Camping at the Wedge Overlook

My husband's new favorite recreation location is the San Rafael Swell. He has been there 4 times since April. He likes it for several reasons: very few people, lots of cool scenery, not too far away from our house, and lots of recreational opportunities. Our latest trip was this last week. We went camping for just one night for our kids' fall break. I wasn't planning on coming since camping when I'm pretty much guaranteed to be cold is not my idea of fun. But I decided it would be fun to spend some time with my family, my girls would enjoy going instead of staying home with me, and I figure I can do just about anything for one night.

I forgot to bring the can opener! So Talmage showed me how to open cans using the cement block on the fire pit which didn't work quite as well with tomato sauce. Fortunately there was also a neighbor who loaned us their can opener.

After renting some mountain bikes and packing up the car, we drove to the Wedge Overlook at the San Rafael. This overlooks Utah's Little Grand Canyon. It really does look like the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale. The little creek at the bottom is not the Colorado River but instead the San Rafael River which only qualifies for that name about one month of the year in the spring when it has lots of runoff. And that's on a good snow year. We have been there before when it's been super windy, but thankfully this time it was not.

We set up camp, did some mountain biking, ate dinner, built a fire, played cards and roasted s'mores and went to bed. I have to admit I was a little cold in the night and had a hard time getting comfortable on my cot while keeping my head covered. But I survived. In the morning, we enjoyed some breakfast, did some mountain biking and hiking, then packed up and drove home. It was short but a good trip.

We saw a pretty cool sunrise coming over the canyon.

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Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River. This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize. This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night. It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania. However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet. I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

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Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month. My reason is that we have been super busy. At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant. We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014. We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town. Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night. It was fun to reconnect if only briefly. The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family. That was also fun but short. We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off. We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...

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