Life at a "Swell's" pace

Ogden, Utah 🠊Price, Utah

We got into Price, Utah, about 7:30 p.m. The sun was still up and we were able to see a lot of Price before the sun set. One of the locations I wanted to see right away was the downtown area, but Jeff surprised me with a stop at the actual location of where the hospital is/was (which is now a technical school). It was a great surprise and the same building is still there, just remodeled. It was an incredible feeling of being in the same place my parents were at when I was born. How they carried me through the halls, and walked with me out to their car. How the moment I was standing at the "emergency room entrance," as if I was reliving the moment and watching all three of us leave and go home. This trip changed me and my thinking of all of the moments, struggles, family time, experiences, love, and newness of their lives at that time 46 years before. My dad was 27 and my mom was barely 22. I had Skylar at 26 and Jeff was 31. It was exciting to think that my parents were so young still, but they did the best they could at the time. My sister was one when I was born, so they were young parents with two kids under two. Incredible and I am so happy for them. I stood at that entrance and closed my eyes for a brief moment. I pictured them coming out to get into the car with the help of the hospital staff and imagined my present self telling them, "Congratulations!" "This little girl will be a free spirit, different, kind, empathetic, caring, hard on herself, compassionate, understanding, lost, weird, creative, emotional, silly, and curious."

We came over a small hill to see a Carbon County sign. I was starting to get extremely anxious to see what the town looked like for my first impression. I had it so built up in my head, and my mom always told me that Price, Utah, doesn't have much. She always said it was a small town with not a lot there other than basic things, grocery store, hospital, post office, so to me I pictured a small town and a blip on the map.

We finally saw a highway sign that read "Price," and I started getting emotional. As we came through the small area where a gas station is and a small intersection, a white SUV pulled out and the license plate was a major shock.

My Nana passed away April 2011, and us being in Price, Utah, in April and to see this I felt it was a sign that she was here with us and excited that I finally got to see where my life began. I immediately started taking pictures on my phone and every one of them were blurry and I was crying and couldn't stay still enough to get a good one. Skylar took a lot on the Nokia digital camera and we were able to see it clearer. I sent it to my family in a large group text and everyone couldn't believe it either. What a cool moment for me to have such a moment of reflection seeing this at that very moment. It is definitely something I won't ever forget. ♥

The old hospital building that is now a technical school for Utah State. The building was in good shape and I was glad to see it still being used for something practical. It was a surreal moment standing in front of it.

The street in front and the current signage. The bricks out front looked older, so I did wonder it they were original to when it was a hospital.

Front entrance door and emergency department entrance.

Stairs to the emergency department and drop off area for patients.

I loved how the bus looked under the street lights. I love our bus so much. It carried me all the way to Price, Utah, to see this exact location.🚍♥

Downtown Price, Utah.

Tomorrow will bring a new day to explore Price, Utah, and I can not wait!

Ogden, Utah 🠊Price, Utah

We got into Ogden, Utah, late at night and it was cold. We ended up staying in a truck stop for the night and boondocking it. We planned on spending the day in Price anyway, so it being dark in Ogden wasn't that bad. We left Ogden and drove straight to Price, but when we woke up and it was daylight we had a full view of the snowcapped mountains of Utah. This is the first time I've been back to Utah since I was born. I woke up and looked out and the tears just flowed. I was so happy, excited, and overwhelmed with emotions. Price, Utah, is my birthplace and just to be in the state gave me so much joy.

Our first view in the morning. I want to frame this picture, even though McDonald's is in the foreground, it still says so much in just one shot.

When we left Oregon the temperature was warmer, but being in Utah the temperature dipped a little and it got chilly on the bus. Hardy already wraps up in blankets when we are home, so it was no surprise that he was buried in blankets in the morning when we woke up in Utah.

Jeff checked the tires each time we stopped, and we must have hit a curb, or shoulder of the road along the way. With our tires being fairly new we were kind of bummed. Hopefully, it doesn't cause any issues later, but I think right now we are good.

The snowcapped mountain views are incredible here.

When we were in Heyburn, Idaho, we stopped at a truck stop to get some ice. It was dark outside and definitely a new area for all of us. Skylar stepped off of the last step of the bus to go inside to get the ice and BAM right into a road sign. I doctored it the best we could when it happened, but we looked at it again in Utah and it left his eye with a little bruising. We had a little chuckle about it once we knew it wasn't going to leave his face all black and blue, but at the time he teared up a little. If this is the only accident we have on this trip then we are doing pretty good. ☺

My sister was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, so seeing this sign meant a lot to me to be able to show her. Maybe another road trip to Wyoming will happen in the future.

We stopped at a shopping center to buy a few things we needed to refresh the bus with, and let Skylar park the bus to get some practice in. The mountains just blew us away. Living in Oregon we see our fair share of snowcapped mountains, but it just hits different when you see it in other states. (especially in Utah)

We came into Salt Lake City, Utah, a short time later. The view of the city with the mountains in the background almost seemed fake.

The capitol building was a beautiful view. We used the time we drove through Salt Lake City to eat some lunch and pick up a few things. We definitely needed to stop and clean the bus up and do some sweeping.

I love that Utah is known as the beehive state. I love even more than the state lets that be known on all of their major highway and interstate signs. Being born in Utah and loving bees, now it all makes sense. ☺

As we left the Salt Lake City area the snowy mountains turned into almost a desert-like setting. The transition from snow to dirt was fast. Snowcapped mountains to no snow mountains literally happened in a matter of one mountain.

The sun shining through the bus as I laid down was nice. It was such a beautiful day and to be in my birth state was an incredible feeling. I hope I can keep that momentum going, because I am having the best time. I asked Skylar how he was feeling and he said, "Great!" So we are all having a blast so far.

Sometimes rocks are absolutely amazing.

We made it to Solider Summit 7:00 p.m. The snow at the top of the summit was beautiful. We honestly picked the best time of year to take this road trip and lucky us, the weather cooperated the entire way so far.

We were going to stay the night and looked into spaces open at Scofield State Park. The park is open, but the water and bathrooms were still closed for the season. We would also be on our own out here, because no one else was camping at the time, and the park rangers weren't on site. We decided to keep driving and reach Price, Utah. Price is about 40 minutes (max) from where we were, so it just made sense to continue on.

We pulled over at the scenic byway sign and interpreter signs for the area, and everyone got off the bus, including Hardy, so we could stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The bus is a blast to ride in, but just like a car, breaks are needed from time to time.

Interesting to know about the Wasatch Mountain Range, railroads, and other interesting facts about the landscape in this part of Utah. I love history, so these kind of signs and interpretations are thrilling to find.

The bus looked so pretty in the sunshine in this area.

Hardy had enough of the "excitement" and went back on the bus to lay down. He, and the other animals have been doing so great on this trip. Even the ducks.