As Flat as a Pancake

Burnett's Mound is just that....a mound. But it is the highest point in all of Topeka, Kansas. And I admit, you could see for miles, even if the thing you could see was just more flatness. David and I have been back from our trip there for a couple of weeks now, but I figured it wasn't too late to post something about it. The entire time we were there, we played a little game called "Total home-state domination" where we compared and contrasted the lovely features of Kansas and Utah, respectively. I think the consenses at the end was that Utah was, in deed, cooler all around, but I thoroughly enjoyed my short stay in Kansas none the less. We left the morning of Thursday, March 6th, and came back to Salt Lake City four days later, Sunday night. The highlight and main purpose of the trip was to go to the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska. It was David's first time to go to the temple, and he wanted to go with his Father who lives in Topeka (about 3 hours from Omaha). Despite having a high temperature of 9 degrees that day (no wonder the saints didn't survive the winter) the temple trip was wonderful. It was so great to see David all cleaned up, literally and figuratively, and dressed in his white temple clothes. The experience for him was good, I think, and we enjoyed talking about lots of cool stuff in the celestial room afterwards with his dad, brother, and stepmom. In fact, we spent much of the entire weekend talking about neat temple stuff. I learned a lot, even though I've been going now for years. Aside from the temple excursion, David and I spent much of the time visiting his old stomping grounds where he grew up. We went to the house he was raised in and treked through the "woods" where he and his brothers would spend their days building forts and caves. David also showed me his elementary and high schools, and many of his old friends' homes. I really enjoyed getting the visual image of many of these places he's told me a lot about. I felt like I learned more about who he is and where he came from. And of course, there were the burned-out warehouses to explore. :) David has an obsession with the old, run-down, decrepid, abandoned, mysterious, and creepy. Perhaps that is why he likes me. It became a joke to us that he took me all the way to his home town and spent most of his time taking me to condemed and haunted buildings, including the old insane assylum where over 1200 patients are buried in unmarked graves surrounding the buildings. It was, admittedly, cool. And very creepy. I mostly enjoyed seeing David's face light up. Take him to a burned-out warehouse, and he is like a kid in a candy store. Too bad they can't capture the scent of that and put it into a perfume.
During our trip, we also visited some of his old friends. We went to lunch with some women he worked with in Topeka, and spent an evening with one of his best friends, his wife, and their son. I've heard so much about these people and it was great to put a face with a name. I felt a little under the microscope, but I think most of his friends approved of me. :) I know his Dad did. He called me his "daughter-in-law" at one point, which was funny. He even gave me a foot massage with scented lotion at one point (freaky, yet endearing) and David told me that was old-hat for him and meant he must think of me as one of his kids because he's always doing that sort of thing for them. Good to know. My own father wouldn't do that sort of thing in a million years. So, in short, it was nice to see where David gets his affection.

The vacation was just what I needed, and it was wonderful how David insisted on taking such good care of me. He wouldn't let me pay for anything, including the plane tickets. I'm really glad I got to go with him!