Wild, Wild West

Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming
3,440 miles by plane, 1,751 miles by car, hundreds of photos, lots of good food, and a lifetime of memories made.

We had been planning this vacation since Fall 2018. It felt like it took forever for it to get here. But, then, about a week prior to leaving, I felt like it snuck up on me. We were both so excited for it!

Here's a synopsis of our schedule:
6/4: Flight to Salt Lake City; Drive to Driggs, Idaho
6/5: ATV Tour - Jackson, Wyoming
6/6: Grand Teton and Yellowstone Wildlife and Landmark Tour
6/7: Drive to Idaho Falls; Idaho Escape Room and Reed's Dairy Farm
6/8: Hike in Caribou-Targhee National Forest; Jackson Hole Rodeo
6/9: Hot Air Balloon Ride
6/10: Introduction to Rodeo (barrel racing and steer roping)
6/11: Shoshone Falls; drive to Salt Lake City
6/12: Flight to Atlanta

Tuesday, June 4:
We left early Tuesday morning (around 4:30) to go to the airport. We flew to Salt Lake City. There was about an hour delay for our flight leaving. The plane was full and there was a passenger without a seat. So, they had to figure out how there was an extra passenger on board. As it turned out, one passenger purchased two tickets, but they only checked him in as one. Plus, someone flying standby was on the plane, and there wasn't really room for her. She got the boot, and we were on our way to SLC.
Our plane landed there around 12:30 Mountain time. So, we got into our rented car and went to find some lunch. Through a Tripadvisor search, we found Red Iguana. The parking lot was crowded; we took that as a good sign. As we walked to the front of the restaurant, I had some trouble spotting the door. It's kinda like Where's Waldo.

Our food was delicious! I had chicken flautas, and Calvin had a fajita burrito. The only downfall is that westerners don't have cheese dip like we're used to. So, the food had melted, shredded cheese instead. But, the food was good enough without it.
One totally awesome thing (other than the gorgeous views) about our drive from Utah to Idaho - the speed limit:

We were on our way to Driggs, Idaho. Driggs is a small town just west of the Wyoming state line. We rented a cute little cabin that was within walking distance of the local restaurants and shopping.

We ate at a restaurant in Driggs called O'Rourke's...not bad, but not our favorite. Then, we went to the grocery store, then back to the house to relax and unpack.

Wednesday, June 5:
We slept in a little, then went to Provisions for lunch. It was so yummy! I had Philly Cheesesteak and sweet potato fries. Calvin had a brunch burger (burger topped with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg) and fries. This place even  had Coca-Cola products, which was a rare find. No Coke Zero, but Diet Coke is better than anything Pepsi.

After scarfing down our food, we headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for an ATV tour. This was our first time driving over the Teton Pass. The views were so gorgeous.

We were so happy to see this snow. I knew snow was in the forecast for later in the week, but I had no idea how much we would see.
Our ATV tour was booked with Scenic Safaris. Our tour guide was great. There were only four of us plus the guide in our group. The other two riders were experienced ATV riders. So, we got to go pretty fast on the trails. It was around 70° and sunny - absolutely perfect weather! We were covered in dirt and dust and had so much fun!

Thursday, June 6:
This was an early start for us. We had an all-day tour with Brushbuck Wildlife, and we met them in Jackson at 6:15 a.m. From Jackson, we went to Grand Teton National Park, then up to Yellowstone -National Park. The landscape, landmarks, and wildlife were so awesome!

This was a long day, but it went by so fast. We met them at 6:15 a.m. and got back to our car around 6:45 p.m. By the time we got home, I was exhausted! I'm usually a night owl, but I went to sleep before it was completely dark.

Friday, June 7:
The weather was rainy and cool. So, we decided to do some indoor activities. We drove to Idaho Falls and went to the best ice cream place - Reed's Dairy Farm. This was the first place I had ever seen Huckleberry ice cream. Oh my goodness - why do we not have this in Georgia?!

After the ice cream, we went to Idaho Escape Room and put our puzzle-solving brains to work. We didn't escape in 60 minutes; so, in that fictitious world, we contributed to its demise. You've been warned. 😀

Saturday, June 8:
We woke up to SNOW! It was so pretty, and we wanted to see more. So, we took the Altima off-roading. We made our way to the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The farther we went, the more snow we saw. The flakes were so different from what I've seen in Georgia. The snow was tiny little beads and felt dry. A moose stopped for some pictures for us, too.

