Our Big Utah Adventure: Installment 3

Tuesday gave us weather just perfect for a trip up the Alpine Loop, one of my favorite places in the Utah Valley. We first stopped in a parking lot just before entering the national forest area, where we often stopped to walk around when we lived in Provo. Nathanael immediately began collecting rocks "for Yaya" and he also found a "stick like a gun". Those rocks and stick travelled with us for the remainder of the week, and the rocks even found their way back to SC. Meanwhile, Sam found a super steep slope to climb, and we all went up and then shimmied our way back down.
But the real goal of Tuesday morning's drive was to see Cascade Springs, somewhere we had never been previously. It was a long way out to the springs, and the boys got a bit restless from time to time. They loved hiking around and exploring nature, but being cooped up in the car wasn't their idea of fun. But they were mostly good sports. Paul and I were marvelling about how few people we had seen out driving about, when all of a sudden, a bit off the road in a clearing, we spotted a couple of someones who were definitely enjoying the beautiful morning. And they were enjoying it together on the hood of their car. I only wish I had thought fast enough to take a picture. Cascade Springs was absolutely beautiful. It definitely did not disappoint and was well worth the drive.
After dinner on Tuesday, we hit a much anticipated spot (Stan's Diner) for some "special ice cream". Special ice cream was discovered by my family circa 1999 on a family vacation to Montreal. It's really quite a simple treat, vanilla ice cream in a cone, but it's made extra special because it has a flavored syrup all around the edges. Paul and I rediscovered it at Stan's back in our days out in Provo. Then this year my dad found it once again in downtown Greenville, but it isn't quite as good in SC. Seriously. Special ice cream was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on our trip back to Utah. The boys loved it too. We ate it twice.
Then, since Sam had gotten some free soccer tickets at camp that day, we headed to a men's soccer game. The temperatures were plummeting as a cold front was moving in. Everyone was dressed in coats and had blankets. Everyone except us. It was freezing! And I was miserable. But Sam didn't want to leave!! This was a first for our whole family; none of us had ever been to a real soccer game before. And we did actually have a good time, despite the cold, especially because some rowdy single "kids" (actually, they looked about our age) were sitting in front of us. They kept heckling the players. It was a good time, but I certainly was happy to climb into a warm bed that night.