Childhood memories

It was very strange to see the places where I grew up.  Of course the mountains had not changed at all, and some things had changed a lot (ie all of the orchards that surrounded my dead end street were cut down and replaced with houses).  What was surprising is that  some of the special places that I remembered were still there and recognizable.

Deer Creek Reservoir and Mt Timpanogos.  The new thing was that a whole new reservoir had been built on the river above this one that was just a valley with farms in it 30 years ago.

 Welcome to the city of Orem.

The view of Mt Timpanogos from my old house. Beautiful!

 My old house - easy to find because I still remembered the address (when this is drilled into kids in 1st grade, it apparently sticks for life), and the city is laid out on a grid system N, S, E, W.

 The old movie theatre I used to ride my bike to.  This is where I first saw the original Stars Wars movie!

 The Pavillon in Scera park.  Still looks the same, perhaps with new toilet facilities.  I celebrated many friends' birthdays here, and had my first job selling shaved ice from a portable trailer in the parking lot here (next to the pool).

 We visited the church where I grew up, Orem Community Church.  I truly didn't expect to find anyone there that I knew growing up, but did meet the parents of one childhood friend.  This banner particularly surprised me.  I actually helped make this with my mom (probably for vacation bible school or something).  The yellow handprint below my hand is mine.  Crazy that this happened to be hanging up in worship that day.

 The church is very small, but they have a large community garden that they use to provide fresh produce to the local food pantry.  A meaningful ministry. 

 Another lady at the worship service told me she remembered my parents and reminded me that the pew cushions that we were sitting on were donated by them (yes, 30 yr old cushions, probably time for some new ones).  The building itself looked the same.  Kind of crazy after all these years.

The "Heber House" - a second home in the mountains.  We stopped by here and met the current owner.  He said rumor had it that the house was originally build by a doctor as a ski cabin.  I confirmed the built by a doctor, but said is was more of a money pit.  I had a great childhood sledding down the hill and hiking the high hill behind us, but dad spent a lot of his time just fixing up the place and doing maintenance.  It was fun talking to the owner who had done a lot of improvements (he had lived there 23 years himself).

View of the valley and Timpanogos from the Heber House.