booyah).  And I spent the rest of the time basically dating it up and mountain biking/hiking to my heart's content.  Basically I was a bum for a good month AND I LOVED IT.  I actually really miss that lifestyle.  Now I'm working like a dog.  Anyway, I had a TON of things I wanted to do while I was in Utah and although I did quite a few things (as evidenced below), there's still quite a few I have yet to do.  So here's my bucketlist over the last month or so:

#1 - hike the Y

#2 - Utah State Fair

#3 - Bees Game

#4 - bike the Provo River Canyon Trail

#5 - bike Lambert Park

#6 - Oktoberfest at Snowbird and ride the ski lift

#7 - walk to Utah Lake

#8 - Antelope Island (saw deer and bison!)

#9 - RS Broadcast at the Conference Center

#10 - bike Big Springs

#11 - hike Squaw Peak (saw wild turkeys!)

#12 - hike to Donut Falls (saw a moose!)

#13 - explore some ghost towns

#14 - bike Deer Creek Reservoir

#15 - feed the fish at Bridal Veil Falls

#16 - walk around Silver Lake

#17 - hike to Lake Blanche

#18 - Dinosaur Museum

#19 - BYU Football Game

#20 - hike to Stewart Falls

#21 - bike Lambert Park (again) (hey, it's my favorite!)

#22 - Gilgal Sculpture Garden

#23 - tour the State Capitol Building

#24 - hike to Ensign Peak

#25 - Eva's Bakery (fortunately for you I didn't include ALL the many other places I had to eat at)

#26 - hike Gobbler's Knob

#27 - Spanish Fork Reservoir

#28 - LOADS of family time

I'll have to save hiking Timp, the Bonneville salt flats, Golden Spike National Historic Site, and the Spiral Jetty for next year!

Trip back East

Guys, remember the GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN in DC in a few weeks ago??  Yeah, I'm with you... who wants to remember that?  Well, my Pops was kind enough to fly me back East for a quick 3 day trip.  The ticket was purchased before all of this was an issue and I was SO EXCITED to finally go to some of the Smithsonian museums.  I've already been to DC twice-- the first time passing through as a family after my brother got home from his mission in NYC and the second, when applying to PA school.  When I realized I'd be there during the shutdown, I thought that was the end.  No Smithsonian.  Yet again.

After flying in, we went straight back to Frostburg, Maryland to spend a day or two there before planning to spend some time in DC.  It is such a cute little town!  While my Pops was teaching some classes, I explored a small bookstore and bakery on main street (my favorites!).  

We also took a drive over into Pennsylvania to check out Amish country.  I don't know why I was so fascinated by what I saw!  A young girl in a dress and bonnet riding in this carriage.  Men with beards and straw hats.  How on earth could you live like that (and without electricity?!) in this day and age??

The following day we went to Gettysburg on the way back to DC.  I had no idea there was an actual town there!  And a university.  Who knew?  I loved Gettysburg right from the start.  I also had no idea how big it was.  We spent a few hours driving around to all the monuments, but there are so many of them!  You could easily spend a full day there.  Lincoln is one of my favorite people in history and I got to actually stand where he delivered the Gettysburg Address!  That was a good day.  Who knew it was so short?  Just a few paragraphs?

Ok, this is where things get interesting.... THE DAY WE DROVE BACK TO DC WAS THE DAY THE SHUTDOWN ENDED!!!  So I finally got to go to the Smithsonian museums!  We checked out the Air & Space Museum, the Natural History Museum (my favorite-- gems, mummies, and forensics exhibits), and the National Gallery of Art.  My Pops made us walk through all the early European art before getting to our favorite-- the Impressionist works.  And as soon as we got there, the dude standing in the door said, "We close in 30 seconds."  Um gee.  Thanks for the warning.  Never have I sped through Monet's paintings so quickly.  Never again.

The next day we rode bikes (Bike Share) all over the National Mall to check out all the major monuments.  And we didn't even have to trespass.  Although, I would have had it come down to that.  This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.  If you have not done this, it's a MUST.  Just make sure to get it to the next station within 30 minutes!

I think my Pop's favorite part was eating fresh seafood at Captain Whites....