24 Hours of Bliss

We do a lot of traveling now our kids are gone. But this time of year- tax season- we pretty much stay put. It's kind of nice. I like normal, day-to-day boring life. So, I'm not complaining. But I do look forward to our one getaway this time of year. Ken does government audits all during the fall and audits a lot of the little towns in Utah. All towns, by law, require an independent yearly audit- and many of Ken's audit clients are the little towns of Utah. His firm does them in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, California and Arizona. But Ken's are all in Utah. So, then, sometime in December, January, or February he has to travel to those towns and attend their city council meeting and present the findings of the audit. Usually he drives up and presents, then drives home that evening, but the Tropic one is a little too far away and it's on a two lane highway where the deer roam- so it's not really safe to drive home at night. So, we've established the tradition of me going with him on that one each year. We spend the night at Ruby's Inn where we honeymooned and always go into Bryce Canyon National Park in the morning before we come home. This year we left at 1 pm on Thursday and got home at 1pm on Friday. So it was exactly 24 hours. We loved this little trip. It gave us time to talk in the car. Then, I loved sitting outside the city council meeting in the hall and listening to him present. It's obvious that they honor him and appreciate his work. It's fun to hear my husband work. This is the town of Tropic, taken from Bryce Canyon:

We ate at the lodge there at Ruby's Inn. When the hostess sat us at the table, we were surprised to be right next to three of Ken's first cousins. They were there, attending a quilting convention. They are all avid quilters and two of them were even presenting one of the classes. It was fun to see them. I wish I had thought to take a picture. I had the camera right there, but didn't think!

They have THE best food. I think I told you about it last year. It is really, really good food. Ken loves the "bottomless" hot chocolate and has it for dinner and then again in the morning for breakfast: I love the portabella mushrooms with gorgonzola cheese as an appetizer. Oh, my, my mouth is watering looking at this picture.

I was too busy eating to take a picture of the main course of steak. Oh, and the rolls. They are so good. Here's the wagon wheel dessert.

Then we swam off some of the calories consumed in the wonderful indoor pool, and then a soak in the hot tub.

The next morning, we went into Bryce Canyon National park. It is so pristine and beautiful . . . and silent. I think we forget what absolute silence is. We were the only ones at one of the lookouts and you couldn't hear anything except occasional sound of the wind. Peace . . .

We came home rested and renewed. I love our little 24 hours of bliss!