Hopped off the plane at LAX

Though my state job is only part time, I do get a lot of (non-insurance) benefits from it. This week, I got a free trip to Los Angeles!

The Utah Historical Society (UHS) wanted me to represent them at the Western History Association conference in LA. (I have been hesitant to use "LA" in texts, because people might confuse it for Louisiana.) Initially I thought they were sending me because I'm the only single person on the public history team (and maybe in the entire UHS), but then I learned that some of my colleagues had planned to go, but then they asked me to go instead, I think because I'm assistant editor of Utah Historical Quarterly (UHQ). 

Back in 2012, I went on some tirades against historians, so it's wild to me that here I am working as a professional historian—or at least working with professional historians.

Last week, I mentioned getting stung by a yellowjacket. Though the sting didn't hurt, it was pretty swollen on Sunday and Monday. When I was at work on Monday, I found myself unusually tired. I worried I might have COVID again, which would cancel my trip. I bought a COVID test, but it came back negative. So I must have just been tired from the sting. 

On Wednesday, after working a couple of hours at the Church History Library, I got on my plane, then took a Lyft to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown LA.

One of the things that most surprised me about my stay in LA was the dearth of restaurants. There were some restaurants in the hotel, and there were some restaurants outside the hotel, but they had weird hours. When I got there at 7 p.m., most things were already closed! I had to get some meals from overpriced coffee shops, and of course coffee shops aren't known for their food.

On Thursday morning, I went and picked up my name tag and tote bag. I wore my dinosaur shirt, and I got all kinds of compliments all day. That was a good way to network and meet people, so I think I should wear it at future conferences. But it also meant that if I wore the same shirt again, everyone would know it.

I saw a group of classmates and a professor standing and talking, so I went and said, "It looks like a University of Utah gathering over here." It took one of my professors a minute to recognize me, since I had a beard and glasses when I was in his class. One of my classmates said he thought it was the first time we had met in person (which was false; I remembered later we did have an in-person class together), and he remembered seeing me smirk whenever my cat (Jimmy) would come onto the screen during our Zoom classes. (And on Tuesday, before the trip, the public history team of UHS also had lunch with a U of U grad student I had met on Zoom once but not in person.)

It made me realize just how different my life is now compared to just three years ago: no more social distancing, no more masks, no more school, no more unemployment, no more Jimmy, no more beard, no more glasses, no more in the closet. What a wild period of my life!

I attended a roundtable in which one of the panelists, an Indigenous woman, kept talking about "California Indians." A year of therapy is helping me work on my impostor syndrome, so during the Q&A, I asked her about that, because I recently created a style guide for the Utah Historical Society in which we say to use "Indigenous" or "Native American," not "Indian." I worried my question was too niche, but a few people talked to me about my comment, and I met some people who work for the National Park Service that way.

Thursday evening, a large group of historians from Utah walked over to Grand Central Market, which I might describe as a warehouse with a food court, because it was actually open late. (Well, it closed at 9, which isn't late, but it was later than everywhere else.) We had historians from both the U of U and BYU there. I met more people in that setting.

I attended more sessions on Friday, including one that I thought was the most important, a panel of editors of state history journals. That is literally my job. I even skipped joining an interview for a new candidate for UHS so I could attend. My predecessor at UHQ represented us, since I'm new and my colleague couldn't attend. All the panelists basically described my job, so I didn't feel like I learned much (except maybe that we're doing things right).

I also attended the awards ceremony, which was very boring, and that evening I swam laps in the hotel pool.

I attended final sessions on Saturday. I had to leave my last one early, which was disappointing, because it was about This Is the Place Monument, so it was intimately connected with my former job and my ongoing research. Before the session started, I saw one attendee tell one of the panelists he had to leave early to catch a flight. I saw the attendee's name tag and recognized him as a BYU professor who has worked closely with us at UHQ. I told him I had a Lyft coming, so he could join me if he wanted. (No point in multiple cars going to the same place!) So he accepted, and another BYU professor also joined us. I find it kind of strange I had to go to California to meet all these Utah people. 

It was a little weird for me to meet all these people when I have seen their unedited work. They produce brilliant work, but we see their work when it is not at its best. Is that what it's like for doctors and nurses to see their patients in public?

I'm really glad I got to go! Some of the sessions were interesting, some were boring. It was great to network with other historians. And, of course, it was fun to have a free trip, even though I didn't do many touristy things.

***

I did get some time for entries for this week's pumpkinundation roundup.

The Favorite Day Caramel Apple Hot Cider Drink Bomb has apple cider powder, caramel pieces, and marshmallows inside a green-colored confection. I don't really like powdered "cider," but this didn't taste like that fake powder. It's a fine drink, though I think these drink bombs are a strange fad. 7/10.

