Mark My Words: September 2025

My eventual goal is to go to every state park in Utah. Last year, I was looking at Green River State Park, and I thought it would be fun to time a visit with the town of Green River's annual Melon Days festival. So this year I made it happen! On Friday I picked up my friend Ron and drove down to Green River.

I didn't love driving in the dark, especially since I have a glare at night ever since I had my PRK surgery. But I made it safely to the little town.

On Saturday morning, I thought we could just walk from our hotel parking lot to the heart of the town. That was a longer walk than I expected, but walking is good for me. As we walked into town, we saw people and vehicles decked out for the parade. Watermelon really is a striking visual: the green stripes and the red with black dots.

After we grabbed breakfast, we stopped at the O. K. Anderson City Park, where there were lots of vendors set up, just like you would expect at any given fair.

There was one booth devoted entirely to watermelon-themed merchandise, so I bought some watermelon shorts.

We sat on the curb to watch the parade. I don't love parades per se, but it's an interesting anthropological experience. There were various local entries, like school bands and mayoral candidates. Different cars had watermelon decorations. But I can't say there were any actual floats. The giant watermelon on the trailer (pictured above) was the closest thing they had to a float.

When the parade was over, we went into the park again, and they were handing out free watermelon slices, which was very generous. It was good watermelon. But I can't say Green River melons are better than most melons. And I also bought a "watermelon Dole julius" drink.

Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy watermelon. What a wonderful fruit! An enormous, visually striking, exceedingly sweet and refreshing globe. If you're going to have a festival about something, it's as good as anything!

Then we walked back to my car. There was a nearby melon stand, and I felt compelled to buy four melons: a honeydew, an orange-fleshed watermelon, a Santa Claus melon, and a canary melon.

Then we drove into Green River State Park, which is the first new state park I've visited all this year. This park consists of a golf course, some camping areas and cabins, and a boat ramp into the Green River. When we got there, there was nobody in or at the river. I inflated my paddleboard, the first time I have used it in 2025. I went for almost an hour, half of that time standing up on the paddleboard. Then Ron used it while I swam. Well, kind of swam. It was the first time I really tried swimming in a river, and the current did make it more difficult than I'm used to. I'm glad I got that learning experience in a slow-moving river. This river was also very silty. I got some sandy deposits in my nose, and drops of water on my goggles were kind of muddy. It was a warm enough day that the swimming was enjoyable, though the water was cold at first. September is so wonderful, because it's summer and fall at the same time.

Green River was the highlight of my week, but of course it wasn't the only thing.

Last week, I decided to continue the Super Mario Bros. celebration by beating Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels on my Switch. This is a very difficult game, and even with the Switch's rewind feature, it was a challenge. Then I learned that there are special secret levels you "get" to play if you beat the game eight times. Why would they even design it like that?! And who would want to play this difficult game eight times just to play more difficult levels? Especially when it was originally an NES game? Sometimes I think I use my time poorly, but then I remember there are gamers like that. I think the phrase "touch grass" is such a useful term, and I'm glad I spent a lot of time touching grass (usually the wild variety).

Sunday night into Monday morning, I wasn't sleeping well for some reason, and it didn't help that my feet were tearing my sheets while I was tossing and turning.

On Monday evening, I ran on the Wild Rose Trail, and I encountered this small snake.

I saw an identical snake almost at the same spot almost at the same time of year in 2023. I'm no herpetologist, so I don't know if it's a harmless snake or a baby rattlesnake. It wasn't moving at all, so I decided I was going to carefully go off the trail to get around it. But as I was going around, it suddenly whipped around and started slithering in my direction! So I got out of its way and then safely passed by.

And Monday night was the season premiere of Halloween Baking Championship. During commercial breaks, I brought out all my Halloween Squishmallows for the season.

I go into the office every Tuesday, and the museum team hosts a monthly piñata day with trivia about different counties in Utah—the people who get the most questions right get the first swings. We've started doing the quiz on Kahoot, and I got the second-highest score for the trivia about Salt Lake County. For some reason they decided I should get to keep the piñata. Normally I don't like holding on to things like that, but this was a seasonally appropriate piñata that mostly stayed intact. So I'll keep it for a month and a half.

