To Blanding We Did Go!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"It is time!" the voice said. Actually, the voice was mine and it said something like this, "James, we really need to go to Blanding. Bethany needs to make memories at your parents' house. How about General Conference weekend?" And then another voice, James's voice, said, "Okay!" So we went! To Blanding we did go.

Now, Blanding is kinda a fur piece from here. It's a good seven-hour ride. Here's Bethany on the way down, and I really think a picture says a thousand words:



Actually, she did really well--much better than the picture implies. Our trip to Blanding was a good testing ground to see if she can handle the 12-hour trip to Anaheim that we're in the beginning stages of planning for this winter. And she passed with flying colors!

When we arrived, Bethany immediately fell in love with her attic bedroom that Grandma Lyman had worked so hard to make just right for her! She loved "her room" and playing in "her room" the whole time we were down there! It was just right. Thank you, Grandma!



Our Blanding trip was just perfect in every way, and James loved showing Bethany his old stomping grounds, including the deck outside his old bedroom window. (She must have climbed that ladder a dozen times!)





They also enjoyed the backyard (I took this picture through a window because I heard James and Bethany laughing their heads off--get a good look at their expressions!)



James also helped his dad shingle the roof of his really GREAT new shed while we were down there. Way to build 'em Dad! ("He builds a shed.") I always think James is SO especially handsome when he's wielding a nail gun!





And our favorite part of the trip was driving over Blue Mountain and exploring the beauties therin! The fall colors were just amazing and we saw so many awesome scenes! (And I mean that in the true sense of the word "awe" some, not the usual slangish definition, because we were definitely in awe!)

This is us posing by the gold mine (a.k.a. the "Dream Mine") discovered by James' great-great grandfather, Walter C. Lyman. Walter C., who came through the Hole-in- the-Rock with that famous expedition (if you haven't read The Undaunted--do it!) was a major player in establishing Blanding. He was the driving force behind creating a water pipeline through Blue Mountain, bringing water from the Monticello side of the mountain to the Blanding side. And through a vision, in answer to prayer, he was given to know where to find a gold mine to finance that project:



And although I've always known James was worth his weight in gold, I could never, ever be a miner! Can you imagine crawling through that?



I'm just sayin' it's a little cramped and dark and dank for me down there! The real treasure of the mountain was the beauties thereon.

The vistas, the babbling brooks:



The amazing fall colors:



At the top, there was an extinct volcano that we got to climb--Bethany was big on picking up the rocks!



James and his cute mom at the top:



The view was seriously spectacular. These pictures are SO not doing this justice! And we saw so much wildlife--we even shot a deer!



(With our camera, of course, Can you imagine us shooting a deer?) And I finally got to see the cabin where James and his family spent so many fun vacations:



After we came down from the mountain (I, for one, am definitely going back--sooner rather than later!), we went and saw Grandpa Lyman. Grandpa is 94 years old, bless his heart, and in his young days actually worked in the aforementioned "Dream Mine" with his grandpa, Walter C. I couldn't resist taking a picture of three generations of Lyman men:



Good stock, those Lyman boys. After seeing Grandpa, we headed over to the local diner for some grub. When you've been traipsing over a mountain, you work up a pretty powerful hunger. And there's just something about being in Blanding that makes me eat fry bread. Must be the Navajo influence--it just gets to me!



All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Blanding and to Grandpa and Grandma Lyman.



Goodbye, Blanding, for now! Here's a picture I took out the window on the drive home--I've always really loved this rock, "Church House Rock." Pretty impressive, yes?



We also stopped at Wilson Arch on the way home and hiked to the top. The view was breathtaking! I've decided (since going to Lake Powell almost every year since I was 14), that I need a certain amount of red rock intake to keep me sane. I need to go, often, to fill up that place in my heart reserved for red rocks. Otherwise, I may snap! (And me snapping ain't pretty.) So I just soaked up the view from the Wilson Arch!



It was very windy up there. Check out Bethie's "do." That wind was really whippin'!



And the view was AMAZING!!! I loved being right under the arch.





Wilson Arch is right off of the road and we pass it every time we drive down there. Why didn't we ever stop before? We'll definitely do that again--although next time we go down, we've got our sights set on Canyonlands and Arches--we're going to make time to really do those things. It's been years since I've hiked up to the Delicate Arch; it's time to do it again!

After leaving Wilson Arch, we traveled a bit up the road and decided we needed a pit stop. So we stopped in the store which we jokingly call "Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock." The reason we call it that is simply thus:



Is it just me, or should that be: "Hole 'N the Rock?" What's up with the quotation marks after the letter "N?" What's up with quotation marks at all? Sorry, English major griping. But we like making fun of it. And it's a fun little place to stop, despite the name.

Anyway, we used their facilities:



Since we'd been to the gold mine and all, we knew exactly which bathroom to use:



And we also stumbled upon a little crypt. Imagine, being buried at Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock! (I wonder if I could convince James to bury me at Lake Powell?)



I never did figure out why President Roosevelt's face was carved into the wall at Hole-in-Quote-the-Rock. But here he is, presiding:



I wonder if he ever knew he was memorialized that way? Anyway. We had a wonderful trip, a wonderful time. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for the wonderful memories! We love you!