Grand Visit with Wonderful Friends

Jewel and Andy standing by the last remaining wagon from the Hole in the Rock

I was going to title this "Great Visit with Old Friends" but that was just a little bit too literal!! Where did the years go? Jewel and I decided it had been about 35 years since we had seen each other!!! She still looks like Jewel...I would have recognized her anywhere - she couldn't say the same about me. Nor Andy - and he hasn't put on weight - just the gray hair. When he grinned I finally saw the old (young) Andy.

I guess a little bit of history here -Jewel was my first roommate in College in 1965 - I remember she and Pat moved in with me about the first day of school that fall quarter. Pat didn't come back after Fall quarter and Linda and Sally moved out of the dorms and in with us and the four of us roomed together for two years after which we ALL got married - first Sally, then Ed and I , then Linda and then Jewel. I helped do the decorations for her wedding. Jewel and I are third cousins!! Through Lars Nielson on my dad's side and on her mother's side. We had never met before becoming roommates. She grew up in Oak City - just 14 miles from Leamington!

After college Jewel and Andy moved to California for a short while until he was drafted and went to Vietnam. Jewel finished college and then went to Blanding to teach. Andy had been born and raised in Blanding and Jewel lived with her in-laws and taught school there. A few years after he got out of the Army Andy got a job in Kayenta Arizona (about 80 miles South of Blanding) and he stayed there for 35 years until the job closed - he retired from that company in 2008 and he and Jewel returned to Blanding. They had bought a nice piece of property in 1982 just North of the city and that is where they are now living. They have a lovely home and are really enjoying it. I didn't realize that Monticello is over 7000 feet in elevation and Blanding is over 6000 feet. When I asked Jewel about their winters - she just said "IT IS WINTER!!" After 35 years in Kayenta I would imagine it would be hard getting used to cold winters again!

Jewel and Andy have three children, two daughters and one son, and one grandson. When we arrived Tuesday afternoon we talked and talked and talked. We went to the Monticello Temple Tuesday night. Then we talked and talked an talked some more the whole week! We enjoyed our visit with them so very much. It is amazing that after 35 years we could feel so comfortable with virtual strangers at this point!

Wednesday we went four wheeling out of Bluff Utah through some of the same areas that our ancestors traveled over. We got to see and climb up to some Anasazi ruins from 900 AD - 1200 AD!! We could see their sleeping areas and their storage areas and were amazed that the mortar in their bricked up areas was still so solid after a thousand and more years!


We ATV'd to San Juan Hill which is a rough rocky hill that couldn't be traversed around - they had to go over it and they still tell how they would hitch 7-9 horses, oxen and mules to each wagon to pull them up and over that horrible hill. They said that as one horse would start to founder others would be getting back to their knees and still others would be pulling...then another would go down and on and on and on. They said that by the time they got all of the wagons up and over the hill it was covered in the blood and hair of the animals knees(?) ... this was the Hole in the Rock group who had already spent six months trying to find a way to the Bluff area. I think the main 'climb' of the hill is farther to the left. I will have to see if Ed has a better picture of it on his computer.

This is the one wagon still 'living' after all these years that was part of the Hole in the Rock Expedition.

We went into Bluff and went to the museum there - they had a fascinating movie that told about the trials of the pioneers who went through the Hole in the Rock

They are in the process of rebuilding the fort there - the descendants of each family group that had a home in the fort is invited to donate about $15,000 and a couple of weekends to go in and rebuilt the cabins where their family lived. I wonder if the Lillywhites will do that. (Ed's great Aunt Mary Ellen Willden Lillywhite was part of that group with her husband and five children, one little boy less than six months old! She would have been a sister to Feargus).

After we left the museum we went to a fun restaurant called The Trading Post - I believe it is run by Indians, and had some Indian Fry Bread. I THOUGHT I had had Indian fry bread before but that was always served with butter and honey. Imagine a delicious taco salad served on fry bread instead of taco chips!! Wow! It was so good. I wonder if there is anywhere here in Northern Utah that you could find it! Jewel and I had little ones and they were huge but sooo good to the very last bite.


The next day we went out towards Bridges National Monument and four wheeled all over - saw lots of lizards and a rabbit. The cactus are in bloom right now and they were beautiful. We saw yellow blossoms and pink blossoms and red blossoms.

