A Zion Christmas

Wow, there’s been some really crazy weather & horrible happenings this end of 2012. My mind is so boggled by the intentional killing of small children & firefighters. I can’t imagine the pain that creates such terrible behavior! And blizzards & tornados on Christmas Day. Could the Mayans Calendar end of the world day just have been off a bit & this bad human choices means THE END is still gona happen soon??!!

As with anyone who has received a diagnosis of cancer. . .& survived to tell about the experience, I usually feel like I’m living on borrowed time. So even bad weather & bad experiences keep me aware that I’m still alive & need to appreciate each & every hour — regardless of it’s enjoyment. However — we have had a more fantastic holiday season than we expected.

Last week we visited the ghost town of Grafton UT, less than a 10 mile drive from our campground. Although the road turns to dirt (sand?), it was fairly smooth & pretty dried out. Grafton was a small Mormon settlement, but Piute raids forced people to abandon their homes & consolidate into towns with at least 150 men. The last person was buried in their cemetery in 1924.

The few buildings remaining in the town are being lovingly restored.

Before returning to camp, we took a right turn past Smithsonian Butte onto a dirt road which crawled up to the top of a bluff onto the mesa. It was a pretty rough road in places but thankfully pretty dry. The view from near the top was so vast it seemed to flatten out along the valley.

View from Grafton

The road to get here is down there at the bottom of this mesa/butte.

The next day (Christmas Eve), we took the young couple (new to RVing) parked next to us in a Class A (without a toad) to Wal-Mart for some supplies. It had rained most of the day but seemed to be clearing up by afternoon. However on the time we drove east back to Zion from Hurricane, we hit a snow storm which already had the road white in one area. Thankfully, it was a tad warmer by the time we got back to Zion Canyon & the roads were just wet. That was a good thing because we had big plans.

Us four joined the couple parked on the other side of us at the Zion Lodge restaurant for a Christmas Eve dinner. The six of us had great food but even greater laughter & companionship!

 Taken with my phone from the Lodge.

In fact, we all had so much fun together that we spent most of Christmas Day together sitting around our campfire & picnic table. Jeff started a fire early & baked beans in a small Dutch oven in the coals & (boxed) scalloped potatoes over the grate. He’d already marinated ribs overnight & baked them in our neighbor’s RV oven that morning. Our neighbors each brought deserts. The sun was strong, the wind died down, the sky was clear (mostly), & we all talked, laughed, ate, talked more, laughed harder, ate again, & continued talking & laughing until after dark when we finally burned up all the wood we’d all accumulated.

The day after Christmas then (as the blizzards & strong winds are tearing up half the US), we did have some snow flurries & gloomy skies — so we all went to the Imax theater just outside the south gate to watch The Hobbit, in 3D. Wow — impressive! Now we can watch the three Lord of the Rings shows I recorded earlier this week.

Here’s a great little video of driving thru Zion taken by Mike (our camp host) from Light Curves: http://vimeo.com/56295695.

We’ve got a week to go before heading south, & sure hate to leave this area as we’ve enjoyed it so much. We still have some chores to get done — but we’ve really enjoyed all the R&R.