Provo To-Do List

Folks, my days in Provo are numbered. 26 days left actually. And I feel like I need to treat my departure from Happy Valley like I really won't be coming back since there are no real plans to ever return. Thus, I have contemplating my favorite parts of Provo and have been compiling a to-do lists of all the things I need to enjoy before leaving for Wisconsin.

- The Lone Tree. Kevin took us to the Lone Tree almost a year ago and I've been back twice since. It is one of the most magical, epic places in the Provo/Orem area. The Lone Tree is this spot up Provo Canyon that you can only find if you know exactly where it is. There is one lone, tangled tree in the middle of a mountain meadow beneath the shadow of Mount Timp.

- Panda Express. It sounds silly, and Panda Express isn't just a Provo thing, but in Marshfield, Wisconsin we have two Chinese joints...a high-priced tepanyaki place and the World Buffet in Marshfield's version of the mall. And neither are comparable to Panda Express. So I need to go half a dozen more times.

- Say goodbye to BYU. When I graduated in 2006 I was very eager to get away from campus so I never really wandered around campus in a parting goodbye. And while being back in Provo I've ventured as far into campus as the Smoot Building to pick up Stacie and the Wilkinson Center to drop into the bookstore. However, before I leave and BYU changes forever (they spend an incredible amount of money on constantly demolishing and rebuilding campus) I should go back up to campus to visit my old favorite places there and say goodbye.

- Tucano's. Oh the wonder of being a carnivore! Even if I have to go alone, I'm going before I leave. (I don't have to go alone though because I surround myself with like-minded carnivores.)

- Pants shopping. I am not a big person and I only wear a size 30" pants, but in Wisconsin it is a struggle to find pants smaller than 34"...so I need to decide if I want to stock up on pants before I go to the Dairy Mother-ship. The situation is complicated by the limited shopping options in Marshfield. Of course, between Tucano's and Panda Express, I might not need to worry about the being-too-small-for-Wisconsin-pants issue.

- Rock Canyon. All through college and through my last year of being in Provo, there is a spot in Rock Canyon I go to contemplate life and ponder eternity, and I need to go say goodbye to that spot. I've hiked up Rock Canyon countless times and although in Wisconsin I have a similar place that I go hiking, minus the mountains, there is nothing there with the history Rock Canyon and I have had.

- Rockband, specifically "Livin' on a Prayer". There is a tradition amongst the Hirz/Haws/Jackson bunch and that is whenever playing Rockband, we close with "Livin' on a Prayer"...and we need to play this song together one more time before we all part ways.

- And of course, spend a lot of time with my buddies Stacie, Kevin, Brent, and Carolyn, for I will miss them more than everything else combined.