Treater and Napper come for a visit

It was two years in the making. Vicki and Doc who live in Florida have been promising that they would come visit in SLC as soon as the details could be worked out.

A work related conference near by, and they found themselves able to hop a short flight to SLC, come for a weekend visit and then head up to the rest of their vacation in Yellowstone.

Friday they arrived late in the afternoon. While Vicki and I had gotten to know each other via blogging, via our cat's blog, and Facebook, our husbands had never exchanged a single communication. That situation was remedied instantly; the guys both love golf and it didn't take long for them to establish a bond.

We chatted for about an hour then we drove them up to Albion Basin to see the wild flowers. That's Vicki in the first picture, posing in the posies.

A butterfly was also posing nearby...staying perfectly still for the longest time!

As the sun retreated behind the mountains we discussed where we wanted to go for dinner. They hadn't tried Indian food before, so we decided to take them to our favorite Indian buffet where they could sample a variety of traditional foods from India.

The crescent moon hung over head; the first stars were twinkling as we pulled up to the restaurant.

Surprise #1: Our jaws dropped open as we beheld about 50 Islamic men in lined up outside the restaurant, reciting prayers and kneeling with their head to the ground and their backsides pointing up.

"That's not Mecca that they are facing," Bernie commented. "They are facing toward Park City."

The restaurant was hired for a private event related to the Muslim's Ramadam fast breaking so we went to another restaurant instead. We mentioned to the waiter that this was our second choice, and about the prayers that were being said towards Park City.

The waiter quipped "A lot of people think that Park City IS Mecca you know..."

Anyway, we got a delicious meal and chatted happily away for quite awhile.

Next morning (Saturday) we enjoyed a bit of time on the deck, had breakfast, then went to explore Mormon landmarks. Temple Square did not disappoint!

Surprise #2: Incredibly, the church headquarters (a tall high rise) had it's 44th floor observation deck open to the public! We got an amazing view from up there; I had never gone up there before.

We toured Brigham Young's house, and had lunch before going on to see the Cathedral of the Magdalene, where (another small surprise!) a Saturday afternoon Mass in Spanish was going on.

At the "Passing of the Peace"the congregant shook hands, and a sweet older man shook each of our hands as well.

We toured the State Capitol then headed back to home as the day was getting quite warm.

We then happily lounged around the deck, where Doc gave me a lesson on how to use the telescope that Bernie had given me two birthdays ago.

Surprise #3: Using the telescope, he took this picture of a hiker hiking along the top ridge of Mt. Olympus! How cool is that?

Around 7 we were ready for a picnic dinner. A 10 minute drive had us up in Mill Creek Canyon, dining on fried chicken and pasta salad (store bought, both...too hot to cook, too little time!) at a picnic table in the forest just above a rushing stream

(um...that would be Mill Creek. Yes it would. Duh.)

We drove home via a short detour to Neff's Canyon where the last gleamings of sunset colored the sky over the glittering city on the valley floor.

Sunday we played hooky from church, then after breakfast (and more goofing off on the deck) we drove up to Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird where we took the tram up to the mountain top. It was the same ride that we took with Gail on July 4th, yet the whole place looked different now.

The meadows looked like God had spilt paint down the mountainside.

Surprise #4: A dust devil formed and spun down the the mountainside, tracking up, down and sideways before finally unwinding just ahead of us.

Critters were packing for the upcoming winter.

Cute, huh?

Doc was game to take side paths, filming and shooting pictures in every direction.

I absolutely loved this little path!

Our vocabulary shrunk to basically "cool!" "wow!" and "unbelievable!"

I do love how mountains rear up formed of many colors of soil.

The tram took us up to what felt like was the top of the world; we chose to then hike down a rather slippery path to the ski lift chairs for the trip back down.

Just mosey and take your time...no need to hurry...plus there are pictures to take everywhere!

Bernie hiked in flip flops!

It was hard to believe that we just met these folks less than 48 hour earlier!

We did find the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone talks about...just so you know!

What else did we do?

Doc and "the boys" (Tiggie and Hart) became very good friends.

After all, Tigs, Hart and their Spooky have been writing back and forth via blogdom for a few years now.

The four of us spent a lot of time just hanging out and getting to know each other.

After a week at a medical conference and getting ready for a two week vacation, they needed the break!

Vicki and I have been cheering each other on for over three years now.

We met via blogdom through a rather convoluted bit of blog hopping.

We both put our houses on the market and relocated about the same time, and prayed for each other as the housing market slumped, as we camped out in temporary quarters, then bought houses needing kitchen and bath remodeling.

We wrote back and forth about Sherwin William paint colors, granite counter top selections, and we selected identical kitchen faucets too!

Sometimes the best kind of friend is the one who is in the middle of the same life challenges.

Let me tell you though: it is totally sweet to find ourselves able to say hello and hug each other in real life, knowing that that light at the end of the tunnel was now all around us.

Through all the challenges, God was with us, and we came out the other side just fine.