8-County Tour

Months ago, Scott's sister Nikki mentioned to the whole family that she had a practically free condo (two, in fact!) at Brian Head for a week in January, and they could only use half of the week, and did anyone want to use it.  Nobody chimed in as I inconspicuously lunged for my calendar.   

 The day came, and with some difficulty, we drew a line in the sand and left our daily activities behind.  We left late enough on Thursday so that all the kids could make an appearance at school, but too early to get Ptolemy to his noon dance class.  In fact, we missed eleven ballet classes during our three-day trip, not to mention all the other stuff that we missed or rescheduled.  All I have to say for myself is that free condos at ski resorts don't just happen every day.

With that said, Scott and Golda couldn't shirk quite enough duties to join us.  Nevertheless, by early afternoon, we had lunched at IKEA, bought light bulbs, and were om-ing at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.

 Well, we didn't actually meditate, but the llamas looked pretty serene.  After I warned Tziporah that they could bite, she would hold out her hand and say, "Bite me, llama!  Bite my hand!"  I would be interested in going back to the temple for the Festival of Colors.  You get all the color with none of the running!

 We carried all that Hare Hare with us for a serene drive to Panguitch and up into the mountains, where we found our warm, cozy condo waiting for us.  Even though one condo was big enough for me and all the littles, we couldn't just have the other condo feeling lonely, could we?  Ari and Free took over the second condo, allowing us all to have a real bed, something Dopps don't usually do in hotels, since we're notorious for crowding in.

 Nikki and Clint had left tons of food for us, which we combined with our food to make some great meals.  Tziporah could hardly wait to say the prayer over the cinnamon rolls!

 A-MEN!  Wait, was I taking pictures during the prayer?  No, just before and after. :)

 Ari's favorite was the sauna.  I remember my dad loving the sauna and making us kids stay in with him until he counted to 100 in French.  I also remember him forgetting a few numbers, and it taking forever!  I made Freestone and Xanthe count to 100 in French before they could get out, just for old times sake.

 Hours spent in the hot tub, in 15-minute increments, of course, since we wouldn't want to break any rules.  Actually, Tziporah spent more like 15 seconds at a pass, before getting out to spend 15 seconds in the pool, then back to the hot tub.  Thank heavens for floaties.  They are a game changer!

 Xanthe could easily be a mermaid, she's so comfortable in the water.

All day Friday, we had the whole pool area to ourselves while everyone else battled the icy, barren slopes.  I was so glad we weren't trying to ski in those conditions, although I do miss skiing and I plan to get back to it next year, when Tziporah is bigger.

 At Brian Head proper, there is really nothing to do, which worked out perfectly for us.  "Nothing to do and not enough time to do it," as my Uncle Paul says at their cabin in Montana.

 We did a whole lotta nothing and loved it.  Notice little Don Carlos in Freestone's coat?  Well, fortunately, nobody at the hotel did.  He was a perfect gentleman, the Don.  He never barks, and never really even walks around.  He just loves to snuggle up in a blanket, so this was the perfect trip for him.

 Ruby made soup out of Nikki's veggie tray and a soup mix we brought.

 I was worried about Tziporah sleeping, but she was great.  I heard her talking in her sleep, "I go in my hot tub...my hot tub..."

 The Parowan Petroglyphs were tricky to find, despite the fact that they were the #1 attraction out of 2 attractions in Panguitch, according to Trip Advisor.  My GPS led me to Evans Trucking Company, where we were parked tryng to figure out where to go when Chris Evans sauntered out in his overalls and gave us detailed instructions.  He's writing a book about the area, he said, and knows every square inch.  In fact, most of the surrounding land was his ranch.   He described in detail where all the good petroglyphs were, but we couldn't spot most of them.  We had to settle for just the most famous.  All the while, Ptolemy was saying, "Petroglyph isn't a real word!"

 We were cracking up at this sign.  I read out loud, "Each year, millions of visitors enjoy the Parowan Gap National Historic area."  At that, we all scanned the horizon, at the wind whistling around us and our 360 degree view of nothingness.  We figured a million people a year is 2,739 a day.  On this day, they were just short 2,732 people, that's all.

 Millions of people a year!  Just not today.

 No, I would never let Ruby drive before she gets her permit, mainly because of the millions of people on the roads in Iron, Beaver, Millard and Juab Counties.

Wha....?

 I said to Ruby, "Do NOT let me take a detour just to see what's out there."

And then I did it anyway.  See, we were off the interstate already, and I'd never seen the West Desert and never been to Delta or Milford.  Blame it on NPR.  KUER mentions all these towns and it makes you wonder what it's like there, and then one Saturday, you have no schedule to keep and you're practically there and it's sortof on the way home.  One left turn and you're recalculating.

 If we hadn't recalculated, we would never have seen this fort, so HA!  I'm not sure how effective it was in its day, but...

  And that was only the beginning of our detour.  Next stop:  the Great Basin Historic Museum, where we just happened to be the first visitors of the day.  (Where were those other 2,000 people??) The curator turned on ALL the lights for us, and we each got to pick out our own piece of obsidian.  Even me!

 The actual Great Basin National Park was only 90 miles west of us, but Ruby strong-armed me into NOT taking that detour.  She pointed out, "We've been driving through the Great Basin for hours already!  Look around!  Great Basin National Park looks JUST LIKE THIS!"  Ptolemy was singing a song he made up, the lyrics of which were, "The middle of nowhere!  We're in the middle of nowhere..."

 We took a shorter detour, which nobody could have deterred me from taking, although nobody really tried.  Those poor kids had no idea where we were, or if we were headed toward or away from our house.  Besides, they were interested in the story of the World War II Japanese internment camps, and more than happy to follow our museum map to find the site of the Topaz Internment Camp.  As we drove miles and miles west, we imagined that the government had asked us to leave our house and move out here.  One of Freestone's friends had had his grandmother come and talk to Freestone's class.  She had lived in one of the internment camps.

There will be more to this monument in the future.  We wandered enough to get good and muddy, but there was far more land to explore, and we could see relics from the road.

 From that dark chapter, driving east, we gradually made our way back to civilization, back to the I-15 corridor, back to the inversion, and back to Scott and Golda.  Home is always a welcome sight, but far from satiating my overactive travel bug, this trip made me aware of how many nooks and crannies there are to explore, right here in Utah (And Nevada, if Ruby had let me drive ALL the way across the Great Basin!)  If we can tame real life here and there just long enough to give us a crack of time, the possibilities are endless...