Last month, we submitted our fall issue of Utah Historical Quarterly, so our colleagues thought we should have a celebration. And they made sure to have fall-themed treats so I could have them.

North Salt Lake has a wetlands park, and just recently they made some renovations, so I went down on Wednesday to check out what happened. They have added some boardwalks that go over the wetlands, instead of just the paved path that goes on the perimeter. But these wetlands aren't very wet; I think they're going to add some water in the spring. But there are so many goatheads there! Yikes!

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It's not just watermelon season. It's pumpkin season, which means . . . it's the return of pumpkinundation roundup! So here are the fall-themed flavors I have had so far this season.

I have bought these Quest Pumpkin Pie Protein Bars several times over the years, and I need to remember to quit buying them. I bought them last fall, and I still haven't gone through them. They don't really taste like pumpkin pie, but worse than that, they are just not enjoyable to eat. There are some protein bars that do taste good (Power Crunch, Fit Crunch, Built), but these are not one of them. 3/10.

Before I officially started my pumpkin season, I had a Crumbl Pumpkin Cake Cookie. I want to support Crumbl after the CEO just came out as gay last month. I really enjoyed this cookie, and it was less heavy than other Crumbl cookies. 8/10.

Premier Protein Pumpkin Spice High Protein Shake is an example of a protein item that actually is enjoyable to consume. I can't say it tastes like pumpkin, but it does have an autumnal flavor, and it's pretty good for something that has 30 grams of protein and no added sugar. 7/10.

I officially reviewed Little Debbie Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Creme Pies. They emphasize the "spice" more than the "pumpkin," but Oatmeal Creme Pies are already a winner, so I enjoy these. 8/10.

Pumpkin Spice Junior Caramels are another item that leans into spice but not pumpkin. They are great caramels, but I don't think the "pumpkin spice" element is that exciting. 7/10.

I bought these Startup Candy Co. Pumpkin Spice Hard Candy Drops at Pioneer Day, because the Startup company is two centuries old and based in Utah. But hard candy isn't that exciting, and this isn't an exciting flavor. 5/10.

Pumpkin Spice Softsoap has a fine fragrance, but I can't say it's pumpkin or spice. 6/10.

Same goes for Beloved Pumpkin & Tonka Shower & Bath Gel. 6/10.

Dove Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Antiperspirant is the first time I've had pumpkin deodorant. But it doesn't smell like cinnamon or pumpkin pie. It has a creamy scent, like cream cheese frosting, or maybe something buttery, like sugar cookies. It smells like a baked good, just not pumpkin pie. 6/10.

At my job's UHQ celebration, my boss brought homemade pumpkin yeast bread, which was amazing. 8/10. And someone else brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which are always a winner. 8/10. (The other thing was peach cobbler.)

Beloved Apple & Cinnamon Bark Shower & Bath Gel has more cinnamon scent than anything. It's pleasant. 7/10.

And I also tried Dr. Squatch Drunk'n Pumpkin Deodorant. On the stick, it does smell like spices and cream cheese frosting, like pumpkin roll or carrot cake. But when it's on me, it just has a weird scent, and I'm not sure it's a scent I want in my deodorant. 5/10. I do have to be careful with these deodorants; I usually use spray deodorant, because sticks often make my underarms sore.

I'm not sure why Harmons swapped out chocolate for butterscotch for these Harmons Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies. Pumpkin chocolate is so classic, but the butterscotch chips are a bit too sweet. 6/10.

And the Arctic Circle Pumpkin Pie Shake has been a classic for decades, with good reason. Sweet and spicy and pumpkiny. 8/10.

Dove Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Body Wash does smell slightly more like pumpkin pie than the deodorant version, but not much. 6/10.

I enjoy Caramel Apple Cinnamon Kind Thins. I'm still using a box from last year, and I hope I can find them again if I go through my box. 7/10.