This doesn't entirely fit here, but I just want to show that I got Trader Joe's Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies and See's Sour Bats. The Trader Joe's candy was in a bigger bag for half the price, and they were the better candy!

Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf is just what you'd expect: good but not spectacular. 7/10.

I think the Nice Coffee Butternut Squash Galette is actually made by another LA bakery, then sold at Nice Coffee. I'm not sure whether it's meant to be sweet or savory, because it's not quite either. It would have been better warm. It had chunks of squash rather than puree. 5/10.

McConnell's Pumpkin Ice Cream was what you would expect. Good but not amazing. 7/10.

The Nice Coffee Pumpkin Morning Bun (again, likely made by a different business) was basically a muffin-shaped croissant with a pumpkin-flavored cream cheese filling and a meringue topper. The meringue was weird, the croissant was good. But I really did not care for the filling. It was more cream cheese than pumpkin. 3/10.

The Cafe Now (Starbucks?) Apple Crisp was no better than a McDonald's apple pie but much more expensive. 5/10.

I got this F&E Pumpkin Cheesecake at the SLC airport. I don't love cheesecake, but this was good as far as cheesecakes go. 7/10.

I still have this Good Housekeeping Apple Cinnamon Cider Hand Sanitizer three years later because it doesn't smell like cider at all, and I doubt it's very useful as sanitizer. 2/10.

Autumn adventures

I just love this time of year! I continue to enjoy evening trail runs, even if it means taking my headlamp to run in the dark. 

On Tuesday, I drove up to Ogden, because my state job had a walking tour of 25th Street. We had a local historian share the histories of the various buildings—an astonishing amount of which used to include brothels. There was even a bar that uses the old "bedroom" doors as tables, and an employee let us in to see it. But I think prostitution is sad, at best, so I don't get why there were so many jokes and things that seemed to glorify it. It seems very antifeminist to me. We also had lunch in the old Union Station, which was once a train station but is no longer. There was a time when I only cared about nineteenth-century history, but I'm getting more interested in twentieth-century history.

One business made lots of tiny Weber State uniforms for these miniature skeletons

I like that my state job has field trips.

On Thursday, I was able to make our fifth batch of grape juice for the year! And I think that's finally the end. I can't ever recall making so much juice. 

Another unusual fruit crop this year is apples. Our neighbor's apple tree hangs into our yard, and we regularly pick them. Their tree does not have any fruit this year. We have an apple tree too, but it usually doesn't produce much fruit. This year, however, it has produced more apples than I can ever remember! I just hope I have time to pick more of them before they all fall off.

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to help my stake with a service project. Back in 2018 and 2019, I used to help tutor Tongan youth at a church in Salt Lake. In 2019, that Tongan ward switched buildings. I was surprised to see that the building they switched out of is now a community center rather than a church building. 

I helped get rid of unwanted plants at someone's home. There were some so-called trees of "heaven" down in a window well with an active colony of yellowjackets. One of the yellowjackets stung my eyebrow, and I didn't really want to work in the window well more than I had to. (Luckily it didn't hurt very much.) 

Then in the late afternoon, I wanted to go on a trail run. I went to Mueller Park, and I noticed that the gate was closed on the fee area, and the fee box was covered up. So I thought I could legally go into the fee area without paying a fee. I wanted to explore the new portion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail there.

Part of the new trail was closed for construction, and the new portion was very short. I found myself at the Kenny Creek Trail, where I went on Memorial Day in 2017. As I headed up the trail, I remembered why I haven't been back in more than six years. It's very steep and uneven, there's a lot of overgrowth, and sometimes it's hard to follow the trail.

I made it up to the remains of an old cabin. I don't know how old it is, but it's obviously pretty old. Props to whoever took their building tools up so high, because it's not an easy hike! 

On my way down, I went on the new BST, because I had seen a cyclist at the trail intersection. He had taken the closed portion of the trail up. But when I went down, there wasn't a sign saying it was closed. This trail was much better than the old trail. If I ever decide to go back to the old cabin, I will have to take the new trail. It's twice as long but so much easier!

The cabin has deteriorated noticeably since I went in 2017

I went a little past the cabin so I could see some aspens

I went 7.7 miles, and it took two and a half hours. Usually I can go that distance in less than two hours in North Canyon. It was good to change things up, but there are better trails.

***

It was a fun week for pumpkinundation roundup.

I've been getting Planters Pumpkin Spice Almonds since 2015. They actually are made with pumpkin powder. I have even bought some on clearance so I can have them at other times of the year. I like them. 7/10.

It's hard to go wrong with Frosted Flakes, so I like Kellogg's Pumpkin Spice Frosted Flakes. However, while they are grrreat as Frosted Flakes, they just aren't very pumpkin spicy to me. 7/10.

