Fall Break - St. George

For Fall break we took off for four days to St. George. We all needed a break from our busy schedule, and we love the warmer days and bigger skies of Southern Utah. It is like I exhale from living in the city. As much as I love where we live, it does require a certain amount of energy.

The day we left, one of Ceci's goldfish died (she won two fish at Adele's humanitarian festival a few weeks ago). She said, "William Shakespeare died and Gandhi (her other fish) was freaking out." That made me laugh. He was wrapped in a paper towel for a proper burial with our other deceased pets in one of our planter boxes on the balcony.

The first two days there we did a little school shopping (which we haven't found time to do at home) and Ceci and Adele got a new hairdo. This was their first time to a real Salon (not Dollar Cuts) and they loved the head massage.

Going, going...

Gone!

Across the street was a super fun and funky antique/consignment-type shop. We spent a good long while browsing around. It was so nice to not be in a hurry.

Friday night we picked Geoff up at the St. George airport. He was returning from a week in Japan at a Young Global Leader annual conference. As always, he had all sorts of interesting experiences, such as going to a Zen Cooking class, meditating at a temple, and meeting all sorts of amazing people doing extraordinary things. Here he is with the monk who led the meditation:

He visited a beautiful Japanese garden:

With one day left we decided to hike Kanaraville Falls. It was crowded, and the water completely numbed our feet, it was soooo frigid, but boy was it spectacular! Joann, Tag and Dooz joined us too.

Joann, the boys, Adele and I turned back at the first falls, but Geoff, Tennie and Ceci continued on the the second falls.

Tennie fit in a lot of driving too. She's getting better and better!

Now back to school and work!

TREK - Days Three and Four

On day three we walked 14 miles, including Rocky Ridge. This was the actual trail the pioneers took when out of food, starving and literally frozen. Fourteen souls died after this day and were buried in a common grave.

We were really blessed with weather and a breeze. Only one adult became dehydrated, and there weren't any mosquitoes because of the breeze. No one saw a single rattlesnake, and only one person had one tick. This was miraculous given the report of our neighbor stake who had been to the same location the week before! However, we had just enough taste of discomfort to really contemplate the suffering of those early Saints. It was tiresome to walk and many got blisters, it got a little warm in the day and a little cold in the night. We got hungry enough that arriving into camp where amazing food awaited us nearly brought us to our knees in gratitude. On day three we had to get the handcarts through two thick, mud pits. Not everyone took them through, but watching the difficulty and team work of all who volunteered was inspiring. And on this final day of walking the wind was a little more severe and it was hard to breathe in all the dust. Many wore bandanas over their nose and mouth. But we were incredibly prepared, thanks to our great organizers, and had minimal physical issues.

The final day was really long, but fun too, just as I imagine the days were for our pioneers.

This day had some inclines before Rocky Ridge. Rocky Ridge was hard. There is no doubt those weary pioneers had heavenly help.

There's Tennie in the front pulling her cart up Rocky Ridge:

I have to say that I was really impressed with Adele (in pink bonnet above) on trek. She strongly dislikes to walk, and she tires easily. She resisted going on walks in preparation. Her family invited her to ride in the wagon, but she later told me she wanted to walk every step of the way, and she did.

I laughed when I saw the picture below. Somebody thought the camera was focused on her...

Tennie, Adele and I shared the story of who we were walking for:

This horse-drawn wagon came riding by out there in the middle of nowhere!

It was so peaceful, almost reverent, on those long stretches. There were cattle, and wild deer leaping across the expanse, as well as jack rabbits who thought they were super camouflaged.

As we walked in to camp, so exhausted from a long day, the food committee, stake presidency and bishopric members and a few youth who hadn't walked this long day, lined the trail and applauded. Imagining those deeply worn out Saints pulling into Salt Lake with members lining the streets ready to wash and cloth and feed and warm and comfort them was very emotional. Again, just a taste. We welcomed the hearty dinner. Here I am recalling the day with Keenan:

That night we had a testimony meeting where our stake sang Fire of the Covenant.

That night we all slept well, despite the thick layer of frost that covered us! We enjoyed a delicious and nutritious breakfast from this amazing food team:



We packed up camp and walked through Rock Creek Hollow where the pioneers camped that night and buried 14 souls.

 

Adele and a few others in her family snuck away and had a chilly morning swim in the nearby river.

The rest of us took a final group photo:



And then we discovered that one of the three buses had a flat tire. What do you do in the middle of nowhere Wyoming with a flat tire? Wait SEVEN HOURS for a replacement bus. Luckily after everyone waited a few hours it was decided two buses should go on. Luckily we were on one of those two buses (since we would get home that evening, have the next day to pack, and leave for Europe early the next day). Those poor souls who waited the full seven hours drove about 20 minutes on a dirt road to the main road when the bus broke down! Thankfully someone in a local town knew how to fix the problem and they were only delayed an extra TWO HOURS!

We survived trek! We were REALLY tired, and very FULL.