Last week, while writing my "What’s your dream job” blog post, and living life solo on the Upper West Side, I started to text with Tim Lougee about what the latest happenings were in our lives. By the time that blog hit the Internet, I had booked a trip - leaving 20 hours later - to Salt Lake City to visit Tim and his family, play some golf, and just generally see people.

While it’s hard to get bored in New York City, it had been two weeks since Lynn left to visit her family in Southern France, work was a little slow, and my golf clubs kept staring at me from the corner of the apartment. Those reasons, coupled with the fact I had a big credit with Delta (the airline, not the variant) because I wasn’t able to travel to France, made booking the last minute trip a little more justifiable.

To keep the 6-day recap manageable, I’ll try to give a quick overview of the timeline (all times local):

Wednesday, July 14

• 9:00pm - finish first draft of blog post

• 10:00pm - finish making dinner, have initial call with Tim to discuss potential flight details (considering both Vegas and SLC)

• 11:00pm - book a flight leaving at 6:00pm the next day

• 11:49pm - publish blog post

• 11:51pm - go to sleep

Thursday, July 15

• 8:00am - begin work by booking the following day off and blocking my calendar from 3:00pm onwards (since my flight left from JFK, it can be over an hour drive to the airport)

• 2:00pm - finish packing

• 3:00pm - get in Uber to JFK

• 10:00pm MT - Tim picks me up at Salt Lake City International Airport

Friday, July 16

• 8:00am - wake up to enjoy my day off from work and say hi to Tim’s kids, Jackson and Brooklyn. They remembered me from the last time I saw them two years ago, and it was so great to see how much they’ve grown and developed. We had a ton of fun together throughout the week

• 10:00am - went for a 6 mile run around their beautiful neighbourhood, about 25 minutes from downtown Salt Lake

• 11:00am - went to the grocery store with Kate and the kids while Tim was working, to pick up items to host a BBQ at night

• 1:00pm - Tim and I tee off at Glenmoor Golf Club with a couple of his buddies. They played the front nine with us, but it was just the two of us on the back nine, allowing for a great catch up and a fun little battle on the links. I played much more solid on the back nine, shooting a 2-over 38 and we had plenty of laughs

• 7:00pm - we welcomed Tim and Kate’s friends - Scott and Lindsay and their kids - over for a BBQ and I helped prep veggies, make guacamole, and grill veggie burgers

Saturday, July 17

• Family walk to the neighbourhood farmer’s market, highlighted by getting the twins some freshly made cotton candy

• Played some soccer with the kids in the backyard

• Went downtown for dinner with Kate and Tim and watched Game 4 of the NBA finals

Sunday, July 18

• 8:30am - left for golf with Tim (thanks to Kate for being a hero staying, hanging out with kids all day)

• 10:00am - tee off at Canyons Golf Club in Park City, UT. Incredible ski resort town with the course carved into the side of the mountain, making for some stunning views: one of the par 5s drops 350 feet from the tee box to the fairway!

• 2:00pm - grabbed lunch with Kevin (Tim’s friend who we played with) before heading back to South Jordan, UT

Monday, July 19

• 6:00am - Started work to stay on Eastern Time, and got through a decent amount of work while enjoying the comfy and roomy dining room table all to myself

• 6:00pm - went for dinner with the whole family to a tasty Indian restaurant and ordered all of the veggie dishes my stomach could handle!

Tuesday, July 20

• Logged off work at 2:30pm to go play golf one last time with Tim at Stonebridge Golf Club which was so much fun. We hit some decent shots and had a ton of laughs during my last day in UT

• 8:00pm - picked up sushi for dinner which we enjoyed with Kate while watching the final game of the NBA finals and reminiscing about such a fun last-minute trip

Wednesday, July 21

• Worked from 6am - 12pm in order to catch my 2pm flight from SLC to Austin, TX (not exactly direct) before going from Austin to JFK

• 12:50am ET - land at JFK after a long travel day

• 2:00am ET - enter my Upper West Side apartment, ready for a fresh 6-hour sleep before work on Thursday and rounding out the week

The trip was a ton of fun, relaxing, and worth every penny. It was exactly the re-energizing amount of friendship I needed, and was a perfect preview for what I expect to occur in Winnipeg in just 20 days!

Thanks to the Lougee’s for the hospitality as always, and to everyone else for reading!

Mike