Coaching for Pizza: A Road Trip to Utah and a Lot More

Wednesday, September 12 - Thursday, September 20, 2018

The main focus of this week's blog was our family's road trip to the . . .

. . . PAC-12 Opener in Salt Lake City

Our #10 ranked Washington Huskies (1-1) were playing the unranked Utah Utes (2-0) in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

But first . . .

I started my 12 week Italian 3 class

on Monday night

We only meet once a week for 90 minutes but it is a good experience to be sure.

Baby sitting Mary gets to be

more fun every week

On Thursday we left Camarillo heading to Las Vegas for the first leg of our Utah weekend.

The "Slap Your Momma" burger

at Emma Jean's Holland Burger

in Victorville, California

No, it was NOT mine.

Those two daggers through the "Slap Your Momma" can also go right through your heart if needed.

With Andrew and Kevin

in Casa Contreras of Las Vegas

Driving through a corner

of Arizona on Friday

Good Grub in Cedar City, Utah

Fillmore, Utah not Fillmore, California

Not sure why it is historic but they have a good Maverick Gas Station with a fun . . .

. . . play area for Kevin

Downtown Salt Lake City

Kevin at the Federal Building

Grandma Lo and Kevin

Mormon Mecca

The Temple

Kevin and Jenn

Reflection

Super important book

in these parts

Hey, it's this weekend!

Our first choice for dinner

Friday night

The wait time, unfortunately, was too long for five hungry pilgrims.

After a good Apollo Burger and a solid night's sleep, it was time for a Saturday morning stroll while everybody else rested.

Court Building

County Building from the West

Same building from the East

Love this sign

Since our game didn't kickoff until 8:00 p.m., we decided to spend the morning in Park City about 25 minutes from our hotel.

A great Winter sports venue

Quaint just about sums it up

Great Vistas

Kevin having fun

Grandma Lo before breakfast

This was our dining choice

Andrew, Kevin and Jenn

before our hearty breakfast

Washington Husky fan in Park City?

Park City Summer fun riding the rails

See what I mean

Kevin loved it!

I had to go!

Everybody else headed back to our hotel but I just had to check it out.

The Festa Italiana venue

Bring on the Dancing Girls!

Not True!

Crêpes

Salivating . . .

FORZA CATANIA!

A classic ragu arancini it was for me.

EXCELLENT!

Walking back to our hotel from the Festa Italiana took me by more Salt Lake City sights.

WHEEEEEE!

Looks both old and classy to me

GAME TIME!

Our game ticket also served as a Metro all-day pass. The Metro stop on the Red Line was right next to our hotel.

Four stops later on the Red Line we were at . . .

The University of Utah's

Rice-Eccles Stadium

With Andrew, Laurie, Jenn

and Kevin

Maybe we should have a hot dog

Purple and Red just CLASH!

The view from our seats

We got to our seats early just because we could.

The Contreras Clan by the

Wasatch Mountains

Warm-Ups

The Utah Band had a fantastic

pre-game performance

Here come . . .

. . . the Utes!

Kickoff

Husky RB Myles Gaskin

had another solid game

The Husky's defense was AWESOME!

Andrew above the "E" and me to

the right of the "C" on TV

A BIG hit by the Huskies!

The Offense is still a work in progress

but a PAC-12 win is a PAC-12 win

The drive home on Sunday . . .

. . . listening to the Rams game

on the radio

Seen during a restroom break in

Beaver, Utah

YIKES!

The Rams (2-0) rolled as smoothly as

we did getting back to Las Vegas

Kevin ready for school in

Las Vegas on Monday

Grandma Lo walking Kevin

to school

We left Las Vegas fairly early on Monday because I still had my Italian 3 class to attend that evening.

It was a good one again, quite challenging.

This coming Friday I will be back on the Ventura County Star's Game-of-the-Week podcast so I had two practices to visit.

A gelato serving side car

for a sweet Vespa in Moorpark

I needed a gelato and a caffé before watching the . . .

. . . 3-1, Division III #5 ranked

Moorpark Musketeers at work

After a good interview with Moorpark's second year Head Coach Ryan Huisenga, it was time to watch the Musketeers go through their paces.

Brand new Jumbotron scoreboard

I gravitated to the Offensive Line

The Musketeers are a good team but will enter Friday's contest a bit bruised up as is the norm at this time of the season.

The Musketeers' opponents on Friday are the . . .

. . . Simi Valley Pioneers who are

4-1 on the season and

ranked #8 in Division X

The Pioneers started practice

with a Field Goal/Field Goal Block

period . . . LOVE IT!

First year Simi Valley Head Coach Jim Benkert was generous with his time and gave me lots of insights into his program's goals for this initial campaign.

I still needed more football . . .

. . . Los Angeles Rams

NFL Football to be precise!

The Battle for Los Angeles

gets real this Sunday!

Stub Hub came through with $35 tickets, so on Sunday I will be joined by Laurie, Mike and Jacob for the journey to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to watch the NFC Rams (2-0) dismantle the AFC Chargers (1-1).