The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Mini-Excursions

I mentioned in my chronicling of our vacation last year that we like to visit temples.  For last year’s vacation I made it a point to find several along our route and we enjoyed the opportunity to walk the grounds and take pictures.  Today, we wanted to visit some temples nearby Utah temples, so we decided to make a trip to Ogden to see how the construction is coming along on the remodeling of the temple there and to see the recently completed Brigham City Temple.  Before we left, Mom and Dad arrived at Joanna’s house.  They had come to Utah for doctor’s appointments and stopped by on their way back to Wyoming.  It was nice to be able to see them again if only for a brief moment.

When the Ogden Temple was first built, it had the same design as the Provo Temple.  A few years ago, an announcement was made that the design of the temple was going to be changed in order to expand the current temple's capacity.  According to this article back in 2010,seismic requirements and modern mechanical systems were also considerations for the remodeling.  During our visit in October of 2011 to see a session of General Conference, Mom and Dad and I were in Ogden and they took me to see the how the temple was progressing, but I don't think the rest of my family were able to see it.  Since the temple was now near completion (we missed the open house by two or so months, bummer), we thought we'd swing by and check it out.  Because the area was still a construction zone, we couldn't walk the grounds or touch the temple as we like to do, but we were all very impressed by the work that has been completed.  The remodeled temple looks nothing like it did originally, but we all like the new design.  I think it will be a nice addition to the area when the construction is completed.

After stopping at a nearby Wal-Mart to buy a birthday present for Grace, we drove to Brigham City.  I think I visited this small Utah town when I was a teenager, but I don't recall the reason.  Not that it really matters one way or the other.  I guess I mention it because I was a bit surprised at how relatively close it was from Ogden.  I guess I was expecting a longer drive.  By the time we arrived in Brigham City, the weather had become a bit more threatening.  Even though the sky was generally partly cloudy, Mother Nature had settled on scatter showers in this particular section of Northern Utah.  Thankfully, we didn't get rained on since we weren’t really dressed for it (being from California, why would we think we’d run into bad weather in June? :)), but the wind picked up a bit during our visit.  The temple grounds were very nice and the building, as is all of the temples I’ve ever visited, was beautiful.  I always find temple grounds to be peaceful.  Even though the front of the temple is adjacent to a main roadway, the noise of the cars seemed muted somehow.  We walked around the temple, admiring the architecture and taking pictures.  When we came to the front of the temple, I noticed the Brigham City Tabernacle across the street.  From what I understand, it is still used as a meeting house.  I suspect it is thought of by the members in the area in the same way as the Provo Tabernacle—a treasured pioneer built building that continues to have functionality.  It was quite striking, so I took a picture of it as well.

Before we left Joanna's house, she mentioned that President Lorenzo Snow is buried in the Brigham City cemetery.  Back in 2011 when we visited Salt Lake City for a week in October and went to a session of General Conference, we spent some time one day in the Salt Lake City cemetery visiting the grave sites of general authorities and prominent people in Latter-day Saint history.  It was quite fascinating.  When Joanna threw out this little tidbit, we decided to take a look.  With the way Brigham City was laid out, I didn’t have too much difficulty finding the cemetery.  After a bit of looking and a visit to the main office to make sure of our directions, we found President Snow’s grave site.  We thought Lorenzo’s sister, Eliza R. Snow (who served as the 2nd General Relief Society president and who wrote several well-known LDS hymns), would be buried in what appeared to be the family plot there in the cemetery, but were disappointed in our search.  After we returned to Joanna’s house, she showed us on a map she and Chad have put together that Eliza is buried in area several blocks above the Temple Square block in Salt Lake City.  We tried to find the plot the next day when we visited the city, but had a very difficult time figuring out where it was exactly; maybe next time.

Our final excursion of the day was to have dinner with my brother Aaron and his family.  I had talked to him the night before and we had settled on meeting at a Mimi’s Café a few miles from Joanna’s house.  Before we left, I asked for directions and was told how to get there.  It sounded easy enough.  “There’s a big sign,” Joanna assured me. “You can’t miss it.”  The directions were very easy (turns out, I had driven this way earlier in the day), but as I looked for the Mimi’s sign, I couldn’t see it.  I looked and looked and then suddenly … “Wait!  That building!  Wasn’t that?  Oh, man, I missed it!”  As I drove over the overpass and made a U-turn (legal), I kept saying to Jennifer that I couldn’t figure out how I had driven past Mimi’s without seeing the big sign.  Greater insight was received as I came back toward the café.  There was the big sign Joanna had mentioned … but it was blank, empty, devoid of anything to expressly assure me that I had reached the right place.  As I turned into the parking lot, I found Aaron’s car in a very empty lot with a very vacant restaurant in front of us.  Apparently, the place had recently shuttered its doors.  Okay.  This is fun.  Aaron walked over to our car and we joked about our situation for a moment.  He then asked if there was anywhere else we were interested in going.  “Chili’s!” piped up Isaac; Ben quickly seconded the proposal (I don’t think they were really all that keen on Mimi’s).  Chili’s was on the other side of the street and west about 500 yards.  Sold!  After a couple of deft driving maneuvers, we found ourselves in the parking lot of a very active and open restaurant.  Yeah! :)

No sooner did we sit down and order drinks when Ben and Isaac began asking Aaron how he felt about the latest Marvel movies.  From the smile on his face, I got the impression that my brother was impressed with my sons as they gave their own critiques of the movies and offered their own opinions on what would be coming next.  I guess it’s good to know that I’ve raised my sons right.  I think Jen and I have done a pretty good job of teaching them the gospel and I’ve supplemented their schooling with just the right amount of Marvel lore (plus they’ve done a bit a digging as well).  I also tried to bring Anna and Alissa into the conversation so as to not allow the entire evening to be dominated by “guy” talk, but it was fun to see Ben and Isaac engage Aaron.  We had a great time.  I think we were all sorry to have to bring our time to a close.  After we finished eating, we didn’t immediately leave.  The waitress kept coming over and asking if we needed anything more.  Finally, after a few more minutes, we finally left the restaurant.  Jennifer wanted to take pictures before we departed ways.  She told Anna and Alissa she wouldn’t post her picture with them on Facebook; she only wanted the pictures for herself.  I will honor that promise and only post the “guy” photo.  We had a very fun day. :)