Conference Trip

During this past weekend I participated with my ward's youth group on a 3-day to drive to Utah to watch General Conference at Temple Square. We drove there Friday, watched conference on Saturday and Sunday morning, and returned to Concord late Sunday.

Every few years or so my ward plans a trip like this, where most youth who go have never had the opportunity to see temple square or be in the conference center. This fast Utah trip sounded crazy to me at first, but turned out to be a very enjoyable and unique trip. With about 30 adults and youth in our group, we set out from Concord just before 8 am on Friday in five vehicles. I was the only extra driver without his own vehicle, so I started helping Mike VanSavoye drive his van, and then later joining Joseph Berry's vehicle (with Solomon and Josh riding) to help with driving. The actual driving time on the road was about 10 hours, and test stops and meals brought us to the Salt Lake area around 9 pm. We made four main stops at Reno, Winnemucca (for sandwich lunches), Elko, and Bountiful (to eat at a fantastic pizza buffet - The Pizza Pie Cafe). Solomon and Josh really wanted Joseph and I to take Joseph's van out on the salt flats as we came within a couple hours of Salt Lake City, and we eventually appeased them by stopping and letting them walk out onto them, though they were too wet to drive on.

For our overnight accommodations, the young women stayed at a relative's of Sister Adams in South Jordan, while the young men stayed in the basement of a really nice house of some family of Bishop Burr's in Layton, which happens to be only 12 minutes from where Terryl lives in Syracuse.

On Saturday we had enough conference tickets to get the women of our group into the conference center for the Saturday morning session, and us men and boys went to the visitor center to watch from the theater in there. Fortunately we all were able to get into the conference center for the afternoon session. I figure it has been about 12 years since I have set foot into the conference center. And after eating at the food court at the new church owned City Creek plaza area next to Temple Square (and getting hit by a freak hail storm), all of the men and young men from our group got into the conference center for the Priesthood session. I felt it was a neat and unique experience for the youth to be in the same room as the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities and see in person the conference environment they usually only see broadcasted or streamed to a screen.

After stopping to get some gelato and then returning to the houses we were staying at, I had the treat to be able to go and spend the night at Terryl's house, since I was so close. It was neat to be able to see Terryl and Stefanie's new house, see first hand the Arduino electrical circuit projects Terryl has recently gotten into, and spend time with them and Caleb and Maddie (and their dog, Ruby) the next morning. Caleb and Maddie were a sheer joy to play with and be around, including getting a personal performance by Maddie singing 'Let It Go' from the movie Frozen. Instead of going with my group down to the conference center to watch the Sunday morning session, I got to watch it with Terryl's family and then afterwards Terryl drove me down to the Temple Square to meet up with my group.

We made a stop at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City to eat sandwiches for lunch and pack some for dinner before heading back to California.  At the park there were a couple of bums near our picnic area,  and considering the abundance of food we had, I didn't feel much like eating until I took sandwiches over to share with the hungry on-lookers and chat with them a little.

The rest of the trip home was pleasant, if uneventful, but our post lunch departure time from Utah unfortunately got us back to Concord pretty late… just before midnight before all of the youth were taken home.  As on Friday during the trip out to Utah, I appreciated the time on the return trip to ride first in Joseph's van and visit with him and the included youth (Josh and Solomon again, plus additions Lily and April), and then later in Mike's van to help drive so he could  be dropped off in Sacramento that night for CHP (California Highway Patrol) training he had the following morning.

Although it was kind of a whirlwind weekend of long drives and constant crowded pedestrian traffic, I appreciate the memories of seeing conference from a different perspective and spending time with friends from the ward in a unique way.  And having spent time with Terryl and his family was that extra and unexpected treat that was the icing to a memorable weekend.