The virtues of spontaneous travel

Just got back from a 2 day quick trip to northern Utah where my son, Mike Jr. is finishing up his undergraduate degrees and headed off to graduate school (same state, just further north).

It was an unusual experience for me in that I usually plan trips down to the last detail and follow the plan...This time, I just got up Wednesday morning and said, "I've got 2 days off...I'm going to see Mike Jr.", so I threw a couple of shirts, a few socks (not necessarily matching) and a case of Pepsi in the car, called Mike to tell him I was coming and headed north.

Things were smooth through the Denver Metro area, but WOW, was there a lot of construction from just north of Denver almost to Wyoming...and most of I-80 westbound seemed to be under construction too. Still, I covered 638 miles in 9 hours, and the restaurants were still open.

There are many things I don't miss about Utah...the heat in the summer, the humidity, the winters, but I DO miss some of the restaurants, and some of my favorites are still here.

I picked up my son, and we immediate headed for Kim Long's in Layton. It's Vietnamese quisine and outstanding. We both ended up with dishes featuring peanuts, so after the entree was gone, we ended up in a "who can pick up the smallest particle with chopsticks?" competition. Mike Jr. spent two years in Hong Kong, and, needless to say, he smoked me.

I found a nice hotel near the restaurant, and the phrase "considering that I'm not going to pay what you're asking, what's your next best offer?" served me quite well, and it was off to dreams of more restaurants.

Next day (with the combination of heat and humidity making me feel as though I were in Africa), it was off to complete some essentials that needed to be out of the way before he heads off to grad school...tires rotated, oil level checked, determining an alternative to holding on the front bumper with duct tape...you know, the usual.

All tasks completed, it was off to favorite eatery#2, El Matador in Ogden. I've been going to el Matador for at least 35 years that I can document, and it's been uniformly outstanding. This time was no exception.

Got Mike Jr. back in time for a 1:30 class, and hit the road back to Colorado at 1 PM.

Going eastward, there was much less construction in Wyoming, and northern Colorado was smooth, but the Denver Metro area....Holy Smoke! I hit downtown just as Invesco field at mile high disgorged approximately 13,000 fans who had been watching a Bronco's practice onto part of the freeway narrowed down to minimal lanes by construction, and from there to Baptist Road in northern Colorado Springs, well..let's just say it was fortunate that I had a good book on CD, I didn't walk through the front door until nearly 2 hours later.

Lessons learned:
1) Spontaneous travel can be wonderful, if you choose the right company and destination.
2) Your favorite restaurants are probably still just as good as you remember them.
3) Never pay the first rate quoted by any hotel on the planet
4) A Porsche is far superior to any Korean or Japanese rental car for long road trips (I arrived home feeling tired but not crippled).
5) Sometimes, your children can make you VERY proud to be a parent. (Hope he remembers me when he gets his Nobel prize!)