2020, A LOOK BACK: MARCH

 

Hey, y'all,

Ah, March...when the world went off the rails. 

We'd planned to spend spring break in Salt Lake City because it's a city we hadn't explored and seemed like a convenient place to meet your Florida grandparents. I made all kinds of plans for outings, like a behind the scenes tour of the Natural History Museum with a paleontologist for Hagen, and a penguin encounter at the aquarium for Laney and Peg Peg. We had heard the coronavirus was spreading, but at the time, it seemed like it was mostly affecting the east coast and hadn't yet made its way to Utah. I think the state had ten cases at the time, so we decided to forge ahead with our vacation plan. We were naive and optimistic and thought life would remain normal for one more week. 

And riiiight about the day we arrived, everything shut down. No museums, no indoor aquarium. The only attraction that remained open was the zoo, and I think we were some of the last people to visit before it closed down, too. 

We knew the situation was real when we ran into the local Walmart for a few supplies and saw the paper products aisle:

The good thing about Salt Lake City is there are lots of remote outdoor areas to explore, so we still had a good time going to see the Great Salt Lake and walking around the capitol grounds. 

I think I could do a whole photo series starring my parents called "Dutiful Husband Keeps His Wife's Hair From Moving."

We had a great visit, but by the time the week was over, the case numbers in Florida had exploded and Peg Peg and Tex decided that returning home wouldn't be the safest move. So they followed us back home to Missoula. 

If you liked all the family togetherness of March, boy are you going to love April.

Love,

Mom