This is a view half way up the mtn that we traversed - very dry desert

We were looking for an arch that we never found but we did find slick rock (ugh) and drove through mud and sand and water and found some horrible ATV roads and some pretty good ones. We drove up the old road from Bluff to Hite and it is no longer used for a road but I wouldn't have wanted to pass another vehicle on it when it was in use - it is kind of like Farmington Canyon but alot narrower. The guys both had their Garmin's but neither had any maps loaded into it so we were lost a good part of the time but that just adds to the fun! (Ed left his computer at home by accident, and he called Jamie from Beaver worried that he had left it under the carport but not loaded into the truck. Jamie made Kelly go over and break into the house and make sure that it was still in the house. It was - it had never made its way out of the basement! Thanks Jamie and Kelly!) Thus no maps on Ed's Garmin. We NOW know where we were and where we should have gone!!! But that is what makes four wheeling so fun. Andy felt bad that he couldn't remember the way to the Arch but we had a great time looking for it!! And that is what it is all about.


I thought this was a fun picture of Jewel, Andy and Ed all looking out and taking pictures of the Anasazi ruins near one of the 'bridges of Bridges National Park"

You will have to enlarge this picture to see the ruins - they were across a big gully but fascinating to study. They are tucked into the cliff with a small living or storage area at the far left, a bunch of 'homes' in the middle. To the far right we could see even more ruins. The climb down to the water was not an easy one - but the Indians would have been very protected from their enemies when they pulled up the ladders or whatever helped them up and down the cliff side.

The experts think that the people that lived here only did so in the winter and moved up onto the high plateau areas in the summer where they farmed! There was a natural bridge here but you could only see it 'sideways' so I didn't even take a picture of it!!!

This was the third of the three bridges in Bridges National Monument. This is actually the smallest of the three but it is also the most famous - There are pictures from the early 1900's of men on horses posed on top of it! It is called 'landscape arch'.

These are some friends at Landscape arch - I have a picture with all four little chipmunks out at the same time but I pulled in the wrong picture. I set the raisins there on the rock thinking they might want to eat them, but they just sniffed them. It will take them a while to decide they are safe!

At this point we headed back to Jewel and Andy's for a delicious meal. Jewel is a great cook and she fed us well the whole time we were there. Both Wednesday evening and Thursday evening I worked on jewelry while we set and visited. I gave her one of my copper illusion necklaces to say thanks for such a fun week- I hope she enjoys it.
Finally - it was time to head back home. We packed up and told Jewel and Andy good bye and headed out - we headed back North through Monticello and on to Moab. Arches National Monument sits just North of Moab and we thought we would just drive through and look. Hah!! We ended up spending several hours hiking and looking and enjoying the beautiful arches. We hiked about a quarter of a mile to see this...as we were taking pictures I told Ed that we were dumb!! We see this arch on our license plates every day!! But again - seeing it in person is really special. We took the short trail - there was a 3.5 mile hike we could have taken and gone right out under the arch. If you enlarge this picture and look closely you can see the tiny ants - those are people out there taking pictures and walking up to and around the arch.

We did walk up to this arch - it was only a few hundred feet away and it was gorgeous. It is actually three arches in one. I climbed right up in it. It was so beautiful - an totally amazing when you think that it started out to be solid rock but through thousands and thousands of years of wind and rain and freezing opening were literally carved out of rock.

We got home late Friday evening - tired but so glad we made the trip. Thanks again Andy and Jewel for a wonderful week and some great memories. You are still wonderful, old friends!!

A Terrifying Sight!

A week ago today Grandpa Merritt had a fight with the ATV and LOST - he hit a big bump the wrong way and went airborne and then the bike turned upside down and landed on top of him.

Merritts shoulder after he lost the battle with the ATV!!!


It was the day before we were heading back home and Ed and I and dad (plus two friends Patty and Gary from Boise) all decided on a trip to see the 'footprint' in the rock. We figured we could ride the ATV's over and eat our lunch and then head back and be back to the trailer in a couple of hours. Gary was leading on their ATV that is made for two riders. Dad was in the middle on my four wheeler and Ed and I were sharing his bike since Dad's bike had died the day before.



