It's Christmas Time in the City

We had to take a trip to the city earlier this week for an appointment, so since we had enough points saved up to get us a free motel room for the night we decided we decided to make it a twofer and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere at the same time.  We started off by visiting the City Creek Center which has been there quite a while now, and yet, we have never visited it before.  It covers about four city blocks and is full of various shops, restaurants, a large food court, condominiums and the like.  We live in a desert, but here in the mall, water is everywhere, in fountains, water falls and even a bit of the original City Creek which runs through the building.

 

Our favorite fountain was this rather nondescript looking round one, mostly because every so often it totally changed character and started shooting streams of water and bouncing in time to the musicl

 

The bouncing fountain in action!

 

Here is a bit of City Creek running through the middle of the mall.

Still shot of the 'bouncing' fountain.

 We decided on Greek food for lunch and ate it near the play area of the food court which was full of dinosaurs and children playing on, under, around and over the dinosaurs.  They all seemed to be having a good time.

The woodworker's preferred buffet would have been here, but it was a little pricey!

Just so you know this was a high class place, in addition to getting your child's picture taken with Santa, you can see they have also set aside times for pet pictures as well.




....and should you ever need a taxi for your pet, this is the place for you!

 After exploring for several hours, we checked into our motel and then headed back to town just as the sun was setting.  We arrived at our destination just before 5 PM and it all looked fairly bleak and wintery, but just as it turned to 5PM, all the lights came on at once!  It looked like a fairy land.

On one wide lawn there was a nativity scene displayed.  Here are the wise men arriving on their camels.

Here is the stable...

....and the shepherds abiding .....

Under the eaves of the domed building (seen behind the stable)  a warning is displayed.  It only makes sense that snow and ice would not stay securely on a slick, domed roof.

When we went inside the nearby visitor's center to warm up, we found some intriguing chairs...well, intriguing to woodworkers....

The main part of this white nativity is situated on a reflecting pool, so surrounded by lights floating on the water.  Nearby were the shepherds and animals.

As we were leaving, we noticed this electrical box with multiple fat cables emerging from it.  I guess it would take something like that to keep all those lights going.

It was a perfect night for viewing the sights...just a few inches of snow to make everything sparkle, yet clear roads and sidewalks for safe and easy walking and driving.


I wish I could say the same for the next morning.  We had a 10 AM appt. about 30 miles to the north of our motel.  The weather report said that we had an unusual event for our area....freezing rain....followed by snow, so we decided to give ourselves plenty of time and left at 8:30 AM.  First we had to clean off the car, which was encased in a layer of ice, topped off by snow.

After a mere 2 1/2 hours we finally arrived at our destination!  The freeway more closely resembled a parking lot.  South of us part of the freeway had to be closed because some power poles had caught on fire and then spilled their live wires onto the road.  Fortunately, by the time we finished at the VA, the layer of ice under the snow had turned to slush, so we were able to make our way back home, where we found 8-10 inches of fresh snow...and thanks to good neighbors....a freshly plowed driveway!