Thanksgiving in Rock Springs, WY

I have not seen Gail's family since they left Cedar and moved to Rock Springs in August. I've seen Gail, but not the grand kids. Seth and Jonathan were her in Cedar City in November, but I wasn't here.   So it was good that we went to Rock Springs.

Jonathan cuddled up with Eric for a nap on the couch during a movie.  We showed Mike's Mom "Princess Diaries," and "Life of Pi"

 Eric came with us, and so did Mike's Mom.  It's not a terribly long drive up there, and the weather was nice.  Mike and I listened to a very long book on tape.  Very dark story.  We kept hoping it would be happier, but I guess the guy survived to write the tale, so that part was happy.  Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.  A lot of swearing in parts, but it was old-fashioned Catholic swearing by the names of saints.  Still, a little discomfiting with your Mother-in-law sitting in the back seat. ha.  [Eric always sleeps in the car on trips.]
We left Cedar around 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  It was a rather un-eventful drive, and we do love those!  Right out of Cedar, I discovered that I'd left my phone at home, charging.  I decided it wasn't worth going back 10 or so miles to get it, so I was totally un-attached the whole trip. No computer, no phone. I loved it.  Other than a bathroom stop or two on the drive, we stopped in Little America, WY for 99 cent Ice Cream Cones.  Really!  And they were big ones.  So surprising, and a nice little break. We got to Gail's in the late afternoon and found Gail and the kids out playing tag on the drive way, the weather was that mild! Caroline and I went for a walk around her neighborhood.  That felt really nice after sitting all day.  Maybe we did that on Thursday morning...I really can't recall, Gail fed us dinner Wednesday night and we just relaxed.  Well, we did. She was busy doing food preparations for Thursday--Thanksgiving! And we did not see much of Seth, either, as he was very busy down at the store.  Long, long hours for sales and preparing for sales.

Busy cooks in the kitchen.

 We had a nice relaxing time there with Gail.  We watched movies and played games.  We tried for some gift cards at Sports Authority by standing in line Thursday night, but just missed the cut off (first 80 people got gift cards) by about 10 people or so--darn!  But the crowds were awful, checkout lines worse, so we left.  There wasn't anything we really needed THAT badly! ha.

Friday, Mike and his Mom, Caroline and I went to their Mall. It is really close to their house, and quite nice.  Much better than anything we have in Cedar City.   It (and Smith's Grocery store, too!) is so close that Caroline and I stayed at the mall and walked home after the trip into Penny's with everyone. Walking around their one small Penny's store just about wore Mike's mom out!  She was having kind of a hard time walking, and I could tell she was very fatigued by the time they left and Mike took her back to Gail's.   Caroline and I took our time wandering in and out of stores and even found a couple of things to buy.  I've always wanted to try fleece leggings.  And now I have a pair.  They have come in handy for freezing cold morning walks.  But only Freezing.  I haven't been walking in the SUB - FREEZING weather we've been having this December like much of the nation!

On our way out of Rock Springs, we stopped by the old downtown area. Mike's parent's owned a store somewhere here about 50 years ago.  Maybe only 40.  Long enough ago that Berenice wasn't even sure which building it was.

Late on Friday night, Eric and I braved the cold and went to the theater to see "Catching Fire."  Excellent movie.  We enjoyed it a lot. I read the "Hunger Games" series and saw the first movie.  Eric claims #2 was so much better than the first, but I don't remember enough about the first to be able to see a big difference. I enjoyed them both.  Mike and I hope to get out to the theater this holiday to see "Ender's Game," too.  That was one of the audio books we listened to on a trip to Reno once and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Harrison Ford is in the movie and I like Harrison Ford movies, generally speaking. 

We decided to not stay too terribly long in Rock Springs.   The weather was cold, but clear and not really windy or bad.  So, on Saturday we headed down to Vernal.  This is what kind of weather met us just after Flaming Gorge!  Thick as Pea Soup Fog.  All the way down the switch-backs and into the Uintah Basin. 

 The Basin gets some really nasty inversions, and this one is no exception.  We went this way home in order to see many of the relatives who were visiting for Thanksgiving at Jannea's house.  And we did see a lot!

Isn't this frozen fog on the trees and shrubs just gorgeous?

Berenice with her newest great-great grand baby, Scarlett Eaton.   Ryan is the dad on the right.  They live in St. George and the baby's only a few weeks old, if that.  Ryan is one of Jannea's grandkids.  Many of hers were at her house or are in town, so we saw quite  a few.

We had lunch with a bunch of Jannea's family as they came and went.  Then we stopped to visit a bit with Sally and Devere.  They were both not feeling too well, but it was good to see them.  The last time Mike took his Mom to Vernal for something, they saw a lot of the rest of the Vernal bunch, so this was a good representation and we headed on home to Cedar.  Again, un-eventful--an oh-so-nice kind of road trip to have.   Christmas presents delivered to Rock Springs and Family Visited--a successful trip.