Three Square Meals

I have a confession to make. We ate kolaches for breakfast again. And lunch. And dinner. Yes, they were that good. And no, this is not normal for me. I don’t usually eat dessert three times a day. Or even three times a week. In general, I have a fairly healthy diet. But when I go on vacation, I have a tendency to make allowances. I mean, eating the local cuisine is part of experiencing a new locale and when I travel, I like to partake a bit more freely than I might at home. So yes. Kolaches three times today. But at least the ones we ate for breakfast had eggs, sausage, and ham so they were more than just empty carbs. 😜 (And FYI-because of how they are baked, kolaches from Pearl Snap are square.)

One of the reasons we scheduled our trip for this week is that the Fort Worth area is in the path of totality for today’s total solar eclipse. Based on their experience when Kevin took our boys to Wyoming to see the last total solar eclipse, we opted to just hunker down at the hotel and watch the eclipse from here. Many other guests did the same, so we were definitely in good company. Nathan’s need for some good Texas BBQ was not fulfilled by our dinner on Saturday evening, so we picked up some BBQ for lunch and brought it back to enjoy at the hotel while we watched the first part of the eclipse. There was even a small serving of green beans included with our order, so I had a few veggies. I’m not sure they were the healthiest veggies I’ve ever had as they were cooked with bacon, but they were tasty!

When all my men folk went to see the last eclipse, Malia and I stayed home. The big reason for that was the fact that it was August and since getting overheated is one of my migraine triggers, I knew that being outside all day in the middle of nowhere was going to be a miserable experience. I did check Malia out of school so we could watch the eclipse from here, but there is a big difference between 90% and totality where a solar eclipse is concerned. My boys came home with some amazing tales and spectacular pictures, but honestly, having seen a full solar eclipse with my own eyes, pictures can never do it justice. We were afraid that the weather would not cooperate today, but we lucked out and it was clear up until about a minute into totality when a cloud drifted over. So, while we didn’t get to see the full 3 ½ minutes of totality, we were lucky enough to experience some of it! And it was pretty darn cool!

I know there are plenty of people who think that the world and the universe are just one big fluke, a random event that just happened to end with people walking the earth, but I can’t believe that. For instance, the moon is the exact right size and the exact right distance from the sun so that a total eclipse is possible. If the size of the moon or the distance between the moon and the sun were even just a tiny bit different, it would be an impossibility. And I just can’t see things like that happening as a result of the big bang. As the Alma taught, “All things denote there is a God.” (Alma 30:44) And major celestial events like this are yet another reminder of the mindful creation that put us where we are. 

This afternoon we just hung out at the hotel. It was basically the relaxation portion of this vacation. I watched part of a movie, took a nap, and read for a while before we ate dinner. And guess what I had for dinner? BBQ? No! Potato salad? No! Kolaches? No! (Well, yes, but after my main course. 😉) A nice big salad? YES! And it was delightful. There is a Panera Bread in the parking lot of the hotel and that was our dinner stop. It made me soooooo happy! 

To wrap it all up, Nathan’s dream came true today. He worked on homework while we waited for the eclipse, so he did in fact do math in Texas. 😂

Not Our Normal Routine

Sometimes Sundays on vacation are different than Sundays at home. With so few days here in Texas, we did end up with several not normal Sunday type activities on our agenda. The first was a trip to Pearl Snap Kolaches for breakfast. Kolaches are kind of a Texas mainstay. I’ve read about how and why this traditional Czechoslovakian pastry ended up being so quintessentially Texan, but I’m not going to take time to explain that here. (If you must know, ask Google. That’s what I did.) What I will say is that Pearl Snap is one of the most popular kolache spots in the Fort Worth area and while it was within his area while he served there, Nathan never got to sample the goods because the odd hours of the bakery didn’t match up with missionary hours. As such, actually giving him a chance to visit Pearl Snap seemed like a necessity. And honestly, I really wanted to go as well. We are experiencing Texas after all and can’t go home without eating some kolaches!

We arrived just before 9:00, several hours after the kolache shop opened, and we were all glad we hadn’t arrived any later because they were already almost sold out. There were only a couple of sausage kolaches left (the ones that Nathan first sampled on the mission) and only one ham and egg one. We added in an assortment of fruit filled pastries and made our way to the Fort Worth botanical gardens to enjoy our breakfast in the great out of doors. We divided everything so we could try all the flavors and I think my favorites were the ham and egg and the pecan kolaches. I’m already thinking about finding a recipe when we get home so I can experience these delights again. And so Matthew and Malia can try them. 

After our less than healthy breakfast (honestly, we aren’t usually pastries for breakfast kind of folks, but rules get broken when we are on vacation), we wandered the botanical gardens for a few hours. There was a visiting live butterfly exhibit and we opted to do that before heading into the garden proper. I think the last time we visited a butterfly enclosure like this was on our Seattle trip many moons ago, and it is one of those things that never seems to get old for me. There were some stunning butterflies featured and one of the biggest moths I have ever seen in my life. The thing was seriously the size of a bird!

The remainder of the gardens were absolutely beautiful, although it is a bit early in the spring for some of them to be at their best. The Japanese garden was lovely, and Kevin said it is spot on for traditional Japanese. There was a pond and what we thought was a statue of a crane…until it moved. So real cranes in the Japanese garden! The weather was perfectly clear and not too hot. We only started to get a bit too warm as we were headed out of the gardens and since we are in Texas, I feel like we lucked out there!

From the botanical gardens, we headed to have lunch with some extended family. By way of reminder, Nathan and Todd ran into each other while Nathan was on his mission. They were both at a fireside about family history and at the end when everyone pulled out their phones to use the “family near me” feature of the Family Tree app, they ended up getting the notice that a very close family member was in the vicinity. Todd ended up supporting Nathan in multiple ways while Nathan was in Texas for which I’m so grateful. And it kind of put us back in touch with some extended family which has been nice. Scott, one of Todd's brothers, married one of my best friends and roommates from my last year of college. We don’t see them much since they live in Texas and we live in Utah, so it was nice to be able to stop in and chat for a bit. And one of the highlights of the afternoon? There were veggies at lunch time!! I’m so happy about that! I’ve been seriously missing the produce portion of my diet. 😉

Our last stop of the day was at the mission home. Although Nathan only served for six months, he has two mission presidents. In fact, Nathan was the very first missionary the second mission president interviewed when he arrived in the mission. And this young elder who was struggling health wise was one of the first issues he was faced with. Nathan has seen his first mission president since arriving home, but this was his first opportunity to visit with the second one since being released from his mission. We joined the president and his family for dinner (again, no veggies!), and Kevin and I pretty much sat back and listened while Nathan and the mission president chatted. It was a lovely, low key, gospel focused end for our sabbath. 

The only really weird thing about this weekend was the fact that General Conference is this weekend and while I usually listen to all of it while it is happening, we pretty much missed it all with all the visits we have been doing. It isn’t broadcast on local radio like it is at home, so even though we were in the car a ton and had loads of time to listen, we did not have a way to do so. I feel kind of sad about that, although I know that with the amazing technology we have nowadays I will be able to listen to all of it any time I want. In fact, yesterday’s sessions are already available in the Gospel Library app, so we started listening to those this morning as we prepped for the day. Having said that, all our visits have been wonderful!