St. George

“When we were younger we always went to Bear Lake. But when we got older, we started going to St. George every Memorial Day. It wasn’t the biggest or the fanciest vacation, but it was the best. We played golf at Dixie Red Hills to see who could master the monster. As each son in law came along, we were so pleased to find out they liked to play golf which was my Dad’s favorite thing to do. Grandpa’s big thing was that when you were on vacation, you get to do whatever you want to do.

It was fun being together and staying up and playing games, especially Hand and Foot. We loved having doughnuts in Grandmas room every morning. The big treat for the adults was to drive to Leeds for dinner at the Homespun, my Dad’s favorite restaurant because they cooked the meal and brought out whatever they had made. The big dessert was Angel Pie. I remember Matt going around from table to table and eating everyone’s leftover Angel Pie, even strangers.

Swimming was always fun in the pool. We would go to the park to play football while the little kids played on the swings and slide. There was one time when just the girls were golfing with Mom and it was very hot. Mom tripped and fell face first on the grass and she just laid there. We didn’t dare go over there because we were afraid she had died. But then we started laughing and finally went over and asked her why she was just laying there. She said, “the grass just felt so cool”. Those were in the days when I golfed and when Mom golfed. Mom’s favorite outfit in St. George was her “mumus”.

We always had to stop in Beaver on the way down to St. George to get squeaky cheese. We stayed lots of different places. At first, we stayed in Bloomington. Then we stayed at some condos right next to Dixie Red Hills. Then Mom and Dad got a timeshare so we stayed at Four Seasons on the St. George Boulevard. Later the timeshare changed to some condos on a golf course.”

-Shelley Polson Johnson