We stopped at the petroglyphs on our way. Gary took the wrong path so we meandered through the desert for a few miles until we found the right road again - but that was okay - I took pictures of the pretty cactus




Here Edward and Gary and Patty are looking at the Petroglyphs









Once we got to the canyon we stopped and hiked down to the footprint in the rock, maybe 100 yds. It is an amazing sight - it looks so natural, like someone had stepped in the mud, except the mud is solid stone. They said there is a smaller footprint (like that of a woman) farther up the canyon. We had lunch and relaxed and then headed back to the trailers.



We followed a paved road back to the highway, crossed the highway and headed up the ATV trail that runs along side of Hiway 95. We were just a few miles from the trailers and were driving at about 15 miles an hour because the road is so dusty, up and downy, and that is the speed limit.

Again - Gary and Patty were leading, dad was in the middle and Ed and I in the rear. As we drove down into a wash and then back up again we had to brake because it was a steep little wash. As we came out of the wash I saw what I thought was a turned over car. Then I realized that it was a turned over ATV. THEN I REALIZED IT WAS MY DAD'S ATV!!

That is one of the scariest things I ever remember seeing. Ed hit the brakes and we scrambled off of the bike and ran to dad. I could hear him moaning...

Ed and I each took one end of the ATV and lifted it off of dad, rolling it onto its side. Dad was as white as a ghost, laying partially on his side and partially on his back - I don't remember what was said - just 'are you alright' ...and he said I think so - let me lay here.

I pulled off my jacket and pushed the edge of it under his cheek as he was lying on the rocks and sand. We couldn't see any blood and we wouldn't let him get up. Ed went over to the ATV and rolled it twice more to get it on its wheels - all by himself. Talk about adrenaline!

Two women in a truck had pulled off the road and they came running over - they had seen it happen. They said all of sudden he went airborne and then the whole bike rolled and came down on top of him.

I think they are the ones that suggested calling 911. Of course dad said no, I will be fine, just let me lay here for a minute. Edward walked away and pulled out his cell phone and I could here him telling them that there had been an ATV accident at mile marker 99.

We tried to make dad comfortable but would not let him sit up or get up as he wanted to. He kept saying I can move my legs and toes and fingers and hands. I am okay.

We pulled his cell phone and sunglasses out of his pocket. I sat them on the ground next to his hat saying something like we will put all of your stuff here in a pile so we don't lose any of it. He looked at the hat and said "that's not my hat" - i said yes it is. Ed bought it for you. He said, "no its not! I don't have a hat like that". I said yes it is. He was about to argue some more with me but just then Patty and Gary arrived, not having realized that no one was following them for about a mile up the road. They had stopped and waited and finally came back to investigate.

Patty said she thought dad had had a heart attack or something - laying out on the ground. The bike looked fine. (and it was other than crushed handlebars which Edward pulled back into place the next day).

We told them that the ambulence was on its way and just then a police car came up and the officer came over and kept me busy answering questions about dad's name, age, SS number, address...what had happened etc.

Dad mentioned to me that the only thing that was missing was his lower dentures. So we all started looking for them. The two ladies, the officer, Ed and I and Patty and Gary. WE figured they should show up pretty well against the rocks and dirt but we couldn't see them anywhere.

It was about two pm when the ambulence showed up (after a long 6-8 minutes - which isn't too bad really) and the two paramedics again had to get all of his information as they checked dad out. They checked the neck and spine very closely. All of this time dad is saying I am fine. Finally they said I think your spine is fine, but we want to take you to the hospital for a closer check. Dad said he didn't think that was necessary and then the police officer asked me some more questions and when I got back to dad, he was saying "Susan, do you think I should go to the hospital? I thought don't ask me! Just then though they helped him to sit up and he groaned in pain. They laid him back down and I said 'it sounds like it might be a good idea.' When asked where the pain was dad reached up to his left neck area. They immediately decided to put him on the c-spine board.

While they were doing that, another ambulence, two more patrol cars and an EMT truck all showed up too - I think this was the most exciting thing happening in the whole county at the moment and so they all had to come "help". It was wild- and you know how much dad dislikes extra attention!

We had everyone looking for dads denture at this point and finally dad whispered to me "I think I didn't put it in this morning". No wonder we couldn't find his teeth - they were back at the trailer!

