Wednesday January 13th Susie and I traveled to St. George for the 2016 winter conference of the BYU CITES program. We have attended this every year since Susie has been in the deans office. This was a special trip for us as were were also celebrating our 10th anniversary.
We left Provo early Wednesday afternoon so we could be in St. George to go to dinner with Susie's friends the Gillilands. We always enjoy visiting with them when we are in St. George. We arrived at their house around 6 pm and visited for awhile. Then we went to eat at Paula's Cazuela Mexican restaurant. The food was good and the company was excellent.
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| A selfie on the 8th hole at Green Springs golf course in Washington |
Thursday while Susie was attending meetings I was on vacation. I started the day by doing e-mail then went to purchase new cleats for my golf shoes. Then I was off to the Green Springs Golf course for an afternoon of golf. I arrived around 1 pm and was able to get on the course immediately. On the 4th hole I joined the guy in front of me.
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| The 135 yard 5th hole lies across the gulch from the tee box |
We were making good time until we got to the 5th hole where we found there was a group on the green and another group on the Tee. They asked if the starter had told us that there were 6 groups of 4 in front of us for league play. He had failed to mention that.
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| A beautiful day for golf in Utah's Dixie |
We followed the 6 slow groups until the 8th hole. At that point, my partner who lives on the course, suggested we go back to the 1st hole and play the front 9 again. Luckily there was no one on the first tee and we were able to play the next 9 holes quickly. We decided to go ahead and play the 10th, 11th, and 12th holes as well. By then I was tired and called it a day.
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| Fortunately I played golf on Thursday when the weather was nicer |
That evening was the conference banquet. We enjoyed a very nice meal at the hotel. Then we retired to our room to watch the BYU vs. Gonzaga basketball game. We didn't think they had much of a chance but to our surprise the cougars pulled out a 69 to 68 victory over the Bulldogs. The next day I was supposed to be on vacation but instead I had 5 hours of conference calls. At noon Susie finished her conference and we had lunch in the meeting room.
After lunch we went to the St. George temple to attend a session. I had never been in the St. George temple before. I was very impressed with the beauty of the celestial room and the sealing rooms. I had forgotten that the older temples had sealing rooms off the celestial room.
After the session we checked into our hotel at the Inn on the Cliff. The room was very nice and the views from our balcony were stunning.
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| Panorama of St. George |
Friday evening we ate dinner at the Benja Thai & Sushi. After dinner we went to visit Susie's old room mate, Janet Barlow. Saturday we invited John and Sandy Cavanagh to lunch at the Red Robin. After lunch we drove around town a bit then went to visit Susie's old colleague, Max Rose. During the visit he invited us to attend a recital by his granddaughter who is auditioning for the Gina Bachauer piano competition. The recital was held in the historic St. George Tabernacle.
That evening we were in the Tabernacle along with about 100 other people. Max's granddaughter played 8 different pieces including several by Chopin. The recital lasted about 45 minutes. After the recital her mother, her piano teacher, and two of their friends played a piano concerto. They are all accomplished musicians. The viola player is a cousin to our friends the Fawson's from Fairfield.
After the recital Susie and I retired to the Cliff Side Restaurant at the Inn on the Cliff for dessert. They have a wonderful menu and the food was delicious.
Sunday morning John Cavanagh invited us for breakfast at their home. He served waffles, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, juice, and hot chocolate. After breakfast we attended Sacrament meeting in their ward then we were on our way home. It was a wonderful getaway before the start of 4 straight weeks of travel.
