Our Big Trip

It's been a while since Jim and I have been on a vacation together. The last couple of years it has been Girls Camp and Trek. This year we were determined we were going to do something even if it was close. So last week, we took off for Southern Utah. Here is our play by play:
Day 1: After stopping at Keith's to say goodbye, and giving our grand-daughter a big kiss, we were headed down the highway. Our first stop was the Manti Temple. Neither Jim or I had been inside the temple so we were really looking forward to going through a session. It's a beautiful Temple. Very old fashioned and the old furniture was wonderful. There were a few weddings, but for the most part it wasn't too busy. We took our time and enjoyed the peacefulness. After we got out of the temple we headed for Richfield. The weather was perfect. No rain and mild temperatures. We reached Richfield and secured our room. We hadn't had lunch so we went for a bite. Stopped at the store and loaded up our cooler for the next day, because we wouldn't be near any services. We relaxed the rest of the evening.

Day 2: We had a little breakfast at the hotel and was back on the road heading south. The drive was very scenic, and before long we had reached our destination. We set up our tent, unfortunately there was no shade. We weren't too concerned because it wasn't very hot. We fixed us some lunch and drove over to Goblin Valley. WOW!! It was unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it. Thousands of rocks that looked just like little goblins. It was fascinating. We walk all over looking at the many different shapes and sizes. Some had faces others took on shapes of dinosaurs. We spent the rest of the day walking and looking around the area. I realized this was where they filmed one of my favourite movies "Galaxy Quest". It's hysterical.

We enjoyed watching the young families camped around us. It brought back a lot of memories camping with Keith as a boy. As the sun set we climbed in the tent and talked until we fell asleep. It was not very comfortable. I guess I have grown out of the sleeping bag age. My body can't take the hard ground. It was a really nice camp ground with flush toilets and showers. Next time we will remember to bring some thick padding to sleep on.

Day 3: We headed for Cedar City. If you have never been on Highway 12 it's a must! It is defiantly one of the most scenic highways. Such a diversity of scenery and beautiful!! The drive was up and down steep hills and at times it was straight down on each side of us. I was a nervous wreck at those times, but thank heavens there was only a few. I was amazed at the colors in the rock. It seamed to be laid in layers of colors. We stopped at Ruby's Inn just outside of Bryce Canyon and had lunch. The last time we were there (about 23 yrs. ago) it was just a tiny little building with not much around. Now it's a whole street full of buildings and places to visit. We went through the Fremont Indian ground and took some pictures of the old pictographs. It was pretty cool. I loved the wild flowers that grew right out of the rocks. The dessert is an amazing place.

We spent the night in Cedar city, and enjoyed a nice soft bed.

My Hero!!

Day 4: We were up and on our way to St. George before Eleven. That's when we started having car problems. The engine was making a terrible sound and would bang and jerk us forward. By the time we arrived in St. George the car was over heating. We stopped and let it cool down while we did a little shopping. It cooled down so we headed for Mountain Meadows when it started all over again. We felt it was a sign and turn around and headed to the Hotel. We checked in and called a couple of good friends to see if they could tell us what might be going on. We let it cool down again while we went through a session at the St. George Temple. We both felt better when we came back to the hotel. We couldn't take the car out and about so we walked around and got a bite to eat.

Day5: After getting ready and checking out it was about 9:30. We took the car to the dealers to see if they could fix it. We didn't eat breakfast because neither of us was hungry. Three hours later they had found the problem and there was no guarantee that was all. The price tag for fixing it was far more than we felt the car was worth. Jim and I had talked before the trip and had previously decided that as soon as we got back home we were going to have to get a new car. Well, we told them no thanks we would just pay the bill and take the car as is. We drove down the street, not too far, and pulled into the Honda dealers. Four and a half hours later we pulled out of the dealers in a new car. I don't think there was anyone more surprised than Keith. He had been calling us to make sure all was well when we told him what we were doing. He couldn't believe we would do something so spontaneously. We reassured him we had been looking for a new car and talking about it for quit a while now and this wasn't a rash decision.

It was 6:00 by now and we were both so hungry we were about to faint . We stopped and grabbed a little something and by 7:00 we were on the road back home. Yes, we cut our trip short, but after all that had happened we were ready to be home. We arrived home at about 10:30 that night, unloaded the car and fell into bed.

We really did have a great trip up to the point our car gave out. Looking back on the first part of our trip and the hills we drove and the amount of millage we had already put on we knew the Lord was watching over us until we could reach St. George and could get help.

If you haven't ever seen goblin valley or driven down hwy. 12, it's a must. What beautiful scenery.