After a necessary tune-up for the Jeep and mailing a box full of stuff home, Nick and Sarah set off for Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah.  Nick figured that, since Mormons are way into marriage, and celebrities are way into marrying a lot of times, Salt Lake City/Park City, Utah must be Engagement Ring Central.  They both liked the idea that they were looking for diamonds in a place where there were diamond-ranked ski trails.  Not that either of them felt ready to attack even a single-diamond trail, but they would at least ski diamond-adjacent.  Sarah drove until her eyes got tired, and then let Nick take over.  Nick listened to her tiny snore, which he found charming.  He knew he could marry her if he found even her nasal blockage adorable.  He didn’t notice when she woke up.

“Nicky?” She said.

“Yeah, babe?”

“You know who’s from Salt Lake City?”  Sarah asked.

Nick rolled his eyes.  “You’re killing me with this game.  Who?”

“Roseanne Arnold,” she told him.

“That explains a lot,” Nick said.

“You know who else?” Sarah knew she was driving him nuts.

“No,” Nick responded.

“Ted Bundy,” Sarah said, resting her head against the window.  “Which one would you rather spend a day with?” She continued.

Nick laughed.  “I need to think about it,” he told her.

Sarah smiled.  She was thinking more-or-less the same. 

They chose the Hotel Monaco at 15 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 on the recommendation of a friend who was an avid skier and said it was a great place to relax after a day on the trails.  As they were checking in, the desk clerk told them that “Wine Hour” was just beginning, and they were welcome to join while a bellhop took the bags upstairs.  Looking around at the deep jewel tones and harem-style couches and draperies, the two knew they loved it, but it seemed incongruous.

“This is not what I expected in Salt Lake City,” Nick told Sarah as he looked at the deep, comfortable chairs and very Arabian d?cor.

“I know, right?” Sarah said, taking his hand.  “Let’s have wine.”

Since they had just finished a long drive, they only had a few glasses and then went up to their room, which was equally-Arabian in its style.  Sarah showered, jumped on the bed for a few minutes, and then fell asleep.  Nick got online to check the ski trails they would try in a few days, did a little bit of research on the Mormon temple, and then crawled into bed beside his lightly-snoring girlfriend, laughing at himself for thinking it was so cute.

In the morning, they walked to Toasters for coffee, each of them picking at their own coffee cake.  Neither one was much into breakfast.

“Are we going to the temple today?” Sarah asked.

Nick looked down at the tabletop, smiling.  “Yeah, about that…” he began.

“What?”

“Well,” Nick told her, “We can’t see the inside.  But we can see the grounds and the whole square is supposed to be beautiful.”

“Why can’t we get inside?” Sarah asked.

Nick took out his laptop and went to Wikipedia’s page about the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City.  It listed all of the things that one would have to do to get a “recommend” to be allowed in.  Sarah’s eyes opened wider and wider as she read.

“That’s a lot of stuff to do.  I’m not sure we qualify,” Sarah said.  “And I’m pretty sure we aren’t going to be here long enough to get through the lengthy interview process.”

“Well,” Nick said. “It’s still going to be great to see from the outside, and there are the statues and things.  But finish your coffee.  They don’t do caffeine.”

Sarah shook her head.  “Almost everything else, I can understand.  But I loves me my caffeine.  And wine.  And beer.”  She paused.  “What am I saying?  I’d make the world’s worst Mormon.”

They finished their coffee and walked to Temple Square.  It was beautifully kept.  The leaves that were still on the trees were all changing colors as fall turned to winter.  They had seen pictures of the Temple covered in snow, especially when it was all decked out for Christmas, and it was amazing.  But even bare trees seemed to frame it.  It was stunning. 

“It’s incredible,” Sarah said.  “But a little imposing, too, no?”

“A little, yeah,” Nick said, looking up toward one of the eyes of God near the top of one of the towers. 

The continued to walk around, checking out the 11-foot statue by the north Visitor’s Center.

“Jesus!” Nick commented. 

“You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie,” Sarah responded.  It was, indeed, a very big Jesus.

Then they saw the Tabernacle.  They planned to be there on Sunday morning to see a performance.  It was bizarre and cool all at the same time to see it in person.  They knew it would be even better to see a live show. 

As they walked through Temple Square, Sarah said: "It feels holy here, even though I'm not a Mormon.  Is that weird?"

"No," Nick said, taking her hand.  "It's so amazing that you have to think some higher power is involved."