I tried to take a couple of pictures when they had dad on the stretcher and he said NO PICTURES!!! and I ignored him as any dutiful daughter would. But when I downloaded my pictures they were no good. Evidently the dial setting had turned on my camera and the light washed everything out. All you can see are the bluejeans on the legs of the paramedics!! and a slight edge of the stretcher. Next time I will listen to my father!

It was decided that I would ride in the front seat of the ambulence over to Blythe California which is the nearest hospital. Dad said the ride in back was rough and noisy - I thought ambulences would have the best shocks available!!! Ed rode my ATV 9the one

We got to the hospital and everyone was very helpful and friendly. The sherriff showed up and I again gave him all of dad's information. I have dad's social security number memorized now!!

They brought in a portable x-ray machine and took x-rays of his neck and chest. They checked him over a little bit and then we waited for the results. Then they decided they needed to do a CT scan of his neck....by this time he had been strapped to the c-spine board for about four hours and it was really hurting his head. Evidently the collar holding his head in place was digging into a scrape on the back of his head. He said it felt like his head was laying on a knife edge. The technician had to repeat the CT scans three times because dad would start to spasm from his inability to stop the pain. It was a miserable experience for him. Even after they brought him back to the ER stall he was still hurting so badly. His arm would start to spasm and then it would move through his whole chest. We asked the doctor and the nurse to put a little padding or something at the back of his head and they said they didn't dare do anything until they knew that he didn't have a broken spine. Finally Ed gave dad a blessing - after that dad was able to relax and sleep for a while -

Then it took another couple of hours before they got the CT scans read and it was decided that he didn't have a broken back. At that point the doctor came in and removed the neck brace and literally picked up the side of the c-spine board and shook dad off of it. I am sure that had to hurt dad's shoulder but he was so relieved to have the pressure off of the back of his head that he didn't complain.

I wasn't impressed a whole lot with the doctor. I thought the nurses were fantastic - I think the doctor would have released him then and there if we hadn't gone and told the nurse that even though he didn't have a broken back his shoulder still HURT!!! We also mentioned to the doctor that he had several deep lacerations on his head that no one had bothered to look at that might need stitches. He walked over and looked at the one on the top of his head and said that it had already scabbed over and he didn't want to clean it for fear that it would break open again and then he would have to have stitches. Dad's whole head was covered with dust from the ATV ride and dirt from the accident. I guess they weren't worried about germs from dirt!

So we waited and waited for them to xray his shoulder. There were several other people also requiring x-rays and the poor technician was working as fast as he could. They rolled dad's bed into the x-ray room and the tech let ed and I go in with him. Then he had dad stand up (after laying flat on his back for six and a half hours at this point!) and stand in front of the x-ray machine for four x-rays - each time I expected dad to fall over - he wasn't all that stable on his feet. But dad did fine. Then the technician showed dad where the restroom was and then headed out the door. I decided that dad could be wheeled back to his room rather than sticking him back in the bed. So I went and found a wheelchair and Ed and I got him and his IV back to the room in good shape. I think the xray technician wondered what had happened to his patient when he went back to get him!

Finally the doctor came in and said - you have a broken collar bone. Dad immediately said "doctor, that can't be right. I have never had a broken bone in my whole life!" The doctor didn't say a word, he just held up the x-ray!!! And there it was in black and white. Dad didn't argue after that.

They can't do much for a broken collarbone! They put his arm in a sling and gave him some pain meds - He was released at 9 pm -

We got him into the truck and headed back to Arizona where we put him to bed for the night.

We stayed in Quartzsite an extra day as he had to go back to see a doctor for a follow up visit. We found out that there had been 3 ATV rollovers brought into that hospital in two days !! One guy had a broken jaw and broken ribs, one guy had a broken collarbone and a broken wrist - dad got off easy with just the broken collarbone. ;-) The doctor told him that he had badly sprained his neck muscles and probably every muscle in his body and that the collarbone would take a good two weeks to start feeling better. The muscle aches all over his body hurt him the most the first few days. Both of his shoulders are covered with bruises - from both the ATV hitting him and him hitting the rocky ground. Not fun!!

Saturday morning we headed home - Sunday night we got here - 700 miles later! It was a long trip for dad. And its been a long week of recovery for him too. I don't think he has ever felt so helpless. It's amazing what you can't do without two good arms. Getting out of bed has been the most difficult thing so far. He has been at home taking care of himself with lots of visits from family and friends wanting to help more.

