Geneachat

I blame the atmosphere in Salt Lake City for the scratchy throat I seem to suffer each time I visit  but perhaps it is because my vocal chords get a good workout while I am here.

Yesterday started with a breakfast date in the hotel with Jan Brandt, a genie from California, whom I  first met at Rootstech in 2012. Jan, a committed genie,  has very strong British roots as well as links to Australia so we had plenty to talk about. The time we spent together just flew - can't believe I missed an opportunity for a selfie. The pancakes I devoured were a nice change from the muesli bars and breakfast drink I usually have in my room.

Fluffy blueberry pancakes - I may treat myself to these again before I depart

As my mouse had died prior to leaving for Salt Lake I wandered up to the Microsoft shop and bought a new blue mouse. I didn't realise that it was a Bluetooth one until I unpacked it. The good news is that by having a bluetooth connection it frees up another USB port on my laptop. I bought a few things at Macy's but was disappointed to find that there wasn't much stock in my favourite fat ladies department.

Afternoon was nap time as my poor old body clock had fought sleep on the previous evening.

Highlight of my day was a dinner at Red Iguana 2, a Mexican restaurant with  some of my genimates. Our wonderful friends Roger and Lisa from Michigan collected Sharn White and I and ferried us to the restaurant. I particularly enjoyed meeting online genimates Ursula Krause and Dave Robison, in person for the first time. I won't bore you with details of our evening - the photos I am sharing below will tell the story. (Apologies for fuzzy photos - I exported them at too low a resolution - I have my L plates on in my new image management program).

Strawberry Daquiri

Red Iguana combination - I don't know what was in it but it tasted good

Dave and Karen Robison

Roger Moffatt and Ursula Krause

DearMYRTLE and Gordon

Roger and Lisa

Sharn, GeniAus and DearMYRTLE

Shades of Pink

Salt Lake City 4 February

The colour pink figured in my day.

I was woken in the wee hours by my very pink, sore, swollen, itchy and weepy eyes. Thankfully my fellow Ambassador Jennie had given me, at dinner last night, some ampoules of soothing liquid that helped relieve the symptoms.

Pink eyes - not a good look

After a few hours I woke again to find my eyes even more pink so I hotfooted it round to the local drugstore where the friendly pharmacist said I needed something more than soothing drops or gel as my eyes looked infected (I had been blaming the dry atmosphere on Qantas). She referred me to Lenscrafters where the receptionist (who loved y Aussie accent and had an Australian Grandfather) squeezed me in to see the eye doctor, Dr Micah, who gave my eyes a thorough examination and confirmed that I had a mild infection. Back to the pharmacy I went where I invested $US97 on a tiny bottle of eye drops. As I had intended visiting the Family History Library my laptop joined me on this journey where I clocked up my 6000 steps well before lunchtime.

The Creek at City Creek Mall

 I took a few pics of the beautiful City Creek Mall as I wandered back and forth but I ditched the idea of the library visit because my eyes just weren't up to looking at screens and fine print. The temperature reached a balmy 54 F in Salt Lake City and I had worn my warmest coat so I returned to the hotel, dispensed with the Arctic gear and laptop and went for lunch at Johnny Rockets (passing through Macys on the way).

My Genimates from Grand Rapids, Roger and Lisa, had asked me if I felt like going for a spin to DearMYRTLE's place to drop off a parcel so, as I wasn't fit for research, I went along for the ride. Pat (aka DearMYRTLE)  and Gordon were very welcoming and we settled in for a chat with them and their houseguest, Martha of Maia's Books.

When Pat invited us to join them for dinner we accepted. We ordered in from a local restaurant (I had ribs) and had a wonderful evening catching up and discussing various issues in genealogy.

Pat kindly issued us with our Rootstech blogger beads and a DearMYRTLE ribbon, in a more attractive shade of pink than the one I started the day with.