One of my favorite fall meals is Thomas' Pumpkin Spice English Muffins with cheese and a fried egg. The English muffins do have little pockets of pumpkin and spice. 8/10.

At Melon Days, I had a Fruitzle Apple Caramel Funnel Cake. This might have been my very first funnel cake—at least I don't remember having one before. It was a funnel cake with apple pie filling, whipped cream, and caramel sauce. I enjoyed it, but suddenly it felt like too much. 7/10.

I'm enjoying the month. September has so many lovely things going on.

Last Sunday, I made grape juice from the grapes that grow in our backyard. Timing the juice is often tricky: If you pick the grapes too early, they aren't quite ripe and flavorful; but if you wait too long, they disappear. We only had a small quantity of grapes this year. Not wanting them to disappear, I picked them. After I began picking, I realized they weren't quite ripe. But there were so few that they all needed to be one batch, so I just finished picking them all and juiced them. They made a partial pitcher of juice. It wasn't super flavorful. But fresh grape juice always makes it feel like fall.

I also made oatmeal cookies with yellow squash (zucchini) and chocolate chips. I'll have to remember that this isn't my favorite recipe; I'll have to try incorporating the squash into a different cookie recipe.

On Monday, I received the Over the Garden Wall cardigan I ordered.

I took some mirror selfies, and Google Photos compared it to a picture from 2009. Some people worry about aging, but I think I look better in my mid-thirties than I did in my early twenties.

On Tuesday, while I was doing my BYU job, I realized I didn't remember all the digitized sources I used to use when I worked at the Church History Library, and that made me sad. Less than two years ago, I was still working there. I no longer have the sticky note with the call numbers of the sources I used. The next day, I went downtown to the CHL to look at some books I don't have copies of. I miss the fun projects I got to work on, the easy commute, and being downtown. I'm also glad I don't work there, in case I ever get a husband, and I get to be as unorthodox as I want. But I do miss it sometimes.

On Friday, I joined my parents at Wasatch Mountain State Park. We have been camping there in the fall since 2018 (but not in 2019 and 2022). I really like this camp: The leaves are beautiful at this time of year, there are nice bathrooms and showers, and there are miles and miles of trails nearby. My parents got a new trailer this year; it's their fourth trailer in seven years, as they decide they don't like certain aspects of their trailers. It was my first time in this trailer.

On Friday night, I went running on the Lower Phosphate Trail. As I was running, a flying insect flew into the palm of my hand, and I think it stung me. I have wondered if my hand has been itching because I scraped it against a branch the other day. (When I'm running on the sidewalk, I try to snap low-hanging branches of untrimmed trees. Trim your trees, people!) But today I have a small bump on my hand, so I think I got stung.

Then on Saturday morning, I ran on the Birdie Shot Trail, which, as you might guess, goes near a golf course. Much of this trail was not shaded, and parts were just an open field of wild grasses. I much prefer tree-lined trails. But it still had lovely views.

Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of Super Mario Bros. for NES, and it kind of amazes me that such a playable game existed that long ago. That was before my time, but my siblings used to play it when I was a small child. I used to think the Blooper squids were cupcakes, Koopa's fire breaths were hot dogs, and the clouds Mario rides were beads.

See, how can that not be beads?

A few weeks ago, I decided it was worth the twenty dollars a year to pay for Nintendo's subscription to old NES, SNES, and Game Boy games on Switch. Mario games are the only video games I play, and even then, I don't play that often. Last night, in honor of the anniversary, I took about an hour to beat the original Super Mario Bros. twice (first and second quests).

It's easy to do because Switch lets you rewind, which means you don't have to worry about losing lives or starting over at the beginning of a level. Maybe it's cheating, but there are better ways to spend my time than repeating video game levels over and over. It's easy to get nostalgic for those old games—but, honestly, they are dated. Modern game play is more dynamic and interesting.

It's been a while since I've posted AI dream images, so here are some of my dreams from the last couple of months.