The Nature of Vacation & the State of Utah

Today all we did was drive. We took US Route 89 through Utah along the Sevier River. It was a very scenic drive. There are a few things worth noting about Utah. This state is not like other states. First of all there are things missing (or very short supply) here that you find easily in other states in the union. Those things are:

-Taverns or bars (not that we are going to any, of course. Could you imagine? People would be calling the cops: "some nutcase just walked in here with 6 kids, can someone please DO something about it?")
-Coffee shops
-Daycares
-Synagogues
-Catholic Churches

You can probably find these things in the big cities (like Salt Lake) but in rural Utah they are pretty much not on the landscape.

Another thing worth noting is the physical appearance of the place. Everything here is very neat and orderly, downright spiffy. In the East, down on their luck farmers usually let their properties go to hell; there are ususally old cars from each decade starting in the '60s gracing the lawn, old appliances outside and swings from kids that one guesses left decades ago to raise their own families; the places can look really shabby. Not so in Utah. Here everything is neat and clean; even the most humble trailer has manicured lawns, potted flowers and a fresh coat of paint. Not a single appliance on a lawn did I see. All of the buildings, even the old ones, are well kept. Some of the farms have really beautiful huge houses, and with the cows out to pasture as they always seem to be, the whole scene is just gorgeous.

We watched the fireworks at Brigham Young University tonight. It was really cool--as fireworks always are. And again I can't help but notice what is missing. Here we are in Provo/Orem Utah; we watched the firworks on campus of a major university (BYU is a big school) and not one campus bar did we see. I noticed only one house with Greek letters. It's like the university town twilight zone. What do these kids do one wonders. Considering the number of small children running out and about, the answer isn't exactly a mystery. Which leads to a funny little story that happened at dinner. We went into one of those all you can eat places with the kids for dinner. The girl who was the cashier saw our party of 8 come in and when all the kids ran to the restroom to wash their hands she said "I grew up in a family of 11, and our house was only 2,300 square feet." I told her that while I only grew up in a family of 7 I totally understood what she went through. I did not tell her how small my childhood home was, but she continued her story. She said "my parents finally bought a 6000 sq ft house and 5 of us are already out of the house. It's just wrong." I said, "I hear ya sister."

The other topic of thinking while on this long drive through Utah is what exactly constitutes a vacation? Please post your comments on this issue. Those of you who know me well know that my idea of a vacation means doing absolutely nothing. Walking from my beachfront hotel to the sand is as strenous as I want to get. When I take a dip in the ocean, you cannot call it a "swim" as no actual swimming takes place; I don't move a muscle; I float. I don't go get drinks; I order them brought to me. My sisters can attest that all of this is true. So you may wonder what the hell I'm doing on THIS vacation where it took the planning of an army general to figure out how much driving on each day, and making sure we had a place to park the rig each night etc... Not to mention HIKING and packing a 4 year old out of a canyon on my back to get him back to the car before he passed out from the heat. In my mind a vacation means leaving behind your daily activities, and as I'm sure most mothers will agree, if you are still doing daily laundery, slinging peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and bowls of Cookie Crisp for breakfast, then you are doing all the same stuff you would at home just in a different location; and that therefore is not a vacation. I will allow that there are different kinds of vacations: adventure vacations; family vacations, relaxation vacations; foreign destination vacations etc... but how would you classify what I'm doing now? Family vacation sure, but is it really a vacation? I'll let you decide!

I hope your Fourth was fun! Tomorrow we make our way to Wyoming. It will be another day of driving, but this is where the fun really starts!

Take care, and thanks for reading.