We Went To Utah For A Long Weekend

August 12, 2013July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

The hubster was on business out in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I decided that it was time for me to see Utah. He left here on Monday and I joined him there on Thursday.

The tail of an airplane + many pigeons at Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum.

On Thursday afternoon Zen-Den and I went into downtown Salt Lake City so that I could see what it was all about. SLC was just as clean and organized as I had heard that it would be. I didn’t take any photos of the buildings or streets, but visually it was inviting. And clean. I mentioned that, right? With people walking within designated painted lines on the streets in accordance with the timing of the traffic lights. Who knew?

The Wasatch Mountains.

We have friends who live just north of Salt Lake City and on Friday they took a day off from work to drive us around the area. It was generous of them to do this, can’t thank them enough. First we went to Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and looked at their wonderful collection of airplanes and memorabilia– which, of course, I liked. Then we went to lunch at Taggart’s Grill, a restaurant and bakery nestled in the Wasatch Mountains, with camera-shy pet peacocks who live in the garden around the restaurant. The food was delicious. Coolness.

The Great Salt Lake.

After that we drove up through the Wasatch Mountains and then down to the edge of the Great Salt Lake. Everywhere I turned I saw the most amazing sights– whether they were natural formations, or unique small towns, or a herd of bison living free on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Amazing.

A herd of bison on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

On Saturday Zen-Den and I drove up to the mountain resort town of Park City, Utah, to go to an art show. Park City is home to Sundance Film Festival— and many wealthy people from the looks of it. The community was perfect. Like Disney perfect. Like so planned that I worried that we’d be thrown off the set for not adhering to the director’s vision of what the town’s residents should look like. Oh well.

Wild sunflowers that grow as weeds along the highways in northern Utah.

That evening in Park City we had tickets to the outdoor Deer Valley Music Festival with the Utah Symphony featuring Mandy Patinkin. He was amazing and professional with an astounding vocal range, charming personal stories and a quiet sense of humor. Delightful.

Starlings [I think] in a nest under the eaves.

On Sunday morning before we left we decided to drive around the University of Utah in SLC and surrounding neighborhoods. Again, so clean. And well-maintained. And, I’m assuming, safe. I say this because the capitol of Utah is in a residential neighborhood with no fences or guards around it. The building is just sitting there. Pretty.

Utah daylilies in an unusual shade of orange that I’ve never seen before.

We enjoyed Utah and would like to go back there someday. Maybe take a week and drive up into Wyoming and Idaho while we’re in the area. Maybe take more photos of the cities– and the buildings– and the unfailingly polite people who waited on us. That part I really, really liked. Worth the price of the vacation alone.

A City Girl’s Random Musings On Goats

August 8, 2013October 18, 2017 / Ally Bean / 17 Comments

:: This morning when I read this article about the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., using goats to clear a field of poisonous weeds, I knew that it was going to be a good day. Is this the best idea ever?

Probably yes.

:: Thinking about goats reminded me of a wonderful graduation party that we went to earlier this summer. The graduation girl was a graduate of a rural high school, so the party was at her parents’ house out in the country.

Many of the guests were farmers and at one point the conversation turned to goats. Show goats, to be exact. [Did you even know there was such a thing? I didn’t.]

Come to find out, 4-H kids raise and groom certain goats with the right disposition and the right looks to be show goats. These goats are somewhat pampered as I understand it. Loved by one and all. Winners of ribbons. Indulged. And kept around the farm as pets, not livestock.

An important distinction when you are an animal on a farm.

:: I have a goat necklace from Switzerland. Really. I’ve always liked goats. So when I was a girl in high school my aunt and uncle sent me a silver goat necklace purchased while vacationing in Europe. I don’t know where that necklace is now, but I’m sure that it’s around the house somewhere.

Misplaced, but not forgotten.

:: Not too far from here is a dairy that has cows as well as a few goats. Beside the goat barn is a machine that for 25¢ dispenses goat chow. [Yes, just like cat chow or monkey chow or dog chow.] One of my favorite things to do in life is to buy a handful of goat chow and feed the goats. Their little goat lips tickle the palm of your hand as they nibble. And they are always appreciative of what you have to offer them to eat.

So fun, so cute.

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

August 7, 2013May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 10 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month. Here is my July report minus 1 movie. Keep in mind that I get fidgety watching movies, so I consider it an accomplishment that I watched one movie during this hot month. Let’s just say that I owe you 1 movie and leave it at that.

2 Movies 1 Movie

Emma – Pretty + predictable. I chose this movie because in college I never read Emma by Jane Austen and because I knew that Clueless was based on it. Set in rural England in the early 1800s, Emma, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is a single woman who lives with her widowed father. She believes herself to be a good matchmaker, but in reality she is not. Confusion ensues. For a costume drama this movie was well done– not too tedious, not too pompous. Recommended if you need a Jane Austen fix and there isn’t enough time in your life to read one of her books.

2 Books

The Witch of Little Italy – Charming + unique. This novel, written by Suzanne Palmieri, is a perfect summer read. A college-aged girl, Eleanor, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and decides to go live with her grandmother & great aunts in the family home in the Bronx. While living there, Eleanor uncovers and solves decades-old family mysteries as well as going through her own personal transformation. The writing is smooth, the characters are well-rounded and the plot is more-or-less believable. Recommended if you want a bit of mystery + a tad of magic.

The Book of Tea – In this book, first published in 1906, Kakuzo Okakura explains the history of tea in Japan and the proper way to make it. He also expounds upon tea as a metaphor for life. I enjoyed this short book [treatise?] enough to read it twice. Recommended if you like Asian history, tea and philosophy. [Free on Kindle]

1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

Am I the last person to understand what is going on with these REFLECTING QUALITY stickers that are on the backside of many 18-wheel trucks? [Example photo here.] It came to me as we were driving down the interstate in my small coupe directly behind one of these trucks.

I realized that I could see myself & Zen-Den reflected in the mirror-like finish on the back of the truck. And it occurred to me that we were the quality that was being reflected. That the sticker had nothing to do with the items within the truck, instead it was telling me something nice about us. I find this all very clever now that I understand it.

Everything Including Half Of The Kitchen Sink

August 5, 2013August 5, 2013 / Ally Bean / 15 Comments

• I was testing my camera to make sure that it was still working after it had gotten dropped and knocked about a few times. For no reason whatsoever I took a few photos of the kitchen sink. So here you go:

HALF OF OUR KITCHEN SINK.

• Now that it is August I’ve decided to shift my posting schedule to afternoons. And to do more of the dreaded bullet. point. posts. And to just babble a bit more than usual. In other words, I’m going to take it easy in my real life and think that I will do the same thing here. No stories, just stream-of-consciousness.

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

• It is gorgeous outside today. Blue skies, white clouds, low humidity, happy birds, pretty flowers. This is what summer should look and feel like. I see that rain is in our forecast again [still], but I’m grooving on this beauty today for as long as it lasts. Sounds like a philosophy of life, doesn’t it? Maybe I could make a bumper sticker:

GROOVE ON THE PRETTY WHILE IT IS HERE.

• And with that piece of pithiness I’m going outside to do what I consider to be play; that is, I’m going outside to weed the garden. Yes, I’m a middle-aged, middle class, midwestern woman.

WHY DO YOU ASK?