After our adventures in the woods, we headed to dinner at Big Hole BBQ in Victor, Idaho. The Big Hole Fries were so, so good! They're fries topped with brisket, spicy bbq sauce, jalapenos, scallions, and cheese sauce. 

After dinner, we went to Downtown Jackson. Even with the snow, it wasn't too cold for ice cream. So, we headed to Moo's. Calvin got Lemon Honey, and I got Wild Huckleberry. Then, we walked around the square and stopped for a picture in front of the Elk Antler Arches.

After some more walking around, I called my sister to see if she was near a computer. There are cameras around the square, so we stood on a corner; and, I talked to her while she watched us from Georgia. Technology is pretty cool. After our walk, we went to the Jackson Hole Rodeo, "Where the West is still wild." It was a great rodeo: bull riding, steer roping, barrel racing, and bronc riding. Just before the rodeo began, it started pouring down snow. Even the locals were calling it a blizzard! Here's a picture of our view before the snow:

...and, here is the same view after the snow:

It was cold, but we were prepared with lots of layers of clothes and jackets. Plus, they had hot chocolate and coffee for sale. So, Calvin got me a 1/2 and 1/2 to help me stay warm. After the rodeo, we had to drive back over the mountain to get to our house, and it snowed so hard it looked like we were driving through a vortex. I was happy when it finally eased up.

Sunday, June 9:
It was another super early morning for us. We went for a hot air balloon ride and had to meet the pilot and ground crew at 5:30 a.m. The sunrise made getting up early worth it. Seeing the mountains and the valley covered in untouched snow was breathtaking...or, maybe it was the cold temps that made it hard to breathe; I'm not sure.

Monday, June 10:
We went to a ranch in Jackson for an outing called Introduction to Rodeo. Our instructor is a steer roper in the Jackson Hole Rodeo. She taught us how to barrel race and steer rope. This may have been my favorite thing that we did.

Tuesday, June 11:
We left Driggs to head back to Salt Lake City. But, first, we drove to Idaho Falls and then to Shoshone Falls. In Idaho Falls, we made one more visit to Reed's Dairy Farm. This time, after we ate our ice cream, we spent some time on the petting farm. The donkey loved us, he just didn't know it.

This added a few hours to our drive, but it was worth it. Shoshone is taller than Niagara Falls...how could we be that close and not go?! So, we did. My only regret - I didn't buy a t-shirt there. I did get a sticker, though; and, that's what I have been collecting when we go places. Who needs another shirt anyway?

We stayed in a beautiful home in North Salt Lake City that night. Then, Wednesday morning, we headed to the airport to come home. We had a layover in Denver. And, if you know anything about the Denver airport, you can probably guess what I'm about to tell you: our flight was delayed. Thankfully, it wasn't too long. We got to our house in Georgia around 11:30 Wednesday night. As wonderful as traveling is, there is nothing like coming home.
Last year, I told Calvin that I wanted to travel places in the United States where I hadn't been. He was all for it, so I started making a list of places I wanted to visit; and. we began planning this trip. I can honestly say, it felt like the trip of a lifetime. What a gorgeous country we live in!

Divine Delay

In our Sunday school class, we have begun studying the book of Luke. I’ll share with you some of what we discussed in Sunday school today. How many of you have received a promise of a gift that you never received? When I graduated from high school, a lady who was a friend of our family told my sister and I that she had a present for each of us. Here we are, more than 15 years later, and I still haven’t gotten that gift. I don’t think that was her intention; I think she just forgot to ever give them to us. At this point, I think it is safe to say that we won’t ever receive the gifts she had for us. I’m not holding my breath anyway.

Has anything like that ever happened to any of you? Has anyone ever made a promise to you and didn’t keep it? It is safe to say that we can all think of at least one unkept promise. In most instances, our friends and family members have the best of intentions. Then, life happens; they make mistakes or forget what they said. Then, we find ourselves expectant but disappointed.

How many of you have felt that same way about an unanswered prayer or a promise that you were sure God made you? Sometimes his promises take a long time to come to pass too. It isn’t that he has forgotten about the promise he made you. You can rest assured that he has a purpose for the delay.