Quartzite, the pictures

It is Tuesday morning, January 27: I woke up at 7:30 and it is too cold to get up so I decided to blog. I just downloaded my pictures to my computer so I can share some of what I see every day with you all. I know I won’t get any sympathy when I say that it only got up to about 55 degrees today - but there was a bitter cold north wind blowing all day so dad and I stayed in the trailer all day. Hope-fully tomorrow we can go wander through the bazaar again. I understand it was really cold up North today too and the storms from Sunday and Monday are now causing all sorts of havoc clear across the nation. (It is now Thursday and much much warmer. We will go four wheeling this afternoon - yeah!!)

Anyway - this is a picture of our home away from home. As you can see we have ‘prettied it all up”. The morning after we got here I opened the door and here was the rock decorations with the solar lights - Ed had gotten up a couple hours early and had set out a row of rocks and then a circle of rocks with a solar light inside it and then more rocks and then another circle and so on. We bought the woven mat down here and it matches the color of the trailer really nice. The hummingbird hook holds the pretty metal wind decor so we are in great shape.



To the right of the trailer is my whirligig that blows in the wind. Here is a picture of it but its not blowing enough to make it spin. Then of course, the American Flag is always flying every day.


This is a tree that is just behind our trailer - it has such a personality. I think it is gorgeous! Of course it is desert green. And its prickly. Everything in the desert stings, pokes or pricks!!





I mentioned in my last blog that I ran into a friend that I used to work with at Job Corps and she and her husband went four wheeling with us.

I thought that this picture shows very well the type of country we are traveling over and camping in. Lots of rocks and desert landscaping. Very dry country.






Here is a picture of Jimmy and Jana and our friend the teddy bear choya where we stopped for an hour for lunch. We hiked around and sat and visited and relaxed. The choya are so big and full this year...I don’t know if its because of last years cool winter but they all looked so healthy this year.



The red barrel cactus show up well in this picture. I thought they were so pretty I had to buy some!! Ed and I picked out about six or seven different types of cactus and we are going to plant them out in front where the trees used to be. The only one I didn’t get that I would like to was the saguerro. I hope we can keep them dry enough!!!



The picture on the right is just a gorgeous canyon above Dripping Springs











This is the actual springs - very small and just dripping, not running!

Quartzsite

WOW!! there are sooooo many people here right now. But the weather is nice - it has been in the 70's almost every day although a little too windy. It rained off and on yesterday but still is warm. We have had fun shopping in the open bazaars - all the booths are crazy...and they are selling all sorts of fun stuff.

We bought a propane campfire that I am going to love. You can expect to get to roast marshmellows and hot dogs at grandma's house from now on.

We have tried all week to get online - the local library has Wi-Fi and we go and get the code and then can't get on because there are way too many all ready on line. I was lucky today.

I have taken time to read and comment on everyone's blogs and they were so fun. I am not even going to take the time to read my emails today. I've been here almost an hour just reading the blogs!

My Aunt Bonnie passed away - she is the one that lives in Littlefield AZ and we knew the end was near. We stopped on the way down and visited with her a little bit. She has had emphysema for years and now her poor heart simply gave out. Dad and I will drive up for the graveside services while Ed heads to Dayton Ohio. Littlefield is about 15 minutes from Mesquite.

Your cousin Sheena has thyroid cancer. I know very little about that cancer. Tbey removed part of her thyroid and when it was discovered that it was malignant they have set up another surgery to remove the rest of the thyroid. We will try and keep you all updated on it. SCARY and she is only 34! Same age as Mauri. Also, I just heard that Misty had a miscarriage on Monday and is broken hearted. Kevin's family are really suffering right now. Keep them in your prayers

I ran into a friend at Church Sunday that I worked with at Job Corps just before I quit in 04. Jana and her husband Jimmie also have 4 wheelers and we all went for a LONG ride on Wednesday. IT was great fun. Your poor grandpa was so totally exhausted - we were gone for five hours although we did stop at dripping springs for lunch and stayed about an hour there. So only four hours of riding. (He wasn't sure he could handle two!!) He was a trooper though and seemed to enjoy it all.

