In October Kaylee had a four day weekend so Grandma Gadd took advantage of this break and planned a college trip for Kaylee to visit a few schools in Utah. The plan was for Kaylee to tour the three schools she chose with Grandma and Grandpa but unfortunately Grandma wasn't feeling well enough to travel. I ended up taking her place and Kaylee and I flew to Utah on a dark and stormy night where we met Grandpa at the Salt Lake airport. We drove straight to Logan, Utah to make sure we were there in time for Kaylee's tour of Utah State University the next day.
On our way to USU we took a detour to stop by the Logan temple and we drove through part of Logan Canyon where we enjoyed the beautiful fall colors. Once we made our way to the college we spent the rest of the day touring. We all really liked the campus and the city of Logan. Kaylee is planning on studying either Physics and Astronomy or Mechanical Engineering with an Aerospace emphasis (it's probably going to be Physics and Astronomy) if she attends USU.
Late that afternoon we started our journey towards Rexburg, Idaho for Kaylee's tour of BYU-Idaho which was scheduled the next day. We drove through a CRAZY storm. Visibility was pretty low, so it took us longer to get to Rexburg than it otherwise would have. But, we made it and Kaylee enjoyed watching the lightning in the mountains while we drove through the storm.
Before Kaylee's BYU-I tour we moseyed around Rexburg for awhile. Grandpa took Kaylee shopping at a fun little boutique on Grandma's orders, and she found a cute top. Once it was time for her tour, we headed to campus. The campus is really pretty and has an awesome garden area. If Kaylee decides on BYU-I she'll study Astronomy. We'll see though. She liked the campus but didn't really like Rexburg.
That evening despite being really tired, we went on a drive a woman at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory had recommended. She'd been chatting with Kaylee about her major and told us if we drove out of town about 10 miles it would be dark enough to see the Milky Way. We were a little skeptical because it was pretty cloudy but she insisted we'd still see stars. The only thing we saw was a creepy dark road that looked like it was straight out of a horror film. It didn't help that Grandpa told us about a scary movie he'd seen years ago that he'd been reminded of when we drove down the creepy dark road, haha. Fortunately we made it back to the hotel without incident and spent one more night in Rexburg.
The next day we headed to Provo, Utah but took a detour back to Logan to use some free Aggie ice cream coupons we hadn't had the chance to use while we were there before. Totally worth it. We made it to Provo late that afternoon and settled in at my cousin's Airbnb before we went to pick up Ainsley from work. It was Saturday and Kaylee's BYU Provo tour wasn't until Monday, so we spent a couple of days having some fun. We hung out with Ainsley, met my cousin and her kids at Bridal Veil Falls, drove through Provo Canyon and then the Alpine Loop, and Kaylee got to go shopping at the store Ainsley works at (on Grandma's orders) where she made out like a bandit and probably won't have to go dress shopping again for a long while. We also took another drive up a creepy dark road to a park in the mountains. Grandpa had found that was labeled a "dark sky" park. This time Kaylee saw a faint hint of the Milky Way for the first time in her life. She pointed out planets and constellations, and we all saw at least one shooting star. That was a creepy drive that was well worth it.
On Monday before Kaylee's BYU tour, she had the opportunity to attend one of Ainsley's dance classes and then we all got to watch Ainsley's dance team practice for a little bit. Kaylee had fun in class and we enjoyed watching the team practice. After we toured BYU we realized we maybe should have taken more time to walk around campus before the tour. Right after the tour it started raining and didn't stop the rest of the day. Despite the deluge, we were able to make it over to the building Kaylee will be spending most of her time in if she attends BYU. She'll be studying Physics with an Astronomy emphasis. She didn't think she really wanted to attend BYU but after finding this major she's changed her mind. It's exactly what she wants to do. There are only a handful of schools in Texas that offer the same major and she's not interested in any of them.
The next day it was time to go home. We said goodbye to Ainsley before she went to work, spent a few more hours at BYU visiting their Museum of Art and Paleontology Museum, took a quick hike up Rock Canyon, and headed to the airport. Once we parted ways with Grandpa, Kaylee and I hopped on an airplane back to Austin, got home late, and were both up early the next morning to head to work and school. What a trip! It will be interesting to see what Kaylee decides about college. She wants to serve a mission for our church for sure but isn't quite as sure about college. The next few months will be full of big decisions. It's crazy (and a little bit sad) to think that cute little Kaylee is about to head out into the big big world.