This past week, I studied the first two chapters in the book of Luke. By the way, if you are looking for a Bible study to do, the First 5 is a free app, and it is great! Special thanks to my friend, Lauren, for telling me about it. It is exactly what I’d been looking for.

Back to Luke: I’ll summarize the first chapter. Zechariah was a Jewish priest who served in the Holy Place. While serving, he had the honor of being the priest who would burn the incense at the altar. While there, the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that God had heard his prayer. Now, since Gabriel was a priest, he had likely prayed many corporate prayers for the people of Israel who were anxious for the Messiah to come. But, he had prayed personal prayers too, specifically one for a child. The angel Gabriel told him that his wife would become pregnant and bear a son for him. Zechariah had no idea who interwoven his two prayers were. His son, John the Baptist, would fulfill a the prophecy of being the one who would prepare the people’s hearts for the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. But, since Zechariah's prayers for a child and the Messiah were so intertwined, the answer to his prayer likely took much longer than he had expected. He even tells the angel that he and his wife are both old now. But, unlike the lady who forgot to ever give me my graduation gift, God did not forget about answering Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers. The time would come; they just had to wait for it and continue working and serving while they waited.

If God has spoken a promise to you, don’t get discouraged when a week passes and nothing has changed. Maybe a month or six months – maybe even years will go by, and it will be hard to see the progress. It is so important that we recognize that there are divine delays that happen for a reason. Maybe the reason is to stretch you and to grow who you are in your faith. Maybe it’s because there are things in motion that have specific timeframes and you need to increase your patience. Or, maybe you’ll never know the exact reason for the delay. But remember, God was working and waiting for the perfect time to answer the prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and he is doing the same for us.

Over the next few studies of Luke in our Sunday school class, we are going to look at Zechariah’s question to the angel and Mary’s question to the angel and explore why they got much different reactions (Zechariah was turned into a mute, but the angel answered Mary’s question without reprimand). We will also dig into why Elizabeth hid herself for the first five months of her pregnancy. Join us for Sunday school as we dig into this Gospel. There’s so much to learn!  

Wagon, Wait for Me!

Over the past couple of weeks, you could say that I fell off of the healthy-eating wagon, or I at least fell over the side. Some things came up, and my schedule completely changed. I didn't plan meals, I didn't make a focused grocery store list, and we ate out a lot more than usual. So, unsurprisingly, I gained about four pounds. During all of this, I did keep my workout regimen, and I continued to log my food in my food journal on My Fitness Pal and mostly stayed under my calorie goal. Doing these things helped me not to stray too far. 

Did ya catch that? I stayed under my caloric goal and exercised, but still gained weight. Before making changes in my diet, I wanted to eat junk, stay under calories, and lose weight. But, that doesn't happen for me. I have to be diligent with restricting the amount of highly processed foods I eat and make sure that most of the carbs that I eat are good carbs. It makes all the difference for me. 

This week, I got back on track. I did have a couple of cheat meals, but I made more good food choices than bad. When I weighed this morning, I was down the four pounds I had gained plus a little extra. Whew, what a relief!

It has been about eleven weeks since I began making significant changes in my eating habits and workout regimen. Since then, I've lost about fifteen pounds. From my highest weight, I'm down 23.8 pounds. Here's a picture of my progress so far:

 Also, in the past month, I've begun focusing on weight training. I still do cardio and calisthenics, but I am learning proper form and technique for heavier lifting. Today, I got a new PR (personal record) for deadlifting. I did 170# for a set of four. It was my fifth set, starting lighter and ending with this heavy set. It really is motivating to lose weight and build strength at the same time.

I have no idea what my goal is for deadlifts. Right now, the hardest part is getting it off of the ground. 😀 So, the goal is to stay uninjured while continuing to challenging myself. Thankfully, I have personal trainers who know that I want to lift and are very encouraging (and make sure that I have proper form to avoid injuries).

I recently read a quote by George Eliot: "It's never too late to become what you might have been." I changed it a little, but it was the inspiration for my current Facebook cover photo quote:

I often wish I had begun this fitness journey a long time ago and was at a more advanced level now. But, I know that a year from now, I'll be so happy that I chose to begin this in March 2017. 

Where are you on your fitness journey? Have you found what works best for your diet? I'd love to hear the things you've tried that work well for you, fitness or food.