Contest and Funny Story

Hello from the Mansion in sunny down town Salt Lake City!

Has everyone had a great summer? I hope so because it is almost officially over.
But we are here to relieve your stresses no matter what the season or need.
We have a contest going on right now with KDYL that I would like to open up to all of our friends.

The Mansion is looking for a few funny or romantic stories around the theme of family reunions, anniversaries, honeymoons or proposals. And we will be giving a free night’s stay every week through the month of August and September for the best ones.
They will be posted on our blog – so look for yours.

Our first one is from Tom Reynolds and he has not told his wife that he entered it so you might hear some protest over the Email lines, if that could be possible.

Thank you Tom and don’t forget to tell her that she won a free night’s stay at the Mansion. That might make it a little better for you.

In 1991 my wife and I had been married for 15 years and we had never gone on a honeymoon. In October of 1991, I had to take a medical retirement from my job as a police sergeant because I had scheduled surgery to have my right hip replaced.

In June of 1992, I had mostly recovered from my hip surgery and was down to walking with a cane. We decided to take some of our retirement money and drive to California to have the long awaited honeymoon we had never taken.

When the day arrived for our trip, we arose at 5 o'clock to get a jump start on the morning traffic. Our van did not have air conditioning, so we borrowed a small economy car from my folks which had air conditioning and was more fuel efficient than our van.

I pulled into the local 7-11 and filled the car with gas, then grabbed my cane and headed into the store to pay the clerk. Back then there was no such thing as pay at the pump.

My sweet wife in the mean time was taking pity on me as she watched me limping into the store with my cane and so she decided to drive the car up to the front door, so I did not have to make the long painful walk back to the fuel island.

The problem with this scenario is that my wife is only 5' tall with very short legs and she tried to drive the car from the passenger seat. She was able to push the brake pedal once to put the car in gear, but when it started toward the front closed glass doors of the 7-11, she panicked because she could not reach the brake pedal again and as the front tires made contact with the parking curb which was only a few feet away from the doors, she tried to stop the car by slamming the gear shift lever back into park.

It was too late.

I was standing in front of the cash register paying for the fuel we had just pumped, when the front end of my mother’s car came crashing through the doors spraying glass all over everything including me. My first thought was that another drunk driver had hit the front of the store. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was my wife in the driver’s seat of mom's car. Giant tears were beginning to stream down her face, and she had that "what the heck just happened" look on her face. Remember, we were going on our honeymoon, so I just couldn't be mad at her.

Well.... the police came and did a report, and because I worked with them all everyday, I knew they were having a good laugh at my expense. For years, anytime the police officers decided to take a break at the 7-11 they called it "Reynold’s Drive In"!

As a final note to the story, I knew that there was a Circle K at the next intersection by the freeway on ramp, and they sold roses wrapped in cellophane. I pulled into the store to buy her one to let her know how deeply I loved her and that I was so glad she was o.k. I also took the keys in with me. Mom's car sustained no significant damage. My insurance paid $ 2500.00 to have the store front repaired.

This is a true story that I will never forget. (Just the facts ma’am). BTW next month we will celebrate our 34th anniversary.

Tom Reynolds
Clinton, Ut.

Isn’t that a great story!!
I’ll be looking for yours.

Judy Savage, Innkeeper
The Armstrong Mansion - Salt Lake City, Utah