A few Saturdays ago, I got a call from Sister Gia with a variation for Burger King Saturday.  She reported that Thomas Mercantile in Swan Lake had reopened, and they were doing breakfast.  “Let’s go see what it’s all about.”  Not wanting to miss an adventure, we gathered Tam in off the walking path and Mom, Gia, Steve, Tam and I headed to the land of our forefathers in Swan Lake.

The Hadleys of Swan Lake were Grandma B’s people, and they were a lively bunch.  Grandma’s youngest brother, Bob used to tell lots of good stories.  One of my favorites centered around his love for McDonald’s.  Aunt Gwen said there were only three restaurants in Pocatello Uncle Bob would eat at:  McDonald’s North, McDonald’s South and the Other McDonald’s.  Anyway, when they were getting up in years, they had to travel to Pocatello quite often for doctors’ appointments and they would always eat at McDonalds.  Uncle Bob was a skinny guy and he got skinnier as he got older.  Being the Swan Lake gentleman he was, after they ordered, he told Gwen to go find a table and he would bring their food.  Gwen was sitting across the dining area when the order came up.  Bob got the tray in both hands and was balancing everything just fine as he navigated his way toward Gwen. He could feel something slipping as he moved toward their table but couldn’t do much about it because his hands were full.  Gwen said it was quite a sight.  Bob standing in the middle of McDonald’s, holding the tray with his pants down around his ankles.  Bob loved to tell the story almost as much as his son, Kent (aka Fuzz).

Well, those were the sort of tales the Swan Lake folk would hear around the radiators at Thomas Mercantile.  When we entered Merc 2.0 we were happy to see the radiators were still central and the new owner had added some great tractor seat stools around those radiators.  Our breakfast burritos were tasty.  We bought a couple of the stools for Brett’s new home, and we came back to Malad happy to have Swan Lake connections.  It’s a Good Life when you can touch your roots on a Saturday morning and see an iconic building improved!