Well - I've been gone for almost four hours doing laundry, shopping and blogging. I better close and head back to the trailer.

We love you all and wish you could come down and enjoy the warmth for a few days with us. Take care - I love you all.

mom

We went camping!

I will post these pictures on the willden.org/gallery since my cute background shows up THROUGH the pictures!

This is a picture that I took on Saturday the 27th of September when we took our four wheelers and went up to Curtis Creek and spent the day enjoying the gorgeous scenery. I was disappointed because it was washed out but it still shows the beauty we enjoyed that day. The quakies were so fantastic. I had never seen them turn red before!!

When Ed found out that he was going to be in Kentucky for the whole month of October we decided we better camp while we could - it will be winter by the time he will be home for more than Friday night till Monday morning again. We headed back up to the Monte Cristo area with Grandpa Nielson on Wednesday the 1st of October. We camped at a new spot called Dry Bread Pond and it was a really nice campground. There are some really pretty camping spots in both Dry Bread Pond and Dry Bread Hollow. When we parked the trailer we didn't realize we were so close to the pond. Dad took this picture the next day of our camp site.We were disappointed that there were not more trails to four wheel on but we still managed several good rides. Ed took us up on Wednesday evening after work and got our camp all set up and then Thursday morning he headed back down to Clearfield to work. Dad and I slept in till about 9 am that morning and had a lazy breakfast when all of a sudden dad said "There's a moose!!". He was sitting so he had a good view of the hillside to the North. We both grabbed our camera's and headed outside to take some pictures. He hung around long enough for me to put my batteries back in my camera and let us snap pictures of him and then he headed back up into the trees just West of the pond.

Dad and I enjoyed Thursday - the sun was shining and it was a fantastic Fall day. We hopped on the ATV's and headed out to see where the trails led. We found a few other people camping but most of the area was empty. We followed the ATV trail to the North until it dead ended about two miles away. It was so funny - as we left the main dirt road and moved onto the ATV trail I noticed a 'jump' - very quickly I realized that they were speed bumps and they came every 1oo feet or so. Jamie thought the speed bumps were to see how fast you could go over them :-)

This is a view from the end of the trail on our first ride - we headed back down the trail, back past our campground and across the main highway to Dry Bread Hollow - we found a couple good prospective routes for later on and headed back to the trailer. We spent the afternoon eating, napping and reading in the sunshine. Very relaxing. We went on another nice long ATV ride down Dry Bread Hollow. I was following my dad at this point and stopped my bike to take a picture of this gorgeous alley of trees. Dad had just disappeared around the bend or else you would see him on the four wheeler on the road ahead of me. I think there are about 10 miles of trails on that side of the highway and it was a fun ride. Later on, we watched the moose as he showed up again that evening and dad and I both took more pictures. After dinner I was cleaning up the dishes and we were listening to the Palin-Biden debate when all of a sudden my trailer door opened...and there was Harley dog!!! And Kelly ...and Jamie. What a fun surprise. They decided at the last minute to come up and camp over night with us. We loved having them there. Jamie had gotten friday off so they were able to spend the night and all day the next day with us - camping and chasing mooses and riding ATV's. I think the only thing they didn't get to do was find some real good 4-wheel drive roads to try out his fancy new tires (for his truck) on.
This is friend moose that came to visit each day - actually, each morning and each evening. He had white legs!! We decided his mother was the abominable snowman.

The night Kelly and Jamie came they could hear noises like the moose was moving through the brush or trees and actually thought maybe it was fighting with a bear or something. About five minutes later Kelly and Jamie could hear water splashing. Once they realized that was what they were hearing Kelly jumped on Ed's ATV and headed over to see what was going on. I ran around to the back of our trailer and jumped on my ATV, slowing down as I went past the front door to see if Jamie wanted to ride with me. She said no, she would stay behind with Harley. When we got over near the pond Kelly and I both could see that there were FIVE moose - the bull was on the hillside watching out for the others, one cow was closer to the water and one cow and the two calves were IN the water splashing around!! It was totally dark outside but Kelly had Ed's MAG flashlight and the headlights on our ATV's also showed us what was going on. They all took off across the top of the pond and into the trees - we watched them all disappear. It was sooooo neat.

Here you can see the moose as he heads down the hill to the pond for a drink of water. He really was not scared of people or of ATV's - he's put up with them all summer after all. Harley was such a good baby Thursday night. He slept up on the big queen sized bed in the back of the trailer with Jamie and Kelly and we didn't hear a sound out of him all night long. Friday morning Kelly took Harley for a ride on the ATV's...Harley was not impressed! Later on, Jamie and I headed out for a nice ride over on the Dry Bread Hollow roads - that main trail is straight South for about five miles. and then we continued down the main road. I could see a silver truck heading North on that road coming towards me and my first thought was - it's Kelly but then I thought - he couldn't have gotten ahead of us and the road doesn't connect in anywhere else. I started to pull over so it could get past me but then I realized he had already pulled way off the road and was waiting for me. I was trying to figure out how to flash at him that there was another four wheeler in my party behind me but she had disappeared (you hold two fingers up to show there are 'two' of you. All of a sudden I realized it WAS Kelly and Harley!! As we had ridden down the main trail I had led Jamie up and back down a couple of side trails - so Kelly had driven all the way down and was on his way back up to find us when we showed up. Jamie came a couple minutes later - she had stopped to see the baby lamb that was staying close to his mama who was dead...I think she wanted to put him on the 4 wheeler with her but he wouldn't get too close to her.


We chatted for a second and then I headed down the trail - I went about 500 yards and realized that Jamie wasn't coming so I stopped and waited and sure enough she shows up with a Harley on her lap. He had thrown a fit when 'mama' had shown up and he wanted to ride with her. He was literally on her lap and made the driving difficult. We slowly went on down the rest of the road and when I got there here comes Harley and Jamie just a truckin! She had finally forced him to sit behind her and he realized that he could stick his head out to the side and get the wind in his face. He loved it!! Four wheelin Harley dog!!We headed back to the camp area, and Harley got back in the truck with Kelly - they headed off somewhere else and we four wheeled back to the trailer. Grandpa told us all about how the moose had shown up again for about 20 minutes - the moose had wandered in and out of the pond area and then walked clear across the hill to the trees just west of our trailer. He said he could hear the moose huffing - or making a huffing noise as he walked.

About noon that same day, the moose came back. Kelly and Harley were still off trucking some where and Jamie grabbed her camera and took of running across the field to get some good pictures of the moose. I panicked just knowing the moose was gonna attack her and I hopped on the ATV to save her, hoping that the moose couldn't outrun a four wheeler! Of course she was fine and although she got within 150 feet of the moose he didn't attack. Later on dad built a fire and we enjoyed sitting around a campfire before they headed back home.

So I think the three of them had a great time and they headed back home about 2:30 that afternoon. Dad and I lay down for a nap at that time and my dad really slept good for a solid two hours. I worked on my indexing offline after about a twenty minute nap and got several hundred names indexed.

We sat and read for another hour - the clouds were building and it was looking like it was going to rain and finally started clearing up. We knew Ed was coming and we knew that Kecia and Glenn and Emma would be there soon too, but about 5:25 we decided to bundle up and go for another ATV ride. We got hats and gloves and coats on and I ran back into the trailer to grab my camera and I heard dad say, no hurry, they are here... and sure enough, the Gilliams had arrived. They unloaded the whole car full of Emma stuff !! It was amazing how much easier it was on Kelly and Jamie to pack and come up compared to Emma - But Emma was a darling and well worth all the work her mama and daddy had to do to come camping. Ed arrived just in time for dinner and the clouds kept moving in.


Glenn and Kec took Emma on a ATV ride and she loved it. Laughing and hollering all the way. We thoroughly enjoyed Emma and her parents Friday night. We had drug in some wood and built a fire that night and roasted marshmellows after dinner. We listened to the radio as BYU beat Utah State and fed marshmellows to Emma. That night she really didn't want to lay down and go to sleep but she finally made it...until about midnight. I heard her crying a couple of times and I heard her giggling a couple of times. Kecia said she was awake until about 4 am... she ended up in the bed with mom and dad the rest of the night !! That was a first for them too!

Saturday morning was a bust weather wise. It was rainy and wet and cold.... grandma and mama took Emma for a nother ride and I got to see how much she loved the ride. Kec was driving and I was holding her and she would stand on my leg and literally bounce as she oohed and laughed and giggled - it was soooo cute.
Poor Glenn was coming down with a head cold when they got there on Friday afternoon and it went from bad to worse. He actually sounded better Saturday morning after a night's sleep but pretty soon he was sounding hoarse and not good. Ed fed him a couple of Alka Seltzer's and they helped. We finally gave up on the weather and had lunch about 2 pm and then they packed up and headed home. We got packed up and were gone within an hour of them so we probably all got home about the same time. It was wet and rainy - 41 degrees on top of the mtn and warming up to 50 when we got to Layton. I am glad that it didn't snow on us.

Here is a short video taken Friday morning as Glenn slept and Emma looked cute in Grandpa Ed's hat.

The trip was so fun...My dad loved the camping and so did I. It wasn't too much fun for Ed but I am so glad he did this for me before he heads to Kentucky on Tuesday. It was great having my kids there and Ed and I decided we have been too selfish with our camping this summer and need to make sure we have camping time with all of our kids and grandkids next summer when it warms up again. Plan on it!

Do we have to come home??

This is a picture of the camping area - or at least it shows the steps up and down the mtn side - they lead up to the club house and swimming pool area. We had a wonderful week there.

Ed and I finally drug in on Sunday afternoon about 3:00 after a week of fun and sun and four wheeling and visiting with fun people - laying around the pool and watching movies. We had a wonderful time and it was so very relaxing.

We went four wheeling almost every day - we discovered a beautiful little valley that we went back to a couple of times. It was just about 2o minutes from our camp and it was totally isolated. The first time we found it we ate our lunch and laid out in the sun and just enjoyed the green beauty. When we went back, we took a blanket and laid it out in the shade and ate our lunch and had a nice nap. And again, enjoyed the quiet serenity. I should have taken my camera but I didn't so I don't have pictures of it.

The day that we went to Placerville was another hot beautiful summer day - blue skies, not a cloud anywhere. We got up and got going early enough that most of the trip was completed before the heat of the afternoon sun got too uncomfortable. It was pretty easy riding most of the way - lots of gorgeous green mountains and tumbling rivers and streams. Alot of the country there have year round homes but it is ALL accessed by dirt roads... Placerville is a little mountain village that had its start in the 1869 gold rush of Idaho and now it is home to probably 150 people - nice village square and old museums that sadly enough were closed (they open for the tourists on weekends). We had lunch in the village square and wandered around looking in the windows. We followed the road signs up to the old cemetery. That is a favorite pasttime of ours - wandering through old cemeteries! They liked to build wrought iron fences around the family plots.


We met lots of new people at the campground this year and lots of old favorites. Some of these same people go to Quartzsite each winter and so we get to renew old acquaintences.This is a view out of my bedroom window of our trailer. I took it early one morning as the sun shone down on the flowers. The mountain is beautiful. You can see Larry's trailer just above where our trailer sat. They have terraced the side of the mountain to allow full access to it for all of the campers. Some of us are visitors, some lease their lots and some own their lots outright. But it is a pleasant and friendly group of people from Washington state, Idaho and Utah.

There are wild turkeys that claim the area as their own. I'm not sure if they can be considered wild anymore...I swear Ed carried on a conversation with one of them over the type of crackers he was tossing out to them. They really liked the whole wheat ritz crackers!! Weren't too impressed with either the popcorn or the cheddar cheese crackers! FUN!! I need to get Ed's pictures and download them onto my computer so I can add them to this post.

They play a movie each saturday night at the club house and both were fun. They set the screen out on the patio and everyone brings their popcorn, their jackets and own chairs. The first weekend was Young Frankenstein...what a hoot. The second week was "The Bucket List" and I would recommend that movie to anyone.

Its good to be back home - now that I have caught up on everything. Monday I did wash all day and cleaned my house. Tuesday I spent it running from Rocky Mtn to Grandpa's house and completing all sorts of things on my to do list. Today I cleaned the front part of the trailer till is shined. The bikes are still in there and so I will have to dust and mop the back out when Ed gets home this weekend and moves them.This is a picture of the view around our trailer. There is a nice redwood deck - the couple that own this individual campsite have built the deck to sit on and enjoy. After breakfast and after supper it is the nicest place to sit and relax and read a book.

It was a great week and I know we will go back again and again - our only complaint is that it is sooooo far away!