Saturday, November 22, 2008

My best trip to Costco ever!

    
I've been meaning to do a part 2 update on my trip to Utah but Wilma already did a great job.   Check it out at her site.

There is one other story I have to tell.  Its about a very memorable trip to Costco.

But first I have to set the stage.   First we go back to the Summer of 2003.   We took a family vacation to Utah.  We went to Park City and Moab.

We stayed at the Marriot Mountainside.  This is a picture in the winter.  Its right by the ski hill.  But in the summer this place was dirt cheap.  We had a 3 room suite that slept 8.


I cooked breakfast one morning.
   
We did several hikes in Moab.
   
This picture needs some explanation.   I was setting the time on the camera and was going to run up to join the family.   But the incline was a bit too steep and when I tried to run up I didn't make it and my momentum threw me back down by the camera.   I ended up face planted in the sand - only a few feet from a small cliff.   It was a very precarious situation.   You can see the concern on the faces of each of my loving family members.
  
We found a deal in Moab on a 3 bedroom condo.  In the closet were some games and puzzles.  As a family we like to do puzzles during the Christmas holidays and other family occasions.   In the evenings we worked on one of these puzzles.
   
It was a puzzle of the old city of Nauvoo.  I really liked the artist's style.   His name was Eric Dowdle.
      
Now fast forward to November 11, 2008
     
I was in Salt Lake City but drove down to Provo to get Alana to bring her back to visit at Wilma and Daves.
I left early in the morning and went to the Provo Temple.
    
After I picked up Alana we stopped at Costco in Orem to grab some lunch.  We decided to look around. There was an artist there who was doing a book signing.  It turned out to be none other than Eric Dowdle.   Since I liked his work  I went up to talk to him.  We chatted for quite a while.   He has quite the sense of humor and Alana figures that he is the funniest person she has ever met. 
    
We ended up buying some puzzles to do if we have free time in Hawaii during the evenings.  He even signed them for us.  
    
Here I am with Eric.   You can find out more about Eric and check out his work at his site .
    
He said these puzzles should take about an hour and a half.  We did one in about 35 minutes but as you can see we had lots of help.   Both Chay and Blade miraculously found the last 2 pieces that seemed to be missing.   I think they found them in their hands.
   
At Costco I also got some shorts for my trip at a very discounted price.  
    
Best trip to Costco ever.