Nebraska

On July 24^th we continued our journey to Lincoln, Nebraska. Once we arrived we asked the hotel receptionist for a dinner recommendation. She recommended Buzzard Billy’s downtown. It sounded unique so we ventured to the historic downtown haymarket.

We ordered gator fingers as an appetizer. They apparently have a local gator farm that they order from. In case you are wondering how gator fingers taste they are very chewy. Not quite as chewy as calamari but close.

I ordered the seafood eggplant pirogue which was a deep fried eggplant filled with shrimp, crayfish, etc.
Seth ordered the French quarter tuna.

We walked around a little downtown and I heard a unfamiliar noise. It almost sounded like an electric instrument. Since then I have learned that the noise was actually the cicada bug. If you think crickets are loud…you have never heard a cicada. Here is a little tidbit from Wikipedia

"A cicada (pronounced /sɪˈkɑːdə/ or pronounced /sɪˈkeɪdə/) is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many remain unclassified. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are among the most widely recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and remarkable acoustic talents."

I have to agree they have remarkable acoustic talent. After a while you get used to the sound.


We also noticed that all of the turn signals in Nebraska are turned to the side. We still have no idea why. We were lucky enough to catch the sunset as we drove back to our hotel. The clouds were beautiful.

The next morning we stopped at a local church. Someone asked me what my name was and I promptly said “My name is Suzanne Richards and this is my husband Seth.” They replied “Oh the Richards, welcome to our ward.” It was then that I realized I had told them my maiden name and had to correct them. It is going to take me quite a while to get used to the change. I think it will be easier to make the change in writing and harder to make it when introducing myself. I'm still trying to figure out when to change my name. I'm not sure if I want to make the change out here in South Carolina or wait for a return trip to Utah. Until I decide I think people will be very confused.

Wyoming

We started our drive out of Utah on July 23^rd. Our first stop was Laramie, Wyoming. We made a pit stop at the Little America for a 50 cent ice cream cone. I seem to remember a time not to long ago when these ice cream cones were just 25 cents.



We checked into our hotel and then took off for the Wyoming Territorial State Prison. It is the only prison to hold Butch Cassidy. We also got to see the safe that Butch Cassidy blew up.


It was fun to see what prison life would have been like. The cells were all very small and this prison must be cold in the winter.

This prison once had a working broom factory. We learned all about how to make brooms. We even had the nice guide take our picture.


This is the picture that broke our camera. In the exchange between hands it fell on the hard concrete and was never quite the same. For the rest of Wyoming we were camera-less, you will have to use your imagination.

Our next stop was downtown Laramie. Downtown was quite quaint. We ate at Tommy Jack’s and enjoyed baby back ribs and gumbo. Then we walked down to the train tracks and up onto the footbridge. We stopped by the union train station but they were setting up for a reception so we were unable to go inside.

On July 24^th we woke up early and drove to Cheyenne for the Frontier Days Parade. We were able to find a spot right in front of the state capitol building minutes before the parade started. We saw cowboys standing on tops of their horses, old fire trucks, army officers, navy officers, rodeo royalty, etc. They claimed that Frontier Days is the largest Parade in the West…I don’t think they know about the Days of ’47. It was enjoyable none the less and made us feel a little better about missing the festivities back in Utah.

We made a pit stop at a few stores and picked up a new camera and The Red Pyramid and To Kill a Mockingbird audiobooks. We finished both before the end of the trip. We loved listening to Sissy Spacek read To Kill a Mockingbird as we drove through the Deep South.

Park City

The first stop on our honeymoon trip was Park City. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. On July 22nd we enjoyed a day at the Park City resort. We rode the zip line, alpine slide, and the alpine coaster. Our favorite by far was the Alpine Coaster. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the outlet malls. Seth bought me a pair of DC shoes that I have been looking at forever and a pair of sunglasses. We also found him a few things.






My parents and Sarah and Joe joined us at the High West Distillery for dinner. I have blogged about the Distillery before. The High West Distillery is the house my mom grew up in. We ate dinner in the old garage and heard stories about her childhood. Then we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and walked with Sarah and Joe up Main Street.





Thanks for driving up to say goodbye. We already miss you.

July 21st = Moving Day

The day after our wedding we drove down from Park City to open presents, finish packing, and load our trailer. Seth researched all of our moving options and U-Pack was the best. ABF dropped off this 24 foot trailer and we loaded it up. They had estimated that we would use 16 feet of trailer space. But with the help of JB, Bart, Matt, Scott, Emily, Anne, Dad, Mom, Collette, Little Emily, and Jane we were able to get all of our stuff into 11 1/2 feet. Everytime we passed a U-haul on our cross country trip I would look over at Seth and say "I am so glad that is not us."



Bart helped us run the scooter out of gas. He took the girls for the ride. They loved it. Unfortunately the neighbor up the street did not. After coming out into the street to yell at Bart, he picked up his phone and called the police. Two officers stopped by soon after that. Bart apparently knew one of the officers by name from all of his days illegally driving a scooter to deliver the neighborhood newspapers. He was able to sweet talk his way out of a ticket.

July 20th = Wedding Day

I was just about to skip to July 21st = Moving Day when Seth asked why I wasn't blogging about our wedding day. Well...I don't have any pictures yet. So I will return to tell the story about our wedding day when the pictures arrive. If you can't wait...check out Sarah, Collette, Mary, or Amy's blog.

Meeting Sir Paul

Bart was able to convince Seth and I to join him on an autograph hunt. Sir Paul McCartney was in town for a concert. Here I am holding up the record I got signed. Seth is holding up the piece of cardboard he did not get signed. The whole experience was quite unique. We waited for Sir Paul to come back from his concert. Before he came, his security detail came. They lined the 50+ people that were waiting for an autograph up like we in a police lineup. They came up and down seeing what we had for Sir Paul to sign and ordering us around. Then they chose 20 people from the line to get Sir Paul's autograph. They chose my dad and I was the last one to be chosen. Sir Paul was very kind and made simple small talk with all of the fans he signed for. I am happy to say that I met a Beatle.

P.S. It so happens that Sir Paul played in Nashville the night we stayed there and in Asheville, NC just a couple of nights before we arrived there. I'm sure if Bart would have known, he would have had us out on the hunt.

Bee's game

My dad organized a family trip to the Bee's game. Seth and I enjoyed a loaded hot dog and Philly cheese steak sandwich. Both were scrumptious. Food and company were the best part of the game.