The Visit

First, let me go ahead and dispel any MIL stereotypes. I coulda had one of those MILs.  The guy I dated in college - woooboy! - his mother was a battle-axe.  She was awful to me and I am extremely grateful that D's mother is not.  She has never been anything but lovely and gracious to me from day 1.  She always says nice things about my cooking and the house (things not my strong suits), and always asks if she can help out rather than being waited on while she visits.

Normally this time of year, we'd have a lot of lovely mountains covered with snow to show off, but alas, we have very low snow this year, even in the mountains.  Saturday, we did decide that we'd better get our touring done since a storm was moving in on Sunday, so we drove up through Provo Canyon and stopped at Bridal Veil Falls.  It's been cold enough that the falls are mostly frozen over, although there is still some running water.  It's pretty either way.

You can just barely see two small dark dots on the large white sheet of ice in the center of this picture.  Believe it or not, there was a group of 3 ice-climbers out on the sheer face of the waterfall.   

We then continued the drive up through the canyon, stopping to take some pictures of the snow-capped mountains.  You can see the incoming clouds out in front of the storm front against the blue sky.

We also took a few pictures at the reservoir, which is still iced over, but I don't think will last very long if the temperatures continue as they have been above freezing. (In fact, it has warmed up so much that one of the local winter elk-feeding areas is empty.  The elk have all moved back up to higher elevations because there is so little snow up there, they can forage.)

We ate lunch up at the Lodge at Daniel's Summit (where we went snow-mobiling last weekend) and then meandered home, to enjoy dinner with the Farrells.

Sunday was a dismal day here.  It was an east coast kind of rainy day, where it rained virtually all day long.  We "treated" D's mom to lunch (at a gas station, nonetheless, it being Utah and not much being open early - if at all - on a Sunday morning) and then took her to Cabela's, where I think she was somewhat stunned at the size of the store and the vast selection of products they carry.  (If you haven't been to a Cabela's, they are an outdoor/sporting goods store, but they also sell clothing and cookware, and housewares, and stuffed fish pillows, camping gear - you name it.)  Do we know how to show a lady a good time or what?

Yesterday (Monday) saw her winging her way back to spring in South Carolina.  A great visit - too short, as usual - but always wonderful to see her.

All for now......

Comments

[margene]

Your pictures capture the beauty of our half weekend.

[Karen]

Beautiful pictures! I like my MIL too, which is really nice. I'm glad you all had a nice visit.

[AmyP]

Sigh - I always feel like I've just had a breath of fresh air when I look at yours or Margene's photos. Thank you.

[Minnie]

cabela's started in nebraska! the home store is in sidney, nebraska. that one is HUGE! that is where their catalog sales come from. there's one here in omaha, and one out by hastings/grand island (central nebraska). the kids always loved to go, because they loved seeing the taxidermist exhibits. amazing

[Marcia]

You're lucky: I DID have "one of those" MIL's. But, so did my husband, so I guess that's only fair. I love Bridal Veil Falls...we go by on the way to our son's in-laws in Provo!

[kathy b]

Great photos and I love the brunch gas station story!

[Laurie]

Sounds like a lovely time. Beautiful pictures. I miss the West.

[Maureen]

Breathtaking photos..... We love Cabela's. We stopped in one over the holidays. I think we are getting one in Hookset, N.H.

[Diane E.]

Awesome landscape photos! Thanks for the comments, we're so lucky the barn is just the perfect distance away... in any weather we are comfortable walking over and back. By the time we left last night it is was dark with a whipping wind, and snowing slightly, an adventuress hike home. Weather that makes me feel 25 years younger!

[cyndy]

Spectacular images that exhalt those already magnificent mountains! How do you keep from getting
vertigo out there?

Your MIL sounds like a gem!
Oh, and I love the gloves that you were working on and finished --shown in your post above!