​When I thought about picking my son up from his freshman year of college, I wasn’t expecting it to be under such circumstances. It started out early in the morning in a trendy Uber from Colorado Springs to the Denver airport. It was cold and snowing. The airport was empty, even though it was the middle of a business day. I was the only person in line in security. There was hardly anyone in the airport. The flight from Denver to Salt Lake had about 20 people on it, so we spread out and had multiple rows to ourselves. Interestingly, the Salt Lake airport had quite a few people in it mulling about. I guess Utah got the memo about the Coronavirus a little after the rest of the West. Even so, it was still pretty vacant. The rental car guy was pretty excited when I showed up as I think I was one of the few people renting a car that day. It was a brand-new minivan, which turned out to be perfect. I left the airport and headed to Rexburg. The weather was warmer than in Colorado, so there was no snow on the roads. I got to Rexburg and Andrew was mostly ready to go. We finished packing a few things, and then loaded up the minivan with all his stuff. We cleaned his apartment and then headed out on the town. We went to Gaitor Jacks, which is a really good sandwich shop by his apartment and then he showed me around BYU-I. It was a lot bigger and nicer than I realized when we were there last time. It was fun to see where he would hang out, study, and chill. It was really sad to see it, though, knowing that he was getting shortchanged on his freshman year experience at college. I think that Andrew’s second semester was really good for him. He found his place, found some friends, and was heading in a good direction. It was sad to see it cut short. After that, we headed back down to Provo. We stopped in Ogden to get some food and made it pretty easily down to Orem. Once there, we unpacked some of his stuff into Sara’s parent’s condo, then went to sleep. It was a long day. On Saturday, we got up, washed clothes, bedding, and went to Costco and then Target to get some bins to pack everything neatly in the basement closet. Andrew got his hair cut (way short) and then we cleaned the condo and decided to head out early toward home, so we didn’t have to drive all day on Sunday. We drove to Grand Junction and got Buffalo Wild Wings, checked into the hotel, and watched movies. It was the prototypical guy road trip. Sunday, we got up early and headed toward home. When we got to Vail, it started snowing like crazy. There were people sliding off the highway and I was sure we were going to get stuck. The rental van had two-wheel drive only and it was struggling and overheating all the way up the pass. When we got to Frisco, there was about 1 foot of snow on the ground and it was snowing heavily. I didn’t think we would make it up the pass to the Eisenhower tunnel, so I refiled the radiator fluid, said a prayer, and we headed out. Turns out, when we got to Dillon, there was no snow and the rest of the drive home was easy. It was a whirlwind trip with Andrew, but a lot of fun. We had no idea that the Coronavirus storm was just starting.

Written by Mike

We got up early and headed up to Grand Targhee Ski Resort to go skiing today. It only took 70 minutes to get there and there was no traffic whatsoever. The drive was also pretty spectacular, and we were in awe seeing the amazing Tetons. When we got there, I walked in and got my rental boots and demo skis and we headed to get our lift tickets. With the military discount they were only $45 a person. What a steal! We grabbed some snacks and water and shoved them into Andrew’s ski pack and headed up the Dreamcatcher lift so that we could head down the runs under the Blackfoot lift. One of the guys at the ski rental place mentioned that there were some great runs over that way. Well, that guy was so wrong. Maybe on a powder day those runs are great, but they were mostly icy when we went down them. We canned skiing on this side of the mountain and headed back over to Dreamcatcher and then skied down the other side of the resort until we made our way over to the Sacajawea lift. This side of the mountain was definitely where the adventure was to be had. There were a few runs that were powderier than others and overall, we had a great time skiing down the Snowdancer run and the Medicine Bowl run. With a little more powder, we would've skied down some of the black tree runs but there just wasn't enough snow for me to feel comfortable doing that, so we skied mostly blue runs. After eating lunch at the bottom, I swapped out my LINE demo skis for some VOLKL skis. I did not like the LINE skis at all. They were much too light for me. I had way more fun skiing after lunch on a better pair of skis. We skied pretty much until the lifts were almost closed. Then it was back in the car for a pretty easy drive back to Rexburg. I dropped Andrew off back at his apartment and then headed back to the hotel to shower and rest. We met up later at Da Pineapple Grill for some pretty tasty Hawaiian food. 

​Mike and I decided last minute that it would be a nice thing for me to fly out and visit Andrew at college for a few days. I flew into SLC and rented an SUV and drove the 3 ½ hours to Rexburg. I got in @ 6:00pm and checked into my hotel. Then I stopped by Andrew’s apartment and picked him up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had shaved but his hair was oh so long. It was probably the longest and most unruly hair I had ever seen on him. I guess he wouldn't be a college student if he weren't a little disheveled. I took him to Idaho Falls so that we could enjoy a nice meal at the Copper Rill. Our dinner was outstanding. We were so full that we didn’t even get dessert which is crazy because we both love dessert. 

After 4 months of planning and preparing, it was finally time to send Andrew off to college.  We spent the last month buying things for his apartment and checking things off our to-do-lists.  We left Wednesday evening after the girls cross country meet and drove 3 hrs to Laramie, WY where we stayed the night. It was a little sad for the kids to say goodbye to Andrew. Madeline was pretty delirious when we got to the hotel.  She had fun jumping up and down on the bed.  It was pretty cute.

