The Honeymoon

(Just a small reminder that the point of these posts is to capture memories that I never blogged about the first time around because there was no blog... I don't expect anyone to care about these posts as much as I do!)

We stayed in Utah for our honeymoon. We visited a different hotel or bed and breakfast every night. Jason was in charge of it all, with a few suggestions from me. It was a low key honeymoon, and I loved it for so many reasons.

1. We thought it was all we could afford.

2. We had just finished a busy semester- and my graduation from BYU- and we were both exhausted. And our honeymoon was so relaxing. It was fantastic.

3. It got out of our system to stay in any bed and breakfast for a while. By the end of our honeymoon, we were happy to go home.

So, here are some of the highlights from our first trip as husband and wife.

Wedding night- we left our reception at Pont du Ciel in Provo and headed to an undisclosed location- somewhere in Salt Lake. We only got as far as the nearest gas station, though, because we had to stop and clean out our car. The boys in my family got VERY carried away- our car was completely trashed with oreos, balloons, streamers, saran wrap, corn flakes, and several other unmentionables. We cleaned the car a little bit before heading up to Salt Lake, then we spent the FIRST DAY of our married life at a CAR WASH, using the heavy duty vacuum to suck out all the junk. When we sold that car 4 years later, there were still cornflakes in the trunk... thanks, boys.

Jason wanted to blindfold me so I would be surprised, but I was sure that I would vomit if I had to ride all the way up to Salt Lake without seeing anything. A few blocks before our destination, I put the blindfold on and was thrilled when we pulled up to the Grand America. This was exactly where I had hoped we would go. The Grand America played a roll in our engagement day (I probably should have told that story first, but don't worry, this was the first time we got a room there). The hotel was gorgeous, we had a great view, and we finally got to eat some of the food from our reception.


After enjoying the Mother's Day brunch at the hotel, we spent the next day cleaning out our car and then we had a picnic in a park. That's when I got the food poisoning...


The second night we spent at The Anniversary Inn, in the Swiss Family Robinson room. The bed was up in a tree and there was a huge fish tank and a waterfall in the room. I wish we would have gone back to this hotel- it was really fun. Our room package came with dinner at The Melting Pot, an incredible restaurant that I hardly got to enjoy because I was starting to feel really sick. That was day number one of Really Getting To Know Your New Spouse.


The next day we drove up to Idaho. I should mention here that Jason worked at the MTC at the time and had asked his missionaries if any of them had good ideas on a local day trip that he could plan for our honeymoon (honeymoon ideas? from missionaries? that should have been his first clue). One elder suggested Lava Hot Springs, Idaho- the same place my family used to head in a borrowed RV for family reunions...

But this part of our honeymoon was a complete surprise, and I was indeed surprised when we stopped in Lava Hot Springs- it was snowing and the "world famous" diving pools were closed. It's a seasonal town, and we were there off season. The hotel, which was supposed to be the best in the area, was rather run down and completely deserted. We had our pick of the rooms, and we did the best we could.

I can't stop laughing as I write about this part of our honeymoon- see what's behind me in that picture? The bedroom had a toilet CORNER- there was no bathROOM! Yeah, that was day number two of Really Getting To Know Your New Spouse.

We stayed there for two nights, much to Jason's dismay. The first night we drove into the nearest big city- Pocatello!- and had dinner at Red Lobster.

We spent the second day we spent wandering in and out of the few shops that were open off-season, including one new age shop where the shopkeeper led us into a secret back room that was full of things that were "perfect for newlyweds". We were mortified and ran out of there. We ordered a pizza, bought some ice cream, and rented a few VHS movies to watch on the VCR in our room. We went to the hot pools (side note- did you know that Jason HATES hot tubs? He's afraid he's being slowly cooked to death) and had breakfast made-to-order in the basement of the hotel both mornings.

The whole thing was hilarious. Jason was so embarrassed that he had picked such a shoddy destination, but looking back, it was a highlight of our honeymoon. And we have since returned to Lava Hot Springs- in the summer time- and had a blast floating the river and swimming in the pools.


The next night we headed back down to Utah, and spent the night at this castle! Our room was huge, with a pool table, fireplace, and hot tub.


I remember at breakfast the next morning there was a couple who had spent their wedding night there. Married for 5 days now, Jason and I were feeling quite mature and seasoned compared to those really newlyweds.

We spent that afternoon at the Gateway- window shopping, watching a horribly dumb movie, and eating out. That day was probably the low point of our honeymoon- we were close to home again and getting anxious to get on with life (I don't really know why- probably because we were excited to open wedding presents!). But we had one more night planned in Park City.


That night we stayed at an old school house that had been turned into a bed and breakfast. That was my first time sleeping on a feather bed- amazing! That night we lit a cozy fire and watched Frasier for the first time (from that night, I grew to really love that show!). Later that night we were awakened by a scritching sound on the gabled roof- and I swear there was a raccoon trying to claw it's way into our room. Jason banged on the ceiling and eventually chased it away.


The next day we wandered around Park City for the morning, took a few candid pictures, and then decided we were ready to head back to Provo and start our married life!

Phew! What a great trip down memory lane- and I can't believe that there are already some blank spots in my memory of our honeymoon. Funny how things that you think you'll remember forever can start to slip away after just a few years.