The primary impetus behind my visit to Utah was to meet up with two Linksters I've known for a long time but never met before. Yesterday, I met one for lunch and wound up spending most of the day with her.
My first challenge, of course, was finding my way to Huntsman Point. Absent any intelligent signage, I had to rely on the link Sandra had sent me for a map at MapQuest. That got me in the neighborhood, but I still had to find the actual building. Fortunately, I've never been timid about stopping and asking for directions. (Yeah, I know... I cheated. It's against the Guy Code. Sue me.)
The second challenge was finding a parking spot. I think they should have given me a discount for the time I spent circling around in the parking garage, looking for a visitor's spot. I finally parked in a patient spot and went in. I had already told Sandra what I would be wearing, so she'd recognize me. But I knew I didn't need to ask what she'd be wearing; I'd recognize that smile anywhere. And I was right.
Anyway, we had a great lunch and got a lot better acquainted. I'm still looking forward to the pics from her recent trip to China. It sounded like it was a great time. After lunch, we went to a museum over on West Temple Street and toured the exhibit there. I've always been intrigued by the technology of the early 19th Century. They even had a sap bucket like was used in Vermont at the time, and a diagram of how to put it together. We even managed to follow the diagram and get the thing looking like an actual sap bucket. And the docent told us that very few people are able to do that. Quite a feather in our cap.
By the time we got done, I calculated that I just enough time to get back to the Jahnmobile and fight my way thru traffic to get to the south side of town, where I was to meet two other Linksters for dinner. I didn't really want to end the time with Sandra, so I invited her along and she accepted. So, we braved the I-15 traffic all the way down to our exit, which was backed up almost a quarter of a mile. I almost missed it, 'cause I couldn't believe that the end of the line was actually the end of the line. By the time I saw my mistake, I was almost at the actual exit (Sandra -- who had been following me --had been smart enough to get in line at the proper place. I managed to squeeze into line and sat there wondering how she'd catch up to me. Not to worry, she had pulled out of line and come up next to me, so I let her in front of me. It seemed to take longer to make in off the exit and thru the intersection than to drive all the way down there.
All that notwithstanding, we made it to the restaurant with 15 minutes to spare. But guess who was late? By a half-hour yet! But, we had a great time, even bragging abuot being able to put the sap bucket together. (Maybe I need to change my LinkUp profile to put "Sap Bucket Assembler" under "Occupation"?) The people at the restaurant were very tolerant of us sitting there for so long, but at last we did have to leave. I came back and crashed in front of the TV -- exhausted, but happy. Fun times.
The thing about technology is that it's enabled us to come into contact with people all over the world. But only personal contact allows us to get closer. And that's what really counts in life. As the Master said:
No machine will ever be greater than a man. Unless the man chooses to be less than a machine."Now I have to hope that Deb can make it up here, or I can make it down to Phoenix.
I wonder how she is at assembling sap buckets?