It's fun to see some of the lesser fall flavors get to shine, so I was eager to try Baskin-Robbins Apple Cider Donut Ice Cream. It has chunks of donut in it and a nice spice flavor. It doesn't taste like apple, but neither to actual apple cider donuts. 7/10.

Sweet Cake Bake Shop is a gluten-free bakery in Bountiful, and I wanted to try their Sweet Cake Bake Shop Pumpkin Blueberry Cupcake, because I have never had those flavors paired before. I expected them to be mixed together, but as far as I could tell, it was just a pumpkin cupcake with blueberry frosting. But I still really enjoyed it! I don't know if they really go together, because the blueberry was the dominant flavor. But it was still a tasty treat, and you would never guess it was gluten free. 8/10.

At first, I questioned why the Twisted Sugar Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie needed frosting. But then I learned. The cookie was dry and didn't have many chocolate chips. Disappointing. (Also, do you like my hairy knee in the picture?) 6/10.

I also didn't love the Twisted Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookie. It was a sugar cookie with a pumpkin cream cheese frosting and whipped cream. Maybe I was sugared out, but it wasn't great. 5/10.

Sugar Fix cookies are sold at certain gas stations in Utah, and I like to buy them, even the nonseasonal ones, because they are made by a gay couple. The Sugar Fix Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cookie is a pumpkin cookie with brown sugar frosting. Refreshing not to always have chocolate chips. 8/10.

Planters Apple Cider Donut Cashews have a nice, sweet glaze, and they are actually reminiscent of donuts. 7/10.

I think this is a Lee's Pumpkin Spice Donut. They said pumpkin spice was their donut flavor of the month, but in the case, they weren't actually labeled. I just tasted fried goodness. 6/10.

I was eager to try Reed's Dairy Pumpkin Spice Milk. I don't think it had any actual pumpkin in it, which is disappointing. But its spices tasted amazing, and it was reminiscent of eggnog. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Harvest Chili has various autumnal ingredients, and it's vegetarian. To me it seemed more minestrone than chili, but I still liked it. 7/10.

I liked the Grounds for Coffee Pumpkin Hot Cocoa, but it was more cocoa than pumpkin. 6/10.

They asked me if I wanted the Grounds for Coffee Pumpkin Sweet Roll heated, and I declined, which was a mistake. It wasn't very pumpkiny. It was OK. 6/10.

Living with senior citizens, I am surrounded by nutrition supplements. These Bariatric Pal Caramel Apple Calcium Citrate Soft Chews are better than they have any business being. They remind me of those little square caramels in the clear wrappers. 7/10.

Restore, Year 2

I enjoyed some more fall happenings this week, such as autumnal trails and our fourth batch of grape juice this year. I can't ever recall having that many grapes! Often we're lucky to get one batch.

We bottled some of the third batch of juice so we can have it at Thanksgiving

But the real highlight of the week was the second annual Restore Gathering by Faith Matters on Friday and Saturday, which I also attended last year. Faith Matters is largely geared toward progressive/nuanced/intellectual Latter-day Saints from a faithful perspective. Wayfare magazine is one of the projects they work on. I paid to register for Restore, and immediately the executive director refunded my money because of my work on Wayfare. 

There were a variety of speakers, musicians, and poets. I don't care for poetry, so I could have done without those, but I'm glad other people enjoy it. I'm going to share some of the highlights from the conference (I think it would bore you, and me, if I shared everything).

Friday morning had a conversation with Governor Spencer Cox and his initiative to "disagree better" during a polarized climate. I'm glad Cox got the Republican nomination in 2020. When I think of him and his fellow Republicans, I think of a line from The Nightmare before Christmas: he's "the only one who makes any sense around this insane asylum!"

Jared Halverson talked about helping minister to people going through faith crises. It's important to see the individual who is struggling and listen to them.

My favorite part about Friday was hearing from Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of the Killers. He started by singing two songs from the album Pressure Machine, which is about the town of Nephi. (I have that album in my Pioneer Day playlist.) He is a wonderful wonderful singer. (See what I did there?) He chatted with Patrick Mason, and he talked about hymns. He quoted the second verse of "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" (my favorite hymn) and said, "That's better than Lennon-McCartney!" Then he sang a country song written by his great-grandma that Slim Whitman recorded in 1955. (I'm familiar with Slim Whitman because I bought a CD of his Irish songs for my St. Patrick's Day playlist. How many of my playlists can I mention in this post?) 

On Saturday morning, George Handley talked about being good stewards of the planet. That was right before they let us take a break to go out and see the partial eclipse. It just looked like a C in the sky. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't join my parents to see the total annular eclipse in Flowell, but I was glad to be at Restore.

Eclipse shadows on my hoodie. Do you like looking up my nose?

