Hundreds of miles and meeting Big Benny

This summer, my best friend and I made the mistake of thinking that we could move to different cities. We now understand that after Guatemala and Denver (Omaha for her) we will never live apart. Ever. We both had separately incredible summers, hers in Portland and mine in Phoenix; however, we still missed each other a lot. We spent pretty much 24/7 together for 3 years and somehow never got sick of each other! No real or significant fights (except that one time some medicine made her crazy but that’s a whole other story…). I am so blessed to have her in my life! 

Anyway… we were too poor to visit each other in our new 12 week homes but decided that we would meet up following fieldwork to caravan home. I packed up my condo into my tiny car and drove the ten hours from Phoenix to Salt Lake City. It was such a beautiful drive, but definitely not a quick one. A large span of the journey was via 2-lane highway and through or near the many state and national parks of Arizona and Utah: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion and many more. Gorgeous, winding roads cut through mountains and painted landscape; all this beauty allowed me to average about 40.3 miles per hour! At the same time, she was making her way to SLC from Portland. Alas, we met in the Motel 6 parking lot and it was like the final scene of Wife Swap (a horrible guilty pleasure): each of us running with open arms haha. We settled into our luxurious hotel room (so classy it even had a beer bottle opener attached to the sink) and then headed to get some food. I had done my research  to find the best burger in Salt Lake which brought us to Lucky 13. This incredible joint is where we met Big Benny. Oh. My. Goodness. It was a leaning tower of heaven loaded down with 28 ounces of succulent beef, juicy maple bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, sautéed onions, tomatoes, lettuce and Lucky 13 sauce. We, of course, had to wash it down with two large glasses of a Utah-brewed IPA. The 10 pounds I had gained this summer quickly became 15, but this was a meal I will never forget. Quite the reunion! 

The next day consisted of 14 hours driving on I-80E, copious amounts of road construction, serenading via walkie-talkies, and eventual arrival in Omaha. We quickly went back to our beautiful neighborhood of Dundee to have a drink at our favorite bars with some friends. Omaha is our homaha.

A sunrise over Park City, UT

A storm brewing in Utah

You'll notice I stopped taking pictures once I hit Nebraska...