Knowing they’d be back, they walked to the Old Salt Lake Library at 209 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 to check out the exhibit at the Leonardo.  It was the world tour of Gunther von Hagens “Body World 3 & the Story of the Heart”.  The exhibition was of human forms in various poses, but without skin.  The artist used over 200 real human bodies and a process called plastination to show the inner workings of anatomy and physiology. 

Sarah stopped in front of a figure holding poised to shoot a bow.  Looking at Nick and then back to the figure, she said, “Outside of the science, it’s a little gory, I think, but cool.”

Nick looked at the figure with her.  “If you didn’t know it was a real human body, you wouldn’t think so,” he told her.

As she walked to the next figure, she said doubtfully, “Maybe not.”

After spending most of the afternoon at the Leonardo, they went to the Red Rock Brewing Company to sample some Utah beer and eat dinner.  Sarah preferred the Organic Pale Ale, while Nick stayed with the Hefeweizen.  The burgers were huge and the fries were perfectly crispy.  It was everything that a brewpub needed to be.  Once they were full, they went back to the hotel to nap before going out for the night.

That night, they decided to go to Lumpy’s for karaoke.  No matter where you are in the world, karaoke is always a good show.  Nick and Sarah had a friend in Maine who could belt out “Movin’ On Up”, the theme from The Jefferson’s, and get the whole crowd wild and singing along.  When they arrived at 9:30, the crowd was already drinking and completely into the show.  There was a line to sign up, and a few books of songs to choose from.  Nick and Sarah made their way over to the bar.  The bartender, who had more tattoos than Nick and Sarah put together, smiled.

“What can I get you?” She yelled over a tone-deaf couple singing “Summer Lovin’” from Grease.

“We’re in town visiting.  What do you recommend?” Sarah yelled back.

The bartender gestured for them to wait, and went about the process of making some kind of drink, keeping her back turned.  "Anything besides these?"

“Grey Goose and ginger,” Sarah shouted.  “And a Zion Canyon Jamaican Lager.”  She read that name from the beer menu in front of her.

The bartender smiled and pushed two pint glasses ¾ full of Guinness and two shot glasses in front of Nick and Sarah.  “Drop the shot glass into the Guinness and chug,” she told them.  “This one’s on the house.”

Nick and Sarah looked at each other, shrugged, and did as they were told.  “Nicely done,” the bartender told them.  “It’s called an Irish Car Bomb.”

“Two more, please,” Sarah said, licking the taste of Bailey’s off of her top lip.  Those were among the last words she would remember saying that night.

The next morning, she woke up early and drank several glasses of water.  It was early.  She never slept well when she fell asleep drunk.  She wasn’t hungover, but she took a few Tylenol, a few more glasses of water, and then woke Nick up.

He squinted at her and scratched his head.  “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine,” Sarah told him.  “A little fuzzy on details, but fine.”

“Do you remember singing?” Nick asked her.

“I did NOT sing,” Sarah said.

“You did,” Nick responded.  “Loud and proud.  You were the life of the party.”

Sarah shook her head.  “What exactly did I sing?”

Nick smiled.  “You sang ‘I Touch Myself’ by Divinyls.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

She turned on the shower and then stuck her head out of the bathroom.  “Was I any good?” She asked.

“Babe,” Nick told her, “you brought the house down.”

Sarah smiled.

After drinking a few lattes each, they drove to Park City, home of the Sundance Film Festival, for a day of skiing.  They stopped at Park City Mountain Rentals at the Park City Mountain Resort, 1310 Lowell Ave., Park City, UT 54060, since they hadn’t brought their skis with them.  After being fitted for the right skis and picking up goggles and official Park City ski caps, they looked at a trail map and planned their attack on the mountain. 

They decided to start up high, to get the full, gorgeous view from McConkey’s Bowl, where they started out on Tycoon and then cut onto Georgeanna.  Catching the lift up again, they skied Tycoon the whole way.  Sarah and Nick found that they were both a little rusty, but fear of death managed to remind them of what they were supposed to do to stay upright.  Both had been skiing since they were young, but didn’t get to the slopes often enough. 

While they were waiting to catch the lift up again to give Tycoon another run, Nick asked Sarah if she was having fun.

“Such a rush!” She said.  “Like skydiving, only not as far to fall.”

“Babe,” Nick reminded her, “there’s a whole mountain to fall down.  Be careful.  I see you up there, trying things.  Just be careful.”

