Thanksgiving odyssey

Vickie and I took a whole week away from normal life to go South for Thanksgiving week. We started with a drive through the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park, and hiked out to an amazing viewpoint. Kolob Canyon actually serves as the terminus for three hiking trails; we went on the shortest, and started out on another of them before it got too dark.



We then went into St. George, where we stayed for a couple days with my Uncle Vern and Aunt Bonnie. They are wonderful people with great senses of humor and the ability to completely enjoy the present. We spent a whole day with them in the other part of Zion National Park, exploring Zion's Canyon, and hiking the River Walk, up to the Weeping Rock, and up to the Emerald Pools. Considering how recently Vickie has been back to having two functional knees, it was a terrific day. She really hikes well, and we're enjoying getting out and around.

After we left, them we drove on to Phoenix, where Vickie's son Adam and his family live in the suburb of Chandler. On the way, we stopped and bought some cheese from the polygamist community of Colorado City, then visited Pipe Spring National Monument, a place that few people know about. In the 1870's Brigham Young sent a 'cattle mission' down there to manage the cattle that had been given the Church as tithing in kind. They ensured that there would be few problems with the Indians by building a fort on top of the only springs in a huge area - all in all, not a very nice thing to do.

The Piutes in the area already had enough problems: they were continually raided by stronger tribes, the Utes and Navajos, who stole women and children and sold them to the Spanish as slaves. Between 1750 and 1900, the tribal population declined from about 7,000 to 76! It was particularly interesting because our guide was a Piute Indian, who told us about the hardships of his ancestors in this area. Pipe Spring is really a place to see if you ever have the chance.
We finally made it to Phoenix (actually Chandler) and had a great time with grandkids. In addition to the Thanksgiving feast, we got to watch Lizzie at her riding lessons (she was very frustrated because her horse wasn't active enough...), go meet Vickie's college roommate Adrian Shelton and her husband at their house in Tuscson, help Adam replace the rocks that had comprised their front yard with real grass, and see the Chandler Children's Choir (which Aimee founded and leads) in concert. We also got in some swimming and a pie party where playing and singing was competing pretty hard with the pies. Here are some pictures:



















Finally, here's a video clip of the Chandler Children's Choir for your edification and delight: