On a cold day in early February, Flat Stanley arrived at the Lund's house in Cedar City--a small city with 21,000 people in southern Utah. As soon as he came out of the envelope, his adventures began.
Stanley's first Utah adventure was a trip to Tiana's scool. On the way to class, they stopped by the library.
Then it was on to the classroom, where Stanley checked out one of the computers.
Stanley and the Lund's went to the Southern Utah University basketball games. It was great fun and Stanley had his picture taken with Tiana and the team mascot--Thor, the Thunderbird. Thor had just gotten out of the hospital (with a new outfit), after being attacked by the Weber State University mascot, a wildcat. Thor got his revenge, as you can see.
A few days later, Stanley got to go on his first long trip with the Lund's. On Thursday, February 17th, they all piled into the car and drove for four and one half hours to Salt Lake City. While they were there, they visited with Tiana's Grandpa and Grandma. On Sunday morning, they went to world famous Temple Square, where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has performed every week for over 70 years. Stanley also got to see the Tabenacle Organ, which is one of the biggest in the world.
They took some pictures on Temple Square and later at the Utah State Capitol building, but the pictures of the capitol building didn't turn out.
After a very fun weekend, they all returned to Cedar City. Then after a few days, the family and Stanley went off on another adventure. Tiana had a Gymnastics meet in Las Vegas, Nevada. To get to Las Vegas, the family drove through a tiny corner of Arizona. It was only a two and one half hour drive this time. While they were there, Stanley tried to be on the Southern Utah Gymnastics Academy team with Tiana. He even got into the line with the team when they were introduced at the start of the competition.
After the meet, they all went out to dinner and then did some sight-seeing along the brightly lit streets of Las Vegas.
Late that night, it was back to Cedar City. But the adventures weren't over yet. A few days after the trip, Tiana decided to take Stanley to gymnastics practice to see just what he could do.
He tried the floor exercise first, and it looks like he can kick with the best gymnasts.
Next, it was on to the balance beam. Stanley was so small, that the four inch beam seemed like a big sidewalk. It was just too easy!
After that he tried the uneven parallel bars. The bars were so big he could barely hold on, but somehow he managed.
Finally, Stanley tried the vault. Down the runway he came, off the springboard and onto the vault he sprang. They even put a special mat behind the vault for him to land on.
Just a few days before it was time for Stanley to go back to Alabama, it snowed again in Cedar City. The snow was wet and heavy--perfect for making snow men. Stanley started to roll his first snowball, but it was too big and started rolling down the hill. Stanley was too slow to get away.
His second attempt was much better. He managed to make the snowballs just the right size and made a snow man just big enough to be his friend.
He really wanted to go up the canyon to Cedar Breaks, but there was too much snow and he couldn't really get there. But through the magic of computers, he pretended to get there.
Just a couple of days before Stanley was going to go home, he spent a Saturday with Tiana playing in the backyard and climbing trees.
Later that day, they also went on a bike ride.
Finally, it was time for Stanley to head home. But before he could leave he had to have his picture taken with all of his new friends--Tiana, Congo, Bongo, Spunky, Curly, Fuzz, Swirly, . .
After that it was into the envelope he went, and into the mailbox, then back to Mobile. He had a great time in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.