​The next morning we got up early and left for our remaining 8 hr drive to Rexburg.  The views before and after Jackson Hole were probably some of the prettiest of the entire trip.  We stopped in Jackson Hole for some much needed lunch.  We ate some pretty amazing burgers at Liberty Burger and then drove the last 1.5 hrs to Rexburg.  We have never done this drive before and I think we were all a little surprised and impressed at how amazing the views of the Grand Tetons were from the drive.  This made Andrew super excited for the upcoming ski season.  ​

We made it to Rexburg by early afternoon and headed straight to the BYU-I campus.  We explored the Manwaring student center first.  This is where the food court, BYU bookstore, ID card center, mail center, small market, and the entrance to the library are.  It definitely had a newer feel than the Wilkonson Center at BYU Provo.  We headed straight to the bookstore and found some fun new shirts to buy.  Madeline found a cute new puppy dog with a BYU-I scarf around its neck. Next we just walked around the campus to see the different buildings and then made our way to Andrew's apartments at Northpoint.  We wanted to make the walk from campus to his apartment so he would be familiar with it.

After that we headed back to the car and saw a different side of campus on the way back.  We also drove past the Rexburg LDS temple.  Wow...what a sight to behold.  It was way bigger than I thought it would be.  These students sure are lucky to have a beautiful temple so close.  We made our way down to Idaho Falls where we would be staying for the night.  We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn and were stunned by the amazing room Mike had requested.  Our balcony looked straight out to the Idaho Falls LDS temple.  It was pretty spectacular.  We dropped off our stuff and went out the back of the hotel through the  patio area and made our way to the Idaho Falls River walk.  It was such a fun trail that followed the river by the temple.  We walked along until we came to a really neat Japanese Garden area.  We played there for awhile and then walked back the same way we came to eat at a really yummy restaurant called the Copper Rill. We started outside on the patio but eventually moved inside because it got a little cold when the sun went down.  It was a long last dinner with Andrew.  We walked back to our hotel and headed to bed.  
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(found this cool aerial view of the campus online)
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(a beautiful photo I found of the Rexburg temple at sunset)
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The next morning we got up pretty early so we could be there shortly after the apartment check in started at 8am.  As I was getting ready I looked outside and saw the most amazing sunrise right behind the temple.  I quickly grabbed my camera and ran outside with my wet hair so I wouldn't miss the beautiful colors in the sky behind the temple.  What a great way to start the day!

With a little bit of construction on the road back up to Rexburg, it still only took us 25 min to get there. There had been notices from BYU-I about the traffic but since we used to crazy traffic up to Denver it was kind of a joke to us that people were making such a big deal about it.  By the time we got there the lines were pretty short for check-in.  Because I had paid for everything before Sept 1 we were able to go into the express check-in lane.  It was definitely a team effort.  Mike dropped Andrew and I off and we got him checked into their Get Connected program where they are put into groups to tour the campus and be with others who are in their major.  Then by the time we made it to his apartment building Mike had already gotten his check-in packet.  Mike drove the car to the 5th floor of the building and we unloaded all of his stuff.  It was pretty great that his apartment building is the one that is connect to the parking garage.  It was kind of a shock when we looked around the apartment to see that the boys who stayed there last semester were kind of slobs.  The rooms were completely empty but there was SO MUCH stuff left in the refrigerators, cupboards, and a few misc items in the living room.  There was food and milk that had expired in July...yuck.  So Mike quickly grabbed some cleaning supplies from the closest grocery store and we went to work cleaning up the place.  Andrew and Mike worked on the kitchen and I worked on wiping down Andrew and Caden's bedroom. Mike and Andrew literally threw everything away...even utensils that had been left.  It all went into the trash.  It definitely took us a bit longer to get Andrew unpacked with the unanticipated cleaning but at least we knew that he would start out in a clean apartment.  As I helped Andrew put his room together Mike continued to clean the first bathroom that Andrew would be using.  A few hrs after we were there Caden and the McDowells showed up as well as one of the other roommates.  

By lunch time all the roommates and their parents had made an appearance at the apartment.  It was great to meet the other parents.  They all seemed really nice and you could tell that their boys were pretty great too.  By 1:30pm Andrew and Caden left to go up on campus to the Get Connected program while we walked to the Manwaring center with the McDowells to eat lunch at the food court.  After that Mike and I headed to Walmart to pick up a few things we forgot, including pillows for Andrew's bed. I can't believe we forgot that.  Then we headed back to the local grocery store to avoid the Walmart craziness to pick up some groceries for Andrew.  Andrew met us back at the apartment at 3:30pm and by 4:00pm we had to say goodbye.  I was pretty sad that I had to leave so soon.  I could have used one more day with him but we needed to get back since Mike had an early flight out of Denver the next morning.  We drove all the way to Loveland and didn't get to our hotel until 2 am.  It was definitely a quick trip to drop Andrew off to college but I am glad that both Mike and I were able to go and be with him.  ​

(these temple photos I actually did take myself...right place at the right time)
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