Ali and I started out for Salt Lake City on a Friday morning, van loaded with not only our stuff, but a bike, some boxes and Christmas gifts that I was delivering for some young ladies that have served and are serving missions in my area. The drive there was pretty uneventful. The typical 11 hour drive took us a bit longer, but that always happens. We had a wedding reception to attend in Salt Lake on Saturday and I had rooms reserved at a motel in downtown Salt Lake close to temple square. Now, in my defense, let me just say that I haven't stayed in a Motel 6 in a VERY long time. We used to stay there when traveling with young children as the rates were affordable and the room was adequate. So my objective was to keep my trip as inexpensive as possible. (Lesson learned: inexpensive and cheap don't always mean the same thing. Inexpensive---okay. Cheap---not okay.) So we went to the motel first to check in, then planned to visit temple square to see the Christmas lights. As we entered our non smoking room, the smell just about knocked us over. Not that "just smoked" smell, but that smell that permeates carpets, drapes, etc when an area had been exposed to massive cigarette smoke over a long period of time. I went straight to the desk and requested another "non smoking" room. So the second room, when entered, did not seem as bad. At least I could smell the air freshener trying to camouflage the smoke smell. And it was a non smoking room, at least the ash tray with the no smoking sign on it said so.......
I should have changed plans then, but didn't. After all, it's just a room for a few nights, right? So change of scenery, we did go to temple square from there. What a beautiful sight. I grew up 3 hours from Salt Lake, but had never seen the Christmas lights on temple square before.
As we walked, I noticed a young man maybe 13 or 14, walking towards us and speaking another language. Immediately I recognized the woman he was speaking to. It was Sister Harriet Uchtdorf. And then noticed next to her, President Uchtdorf. For those who don't know, President Dieter Uchtdorf is the 2nd counselor in the First Presidency of our church. We honor and sustain him as a prophet of God. Sister Uchtdorf walked right by me. I could have reached out and touched her. (Lesson learned: in the midst of the smell and the ugliness that sometimes affects our surroundings, there is glorious beauty and messengers of God, if we know where to look and we place ourselves there.)
Now back to the motel room. Ah yes, the motel room. Did I mention the sink was clogged. Oh yeah really clogged. But hey, the heater worked, sort of. And the shower was clean with hot water. Did I also mention that prior to our trip, a family in Kaysville (30 minutes away) had offered us a place to stay if we needed it. This was a family I hadn't met before. We were taking the bike and other things to store in their garage, all arranged by these young sister missionaries that I know. They are the family of one of the missionaries I have recently become acquainted with. At the time, I had already made our motel reservations. I also don't like to impose on people and they were strangers to me, so I politely declined their offer. So there we were, in this motel room, for 2 nights. The next morning as we were getting ready to leave for the day, Ali opened the drapes to bring more light in as I was putting make-up on. We were on a second floor, around the corner on the back side of the motel. I can put up with a lot, always have. But the final straw was when a man knocked on our window. All the door locks were secure and I wasn't about to open the door. He said, "Are you okay?" I asked him (through the window) what he wanted. He didn't answer my question. He just kept repeating, "Are you okay?" I told him to go away and that I wasn't about to open the door. I finally closed the drapes and he walked off. If I had to guess, I would say he was homeless. I later found out the largest homeless shelter in the state is a few blocks away and they kick everyone out during the day for cleaning. This man was probably harmless, but it was no doubt an uneasy feeling and scared Ali as well. Without hesitation, I sent a text to this family I was delivering the bike to and asked if the offer was still open. We had one more night to stay in Salt Lake. I attempted to call the desk to let them know we were canceling the 2nd night and low and behold, the phone didn't work. (Lesson learned: I can put up with a lot, but sometimes you just need to cut your time short and "get the heck out of Dodge".) Everywhere we went that day, we could smell that room. We were taking the smell with us. Lovely! It was in our clothes and our hair. We had a wedding reception to go to that night. It was one of the main reasons for our trip. Laurie Argyle not only opened her home to us, but washed our clothes and washed and styled our hair in her home salon before leaving for the reception.
The reception was incredibly nice. We were surrounded by great people who we had something in common with. We all loved the bride and groom, Lexie and Shae. And they should all be grateful to Laurie Argyle that we didn't bring that smell with us.
The next morning we were given a full breakfast before attending 9:00 a.m. church with the Argyles. We only stayed for the 1st hour as we needed to get on the road and head to Idaho to see my mom in Montpelier. It had been raining during the night and I knew that meant snow in Logan canyon. They usually keep the roads in the canyon pretty clear, unless it's during a storm, or immediately after, which was the case.
(Lesson learned: sometimes the angels are mortals placed in our path to bring us joy and share their light.)
That prayer was felt when driving through the canyon on icy roads. I don't have a lot of experience on snow and ice, but I did grow up around it and have a great deal of respect for the roads under those conditions.
So the rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful, in comparison. We had a short, but nice visit with my mom. We also saw some family in Pocatello Idaho and did some shopping (always fun). We picked some things up in Idaho Falls that needed to be brought back to a college student returning to our ward for a few months before going back to BYU-I. (Oh.... another lesson learned: when living in Phoenix and prompted to buy an ice scraper for the car, "just in case".....buy it!)
(Lesson learned: Isn't it obvious!)