There was a young singer named Emma Nissen. There are so many talented but generic singers that I was expecting her to be one of them, but she was surprisingly talented and soulful. Not what I was expecting from a white girl of Swedish ancestry.

Fiona Givens talked about her own grapples with faith in light of children being killed in Africa and the story of the Egyptians' firstborns dying. It was refreshing to hear an honest perspective of difficult topics. 

The only one I didn't really care for was Jennifer-Finlayson Fife, who deals with relationships and sexuality. That doesn't apply to my situation, and I get that; not everything has to be about me or for me. But she showed a long video about her widowed mother taking dance lessons. It didn't seem to have to do with anything she was saying. It felt like she wanted to show the video and had to make a stretch to get it to fit.

Daryl Davis (not a Latter-day Saint) is a Black man who used to play piano for Chuck Berry. His message was about listening to different people to change hearts. He has befriended multiple members of the KKK, even attending their rallies, and they ended up revoking their racist associations. And he ended his presentation by playing a boogie-woogie piano number. His was a wonderful presentation.

Peter Enns (also not a Latter-day Saint) gave a mindblowing presentation on the scale of the universe. He read Psalm 19 and talked about the way David in the Old Testament viewed the universe. Then he updated Psalm 19 for how it should read according to our current understanding. I found this presentation especially fascinating and thought provoking.

The conference ended with a performance by Millennial Choirs and Orchestra. (I have their Easter album in my Easter playlist.) I don't ordinarily love choral/classical/orchestral music. But they were tremendously talented, and it was stunning to hear music like that in just an event venue.

It was a wonderful conference, and I look forward to next year. I met some new friends and saw some old ones. (I even saw one who I haven't seen in four years who still complimented my Spotify holiday playlists.)

Then tonight my blog is up later than usual in part because I was making pizza. For the topping, I used yellow squash, tomatoes, and green pepper from my mom's garden. And I made the sauce using tomatoes and mint leaves from the garden.

***

There were a few items I forgot to include in last week's pumpkinundation roundup, so here they are.

There's an interesting phenomenon with Spiced Pumpkin Pie Clif Bars. I often buy boxes in the fall, but then trail season ends. Then when trail season resumes, I take them with me. So they remind me of spring and early summer almost as much as they do fall. They have nice spices; there's a reason I buy them every year. 7/10.

I got this pumpkin cookie at a church function; it's ordinary. 7/10.

The same function had Panera Autumn Squash Soup, which was pleasant, as long as you enjoy squash. 7/10.

Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Streusel Muffins are OK. They're not worth the calories. 6/10.

While I'm still catching up, I might as well include the things I reviewed for The Impulsive Buy this summer:

Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest aren't very sour at all, and they just kind of taste weird. Disappointing. 6/10.

Brach's Fall Festival Candy Corn was a pleasant collection of flavors, though I did think they were more appropriate for summer: kettle corn, caramel apple, cotton candy, lemonade shake-up, strawberry funnel cake, and lemon-lime snowcone. 8/10.

Now I can proceed to this week:

The Dirty Dough Pumpkinella Cheesecake Cookie is my first time at Dirty Dough, one of the companies that Crumbl was suing. It's a pumpkin cookie with Nutella topping and cheesecake filling. I think I was distracted while I was eating it, because I don't remember much about its flavor. So I guess it can't be that amazing? But I really liked its texture. 7/10.

Skinnydipped Pumpkin Spice Almonds taste more like ginger than anything else. And I feel like ginger is an optional ingredient in pumpkin spice. They're OK. I do appreciate that they're not as "indulgent" as more traditional pumpkin pie almonds. 6/10.

I like supporting North Salt Lake businesses, so I was happy to have a JJ Donuts Pumpkin Cream Cheese Donut. The donut is pumpkin spice with a cream cheese topping. It was good but not exceptional. 7/10.

Private Selection Harvest Apple Spiced Apple Snack Mix is better than most mixes that have apples in them. The apples here are chewy, in a good way. I especially like the cinnamon pecans. 7/10.

The Sodalicious Pumpkin Spice Cookie is a snickerdoodle with pumpkin frosting. And the frosting has an authentic pumpkin flavor, instead of just fake spices like so many other things. 8/10.

I was disappointed with the Wendy's Pumpkin Spice Frosty. At this time of year, there are so many ice creams and shakes with actual pumpkin. A Frosty isn't quite either of those things, but it was still disappointing that there wasn't any pumpkin that I could tell. It was just spices, and it reminded me of a candle scent. 6/10.

I honestly don't remember much about my experience with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Overnight Oats. The oats seemed chewier than I'm accustomed to, though I've never had packaged overnight oats like this. (What does that even mean?) The flavor was fine, I think? 7/10.