Spontaneity

Here's what an impromptu outing after you've-just-left-the-hospital-with-a-daughter-with-low-counts, a-bird-watching-loving-family, and-a-nerdy :) -engineer-who-just-got-back-from-a-study-abroad-in-China-and-is-obsessed-with-tall-structures-who-also-served-his-mission-in-Venezuela looks like. Because you were probably all wondering. :)

So it all started when we were in the hospital last week with Elena.

(Eric and Elena having fun in the morning before I got there)

We had a room with a fantastic view of the Salt Lake Valley (a rarity - it's only happened maybe one other time out of all the times we've been inpatient). One day that we were there was particularly clear and we could see far out across the valley. Eric spotted the Kennecott Smokestack and started freaking out because it is the tallest free-standing structure on this side of the Mississippi, etc, etc, etc. You have to remember that Eric just got back from an engineering study abroad to China studying some of the tallest buildings, biggest bridges, and fastest transportation systems in the world, so he is a little excited about big buildings right now. :) I started challenging his engineering honor and talking about how "it didn't look that big" and that "I was pretty sure that there were skyscrapers in Seattle that were taller" and he started getting heated and googling things and saying that we had to see it in person.

Well, like we said in earlier posts, we got released after only a few days with an Elena who was doing very well, but just had low counts. We stopped by Eric's sister's house and picked up Lily and then headed home. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we were all on a high from being reunited and out of the hospital, when Eric suddenly said, "Hey, do you want to go see that smokestack?"

"Sure!" I said and we drove right on past the I-15 junction and headed out to the far off and exotic land of Magna, Utah. :) So began our spontaneous adventure.

It turns out that the smokestack actually is quite tall. Once you get up close, you can better appreciate it.

Here it is in all it's 1,215 foot high glory.

Almost like being back in China :)

After basking in all that the smokestack offered :), we headed back down the road towards home. The Kennecott mines are out by the Great Salt Lake and there are pockets of water sprinkled in between the various roadways - it really is kind of neat. Elena kept oohing and ahhing over the water and as we approached the sign to go out to the lake Eric made a last minute turn, so we could all get a better look.

With Elena's ANC only at 100, we didn't dare get her out of the car around so many tempting (dirty) things to touch and explore (we just looked at the smokestack from a boring parking lot, so she couldn't get into too much trouble there :)), so we viewed things from the car with a promise to come back and explore some other time when her counts were up.

Elena made up for it by taking lots of pictures of the sights. She asked me for the camera and took these all by herself.

The cutest little four eyes you've ever seen

(Did we mention that she is near-sighted and has astigmatism? We were referred to an opthamalogist because we were worried about complications from the chemo from a lot of things she'd been complaining about. Short story: her eyes are still healthy, but they're going to keep monitoring her because some of the chemo she's on can cause glaucoma, cataracts and other lovely things like that. And she needs glasses!)

At the Saltair (a building on the beach by the Great Salt Lake), we noticed all these Cliff Swallow nests under the eaves. There were tons of them!

Then when we were driving out past the Marina, we saw tons of Yellow Headed Blackbirds! They are a common sight by the shore, but their yellow heads are just so striking we couldn't help but sit and watch them. Bird watching is like a treasure hunt. And yes, we are nerds. :)

It was such a simple little trip, but we were having so much fun seeing new sights. We decided that we need to do random, spontaneous, sight-seeing trips like this way more often - like every spare weekend this summer. There really is so much to see just within a few hour radius in our own backyard of Utah!

On our way home, Eric had another great idea to stop in and grab some Venezuelan food from a little place we know of near Salt Lake.

Lily enjoyed her black beans and rice while they waited for the food.

Mmmmm, arepas. Get in my belly.

It was a lovely day and the perfect way to celebrate being back together and out of the hospital!