The Trip To The Lake That Wasn't

When I was growing up my parents frequently took us on day trips. One of the places we went (many times) was Pineview reservoir. I'll always remember the first day of school my junior year. When dad got home from work, our family piled into the station wagon and headed up Ogden Canyon to enjoy dinner and family night at Pineview. We had only driven part of the way up the canyon, when the car broke down. Fortunately, it happened at a very large pull-out right across the road from what is now the Alaskan Inn. In 1974 it was an old, closed down business, but luckily for us there was still a working pay phone, so my dad went to call a friend for help. In the meantime, my mom got busy cooking our dinner on the side of the road. She got out the bar-b-que, started the charcoal, and cooked hamburgers. Now the highway in Ogden Canyon was a very busy road (lots of other people were having success at getting to the lake). There we were, with our beach chairs out, mom cooking hamburgers, the 8mm movie camera recording the entire event, and the people driving by were shouting out of their windows, "hold the pickles!!" I.WAS.MORTIFIED. I was only sixteen after all, how else would you expect me to feel!?! But as I have "matured" I've looked back on that experience with fondness and laughter. A family in our ward (the Hess's) rescued us. My parents and youngest siblings rode in the station wagon as it was being towed by Brother Hess. All of the older children (including the Hess kids) rode in the back of the pick-up IN.THE.DARK all the way home from Ogden canyon. We had the time of our lives. I'm sure had we arrived at the lake we would have had a great time, but it would have been just another day at the lake... but I will never, ever forget "the trip to the lake that wasn't".

Last week we had a fun trip with our family at Pineview. Jeremy recently purchased some fun new "toys" and we all got to enjoy them. Andy cooked us hamburgers for dinner, the grandchildren played in the water and the sand. It brought back a lot of memories and we made some new ones. Coincidentally we had a little "car" problem this time as well. A tow rope got stuck in the propeller of one of the jet skis while Mike, Jeremy and Jeff were on the lake. But there were rescuers there that night as well, who kindly towed them back to the dock.