Not a big fan of Salt Lake driving!!!

So, I have never been a great city driver. I am ok in the smaller cities, but when it comes to Salt Lake I would much rather be the passenger in the car.

Chad got chosen to be on an 18 month Federal Jury last January and had to go to Salt Lake 2 Wednesdays a month. He goes down the Tuesday night before and stays so the kids and I try to go with him as often as we can. During the summer months we went almost every time. There were days that I had to find things to entertain the kids, but we would just mostly do a lot of swimming at the hotel. If we did venture out we would take the trax train to the Gateway and find stuff to do there. There were a few occasions where I would get a little brave and drive to a few places that I knew I wouldn't get to lost. There were a couple of times that I would have to call Chad or my sister-in-law Kerri to help me get to and from places, but for the most part did pretty good.

This last Wednesday Chad had Jury. We were also planning on going to Tristi's State Basketball Tournament down in Richfield UT. It also started on Wednesday so me and the kids just went with him on Tuesday night and then when he got done on Wednesday we were just going to go to Richfield. Chad found out that his Jury was going to be a two dayer this time and so we were going to have to wait until Thursday before we could go to Richfield.

The kids and I were ok with staying in Salt Lake. Alan and Kerri live there and the kids are always excited to see their cousins. On Wednesday afternoon I called Kerri and asked her if she would be home. She said that she would and we decided to go visit. Before leaving the hotel I told her that I was good with getting to her house, but I wasn't sure if I could get back to the hotel we were staying at in Down Town Salt Lake. She assured me that she could get me back with no problems.

I did great getting to her house. No problems at all. We enjoyed our visit. Kerri and I played on the computer most of the time and we showed each other all the ins and outs we had learned about Blogging and Facebooking (yes I am a new facebooker) When I got ready to leave Kerri gave me very detailed directions to get back to the hotel. I repeated all the directions back to her and she confirmed that I had heard her correctly.

So then the ADVENTURE BEGINS !!!!!

I headed out pretty sure that I new exactly where I was going. I kept going through the directions in my head and I did great until I kept repeating 600 North. My focus was on that exit and when I went past 600 South I could see that was the exit I should have taken. Panic hadn't set in yet, and I just decided to get off on the next exit and go back. So that is what I did. Well in Salt Lake that doesn't work all of the time. You can't just get off of an exit and turn around. This exit was not an exit after all it was just a road that took me out of Salt Lake all together. When I realized I couldn't just turn around, I started to panic. I called Chad and told him what I had done and all he could do was laugh at me. I didn't think it was so funny, but he sure did. I was headed out to the Salt Lake Airport, and he didn't know how to tell me how to get back. (He isn't that familiar with that end of the city) After a lot of ummmms from Chad trying to figure out how to get me turned around, he told me to take the Airport exit. I did and ended up in the middle of the airport. He told me to go through the terminal pick up, or the parking and I should be able to go right on out and to the freeway. I chose the parking, but it was some special parking you had to have a pass for. So there I sat in front of a parking lot that I couldn't get into without a pass. No one around to help me. The only thing I could do was turn around and try again. The only kicker is that it is a "One Way" Yes, I drove the wrong way down the road (only for a very short distant) to get out of there. I am sure glad no cops were there at the time. I did finally find my way out of there and did make it back safe and sound to the hotel.

I only yelled at Chad a little while it was all happening. He forgave me for getting mad at him and I forgave him for laughing at me while I was having a crisis moment.

Peyton wasn't to impressed with my driving skills and reminds me quite ofter how crazy of a driver I am. Bailey and Tyus just laugh about it but also think I am pretty crazy. We all had a good laugh and are just glad that we made it back safely.

I called Kerri when I got back to the hotel and repeated the directions back to her again and she said yea that is right why. I told her it was 600 South not North and she about died, but she did inform me that if I would have listened to her and just taken 600 North I still would have made it without going clear out to the airport.

I guess I need experiences like this to make me a better driver. I will never learn unless I try!!!!