Summer in Review

I love living in Utah where we have four distinct seasons, but I must confess that my favorite season of the year is summer.  I enjoy skiing on The Greatest Snow on Earth® in the winter, but I don’t like to commute in the snow.  Throughout the year, I try to talk myself into falling in love with the other seasons by celebrating the fall, winter, and spring holidays; however, I long for the long days and warm nights in July when patriotic and pioneer festivals are in full swing and I can walk my yellow lab, Chloe, late at night.  I also enjoy eating fresh summer fruits and vegetables such as local watermelon, peaches, and salt and pepper corn and viewing wildflowers including the sunflowers that dot the landscape in South Jordan. 




Wild sunflower in South Jordan




Stadium of Fire

My first revelation that summer was soon coming to an end (besides back to school advertisements) was earlier this week during water aerobics in the outdoor pool at my gym in South Jordan.  A flock of birds, either pelicans or cranes, flew overhead heading south.  I thought to myself, “Wait a minute; they’re going the wrong direction.”  I also noticed this week that it was dark at 8:30 p.m.  It was inevitable.  All good things must come to an end.  Like a school girl awaiting her first day of school, I wondered what I will report on as the highlight of my summer.  Did I get to enjoy the outdoors and play enough in the sun to carry me through the cold weather? 

The beginning of the summer was an unanticipated job transition.  When vacations are usually underway in June, I was taking some time off to reorganize and plan the next phase of my career.  I left the Office of Tourism after nearly eight years as a deputy director to take on a new position as communications and marketing manager with the Office of Energy Development.  There would be a learning curve until I felt at ease with my new subject matter.  My new office is located at the World Trade Center at City Creek, the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, across the street from Temple Square.  What’s not to love about that?  I also was able to line up an opportunity to teach a communications class at Brigham Young University, my alma mater, beginning in the fall. 

In early June, I took my two girls down to Mesquite and Las Vegas, Nevada, to visit our good friend, Evey, and her husband Len.  My youngest daughter, Mackaylee, 14, had never been to Vegas before and it was an eye opener for her.  We laughed at her first impressions of this international destination considering her age.  “This town is sexy,” she said.  “I love this town.”  We looked for family friendly activities and settled on the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, shopping at Caesar’s Palace, and the pirate show at Treasure Island.  The Titanic exhibit is very well done and is a “must see” if you’re ever in the area.  Artifacts including a chunk of the ship are on display.  Make sure to ask for a student discount if anyone in your party is carrying a student ID card.  We enjoyed dining at Cheesecake Factory at Caesar’s Palace, but I wouldn’t recommend taking a family to the pirate show.  It contained unnecessary sexual innuendo that was not appropriate for small children. 

 

 

Mackaylee and I also got to spend the night at the Heber Valley Girls Camp for a Youth Conference.  It has been a long time since I slept in a sleeping bag, but at least it was in a cabin and our campground actually had ice thanks to Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and the camp’s namesake, who insisted that the girls needed ice when she visited the site in the mountains east of Heber City. 

My husband, Gregg, and I celebrated the Fourth of July with our daughters, my sister, Terri, and her family at Stadium of Fire in Provo.  The fireworks display is always spectacular and big name entertainment included Kelly Clarkson and Carly Rae Jepsen. 

                                                                                                                     

 

                                                          
                                  

At the end of July, my oldest daughter, Megan, and I traveled to Oregon for my high school reunion.  It was fun spending time with my best friend in high school, Sue, who lives in Lake Oswego, and other classmates in Corvallis.  We took a guided Segway tour of downtown Portland, which is a great way to see the city and learn a little history of the area.  Riders can travel quite a few blocks in a short amount of time.  Many tourism destinations offer visitors similar tours.  We got to see the LDS Temple in Lake Oswego.  I was hopeful that maybe I would bump into my son, Shawn, who is serving a mission in the Salem Mission, but no such luck. 

 

 

We have been to our family cabin in Mackay, Idaho, a couple of times this summer, but there hasn’t been much down time this summer for an extended stay. 

 

 

Megan and I have a tradition of attending the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City every summer.  We haven’t made it yet, but we’re hopeful that we can see a play or two before the curtain falls for the season. 

There’s never a lack of summer happenings in Utah and surrounding states.  The only problem is trying to figure out how to squeeze it all in. 

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