Sarah kissed him on the nose.  “You’re so sweet.” She told him.  “But have we met?”

After skiing their way down to the Silverlode lift, they decided to start slow by taking Parley’s Park to Single Jack.  They stayed in sight of one another most of the way, until Nick suddenly realized that he couldn’t see Sarah.  He looked for her as much as he could manage, then figured she might have stopped for some reason, and he’d see her at the bottom.  When he reached the bottom, he waited for her.  She didn’t appear.  Then he started to worry.  After a while, he started skiing down towards any of the many medics on the mountain.  He found Sarah waving to him, covered in snow from head to toe, just below a bunch of trees.

Brushing herself off, she told him, “I lost the trail a bit.  Pretty sure I just totally cheated death.”

“Are you okay?” Nick asked her.

“Yeah, fine,” she told him.  I just took a few little spills here and there.  I’m surprised I’m not a giant snowball.”

After finally convincing Nick that she was fine, they went up again to try out Prospector.  This time, Nick made sure Sarah was ahead of him the whole time.  They hit a few more trails, trying some easier ones as well.  When they were both tired, they rode Home Run all the way back to the resort base, where they shook the snow off and returned their skis and boots.  They went to the Wasatch Brew Pub for their apr?s-ski beer and munchies.  They sat at the bar, ordered a 1st Amendment Lager and a Polygamy Porter, and talked to a few locals.  They met a few guys who lived nearby, spending most of their winters teaching skiing and the rest of the time skiing themselves.  When Nick told them about Sarah’s off-trail adventure, they laughed.

“Girl, you weren’t off-trail,” one of them told her, “You were in double-black diamond territory.”

“Really?” Sarah said.  She nudged Nick.  “I skied a double-black diamond trail.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.  “Okay,” she relented.  “I more-or-less rolled down a double-black diamond trail.  But I lived to tell the tale, right?”

After drinking a few more beers and finishing off a rack of ribs, Nick and Sarah said goodbye to their new friends for the day.  They planned to be back the next day for snowboarding.  Returning to the hotel, they showered and fell into bed. 

In the morning, they went looking for Salt Lake City’s finest engagement rings.  There was a nice jewelry store right near the hotel—one of the advantages of staying downtown.  They walked in holding hands.

“We’re looking for an engagement ring,” Nick told the salesperson, whose nametag said ‘Alexandra’.

“We have a lot of designers, a lot of styles.” Alexandra said.  “What do you have in mind?”

“Emerald cut solitaire on a platinum band,” Sarah said. 

Alexandra began taking things out of various cases and arranging them in a display.  Sarah began rejecting them, one after the other.  “Too thick”, “Looks like Tony Soprano would wear it”, and “That setting is hideous” were a few of the reasons she gave.  Alexandra remained patient and offered other options.

“Tell me,” Sarah said, “Are any of these blood diamonds?”

“Of course not,” Alexandra told her.  “All of our designers use conflict-free diamonds.”

“How can you be sure?” Sarah asked.

“Well,” Alexandra began, “They are all compliant with the regulations regarding conflict diamonds.”

“And the distributors from whom they get the diamonds are as well?” Sarah went on.

“Yes,” Alexandra said.

“How can you be sure?” Sarah asked.  “I mean, like, 100% sure?”

“We have trusting relationships with our designers and their distributors,” Alexandra said.  “There are very specific guidelines they must follow.”

“Yes, yes,” Sarah said, “I’m aware of the agreement and guidelines.  Will each diamond come with a certificate that ensures that it isn’t a blood diamond?”

“Some of the designers have that in their literature,” Alexandra responded.  “And some don’t, although they are compliant.”

“Well,” Sarah told her, smiling, “let’s just eliminate any of the designers that don’t state it in some obvious place, shall we?”

After relentlessly cross-examining Alexandra about each ring for about half an hour, Sarah stopped her inquisition.

“You have some lovely things, but we need to think about it,” Sarah told her.

When they got outside, Nick put his arm around Sarah and said, “I don’t think a salesperson has ever been so happy to see a potential client leave.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said, “that was fun.  I worked me up some energy.  Let’s learn how to snowboard.”

“Anything you want, babe,” Nick said, “but you have to promise to stay away from those double-black diamond trails.”

Sarah cuddled in close to him.  “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”

As they walked down the street, Sarah began singing softly, "I don't want anybody else..."
 

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