After passing through a snow storm in the Rockies, we celebrated our oldest daughter's 50 birthday in Colorado. Can you tell what kind of food she decided was her favorite? We rode in their fancy electric car to soak in the steamy spring water that Steamboat is famous for. We forgot our camera so you'll just have to imagine how good it felt.
The grandkids in Colorado are all the same height or taller than grandma, much to her dismay. She says she is probably just shrinking!!
Grandma gave all the granddaughters on our trip collector dolls and everywhere we stopped we helped them with their chores.
Next stop was the southeast corner of Idaho, stopping in Lallatin country for a sip of delicious bubbly Soda Springs Hooper Water (well, we think it's delicious) before a mini Powell reunion with Caroly's brothers and sisters near Preston.
Then it was off in a surprise snow storm to Salt Lake City to be guided by Aunt Gwen, the official Moffat/ McLean/ Lallatin family history expert to show us how the Moffats and McLeans entered the valley in the 1850's and 60's, how Janet Moffat and John McLean met each other and where they lived in Salt Lake both before and after they were assigned by Brigham Young to settle Meadowville in the Bear Lake valley east of Logan. We found their gravestones in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
The next stop was Minnesota for a birthday and baptism. The birthday, baptism boy is an avid golfer so his Minnesota grandmother made him a birthday cake that included a golf course with miniature golfers, sand traps, greens, roughs, and everything.
then the acting debut of his sister--she was the "first policeman" in a south seas version of Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors. " Her brothers were so excited watching the play they thought they'd try out their acting skills...
We brought some family treasures home:
1. A chest of drawers that belonged some 100 years ago to my great grandparents Schnell that my mother painstakingly refinished to change its Pennsylvania Dutch painted designs to a more modern American look. It fits perfectly under its matching mirror in the family history guest bedroom next to copies of the pictures that my grandmother, 18 year old Agnes McLean, painted of her childhood home near Bear Lake not long after the McLeans moved back to Salt Lake from Meadowville..
2, The violin or fiddle that my great grandfather John McLean played at church dances and other social events back in pioneer times in the late 1800's. Once I get it refurbished, I have several violinist descendants who will love to bring it back to life in his memory.
3. The Minnesota branch of the family loves playing hockey in their backyard. The tarp they use to hold the water for the ice developed some tears from the ice skates so we inherited it for use in Florida as a covering for our wood and machinery until we get around to building another shed.
Of course the best surprises were the giant vegetables in our garden since we weren't home to harvest them for a month. Here is a sample zucchini squash and some giant radishes that look more like turnips. In fact, we sliced, boiled and mashed them and ate them like turnips---delicious!!
What a great multi-stage trip!
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