Adventures of the Andresens

We made it to Denver!
However, first we had a night in Salt Lake City, which is the capital of Utah as well as being the  headquarters to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On our way there, we decided to make a small stop, as a (what looked like high) man had recommended a ‘bar with live music where you could go swimming’ close by. Turns out we were driving through an expensive small ski sports area, and the bar wasn’t just a small bar, but a restaurant filled with lots of people right by a beautiful lake with a great band singing cheerful songs that made even the old ladies sang along to and waved their hands over the heads with their cocktails spilling all over 🙂
The food was fine, however it was the lake that attracted my dad because of the boats – just like always.
So, we rented a boat and a tube. Dad was, of course, delighted as soon as we were in the boat. Mette and I were neutral. Thomas was begging to steer the boat and Mum was in the back not wanting to get anything wet (including herself!)

It was a lot of fun – and the best part was that it was freshwater, so it wasn’t a problem continuing our journey towards Salt Lake City straight after.
The trip wasn’t too bad at all, despite ‘being trapped’ within a car for 7 hours or so. Especially Thomas made it bearable and I do believe the picture of him below speaks for it self……

As we were driving through Salt Lake City looking for our hotel, we saw at least a dozen of churches, and numerous statues/monuments dedicated to Jesus Christ. It was most certainly surreal and something we would never see in Denmark!

When we got to the hotel, we were all in awe. None of us have been to such an amazing hotel before. I literally felt like I was Empress Elisabeth of Austria  strolling down the corridors and getting lost within our own rooms.

It was so breathtaking… now who would have thought such extravagance would appear in such a holy city where minimalism is believed to be the right way to heaven!
Unfortunately we only stayed there for one night, because then we were on our way to a ranch in the middle of the desert. More correctly “Moab”.
However, before that we made a small visit to the shopping mall, where I bought this gorgeous necklace/watch.

.. and yes, you’ve seen the rose necklace before, but they got completely entangled and I gave up untangling them before taking a quick photo so ignore that one 🙂
I also bought a few presents, cough cough, which I of course wont show here in case the receivers read this… 😉
After that we drove to the next hotel (Actuallly I drove 😀 picture proof:
)
towards this stunning place:

Which is where we stayed. However, it was a tad overrated and I can’t put a finger on anything, it just wasn’t what we had expected…

Before we arrived we agreed to get some dinner at what seemed like a nice steakhouse. We went in and all agreed on getting somewhat the same, which included a soup, a salad and a steak in that order. As I was getting through the salad, I was already full and I asked a rheotorical question; “How I was going to fit all of this!” … My dad who had not quite gotten the point of my comment, looked up with a puzzled look and answered “don’t worry you’ll get another plate??’ ….
Now believe me, I have never seen that big amount of french fries served in a restaurant before… The picture on the right is actually my plate AFTER I was done eating. A sad waste but by that point I was on the verge of almost vomiting.

We arrived at the hotel and got checked it. The next day we went… HORSE BACK RIDING. Finally!
The horses were so well groomed and good taken care of, I had no queries what so ever.
We all got wonderful horses – even my dad seemed to like his horse, despite it not wanting to move forward when no one else were moving.

My horse was absolutely adorable though. There was a lot of thinking behind every step, and often he would stop just to weigh his opportunities when it was very steep. He would literally stop, move his hoof, then pull it back to switch to the other leg. He was very thoughtful, however also on the verge of being a tad cheeky as he would walk into the big bushes so to get a good belly scratch. I have ridden throughout most of my childhood, but there was absolutely nothing I could do when he put his mind to that. All I could do was loose the reins and wait for him to be done while being thrown around in the saddle as he moved to get ‘just the right spot’.
So yes… I fell a little bit in love with Thunder (his name) and he only reminded and reinforced me of how much I miss being back in the saddle….

Thomas also got just the right horse for him. The guides said that “Butch” liked to save his energy and walk where he could see ahead of him. Thus meaning that his horse would spend every possible time to take small naps and would therefore often fall behind… Which is just what Thomas does as well 😉
Here I caught Butch in one of his ‘saving energy moments’.

.. and now.. who can honestly say that horses don’t have personalities? I love these creatures. 

Immediately after the ride we went on towards our mission to Denver and arrived here after about 8 hours.
I do apologize for any spelling mistakes, it’s terrible late now and it’s Mette’s birthday tomorrow… which is actually today.. so I better head for bed as I’m completely exhausted.

Missing many people!

Anna xx