Two Temples and a Terrific Surprise

It looks like we can now add another couple of temples to our list of different temples that we've attended. With our recent road trip to Oklahoma City, we were able to attend that temple.


We also made a stop at the Denver Temple as we were passing through that city.


After the session, it was time for lunch and I suggested we find a place to eat close by before we got on the freeway. Glen assured me he had it covered. We drove for a few minutes and then turned into a parking lot where my eyes beheld the big, majestic restaurant Casa Bonita.


I screamed in surprised delight!! I could hardly believe my eyes!! Let me explain... When I had recently graduated from high school and had just barely met Glen, I left town for a few days to attend a national typing contest in Denver. That was a big time experience for me because it was the first time I'd ever flown in an airplane, it was the first time I'd gone on a big trip like that without parental supervision and it was the first time I'd been to Denver.

I came home telling Glen about how a few of us had gone to this gigantic, impressive, fun Mexican restaurant and how much I'd enjoyed it. My mind kept that memory alive for many, many years because it had been what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience. Keep in mind that growing up in small-town Ogden didn't lend itself to such grandiose restaurant choices. Our family didn't go out to eat often and when we did it was either to Utah Noodle with Grandma and Grandpa Malan or else it was Arctic Circle. Casa Bonita was bigger and grander than anything I'd ever done or could even have imagined. For years and years I'd told Glen that if we ever got to Denver, I'd want to go back and eat at Casa Bonita--the grand restaurant in my now-very-distant memory.

That all happened nearly 33 years ago, but I will admit that I've kept the wish alive of visiting there some day. As we were nearing Denver on our drive towards our Oklahoma goal, and knowing that we really were only taking time to stop in Denver to attend the temple, I had a very short and fleeting thought about the restaurant, but immediately dismissed it because I knew it would have to happen on another trip to Denver--when we were actually spending time in Denver. And, to tell the truth, I hadn't thought about that restaurant in so many years that I'd forgotten the name of it.

And then all of a sudden--there it was!! Glen hadn't forgotten the name or my wish to go back there if I ever got to Denver. What a guy! Who says he's not a hopeless romantic after all?!? This proves it!!


I love you, my darling husband! Thanks for helping to revive my extremely dimmed memory and helping me make a wonderful new memory of the place that made such a positive impression on my young mind all those years ago.

Let's face it--the restaurant is along the same lines as the Mayan Restaurant in Sandy (only Casa Bonita has much better food) with a show every few minutes where someone jumps into the water a few times and the small kids in the restaurant are totally excited about all of that.


The show held little appeal for me this trip, since I've seen things like that before. Glen enjoyed a Kodak moment with me and the gorilla who was in the show.


I don't really remember a gorilla--or any of the show--from when I was there before, but I did remember and again took pleasure in the magical quality of the restaurant and really enjoyed being in the same place I was in all those years ago. Fond memories then and fond new memories now. I loved it!!!