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.
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.