Logan and Manti

After 7 hours in cars over 2 days, I have now been to both Logan and Manti. And you know what? Both places are great!

You maybe didn't know this, but Provo and Logan are doppelgängers. Yes, usually you can only say that about people, but despite the huge gap in population (Provo alone has over 3 times as many people, and as a metropolis is almost 10 times larger) I find them to be very similar. They are both in a valley--Provo in Utah Valley and Logan in Cache Valley. They both house universities--BYU and USU. Both universities offer a plethora of delicious ice cream flavors and have blue as a school color. Both cities have lovely temples built on hills, although the Logan temple is really on a hill and the Provo temple is sort of on a small hill in front of a big mountain.

You need to imagine both of these pictures in the winter time.

What was I doing in Logan on a work day you may wonder. A friend of mine had a graduate school interview at USU yesterday and she needed a way to get up to Logan. I have always thrown around the idea of going to USU to do grad school also because I like their family life programs. So I decided that I would take the day off of work and come along. Boy was I glad I did! Brace yourself--this Cougar loved USU. LOVED! Everything about USU seemed great! The students were nice and the faculty went well above and beyond. Now, I'm not saying that there isn't great faculty at BYU, just that I didn't expect two academic advisers to sit and answer the questions of someone who didn't have an appointment. Yet that is exactly what happened. I am definitely in favor of USU, even if they think that they are our rival in football. I'll tell you one thing, they are definitely our rival in delicious ice cream. And in beautiful surroundings. Logan and Cache Valley are BEAUTIFUL!!!

A later post will discuss the two academic programs that I visited. As a heads-up, they are not exclusively graduate programs and they have very little to do with my first bachelor's degree.

Today my ward went to the Manti temple because it is wonderful. I didn't know that it was wonderful until we got there and I found out for myself--we are very big into finding out for ourselves you know. It is wonderful. Gorgeous to the point of overwhelming. First of all, the Manti Temple looks like a castle. It is white and lovely and has two spires. Inside it still looks like how I imagine the pioneers saw it, with the exception of the electrical updates. I was so impressed that I may have to just get married there myself someday.

Although this is not my photo (no camera batteries) it is lovely. It's also winter now in Manti so you should imagine this temple with lovely snow.

So, I'm not a world-traveler, but I have made it around the last couple of days. What a weekend!