Politics, voting, and Creamies

Yesterday when I asked BigD who he would vote for he said, "Mitt, I want my Creamies back." They don't get treats in school anymore because Mrs. Obama changed the school lunch. He is really irked about it. I LOVE his reasoning.

Widtsoe, Government, and Cow poop

It is Sunday again....I will be so happy when we no longer have 9:00am church. But enough said about that. I should probably start calling this, Sunday Spill, or The-fun-stuff-we-did-in-the-last-few-weeks-that-I-finally-get-around-to-posting-on-Sunday.
We are going to check out another ghost town.
Widtsoe Utah (this name is not pronounced like it is spelled) The "T" is silent. Don't ask, I think it is because we are all a bunch of hicks. It was first occupied in 1879, and became a stopping spot for the Hole-in-the-rock pioneers. We learned in my last post, how to tell what kind of ghost town you are in. (It is after the 2nd picture, the italicized area.) Let's see if you learned anything.
I believe that this was once the Woodard House with the assay office extension on the back. I am only assuming.

The kids had a fun time wandering through this one, and speculating on what each room was used for. In the back, they could see a root cellar under the rotting floorboards. Yep, I am awesome like that. You want your kids in peril, send them with me. I want to go back and do some more wandering.

My 2 kids are right in the middle, Bryton and Justin, their cousins joined in on the fun.

 This is a pic from the outside, there was lots of rusty stuff around. Which brings me to the second thing I learned while Ghosttowning. See the first here.
#2~ Make sure you are up to date on your shots. No, we didn't have any issues this time, but easily could have. This pic is all kinds of adorable, if you ask me.

  This is an old church, I think. Only because it looks to be of similar design to the old one below. Just smaller. Again, it was difficult to get all the kids to cooperate for this pic. And by all the kids, I mean BigD. Please notice that he is looking at the ground.

I think it is the bell tower thingie, that makes me think church. Or the one room schoolhouse?

Here is a pic of the larger church from 1936, when the government bought the land to relocate the few stragglers who were left.

Can you imagine being the realtor trying to use these photos to get someone to buy here.

" It is a lovely place, lots of room to grow."

(My personal fave is the lone tree right in the center of the picture.)

 "It is a great place to live in the winter, you can unplug your freezer, and save lots of money, by just storing your frozen food outside. Oh, and did I mention Winter starts in September?"

 "Oh, and there is lots of places to shop, and by lots I mean one."

I have decided I need to do some research on what to look for, to identify places in Ghost towns. I have no idea what the thing is the boys are playing on. I LOVED the sky and the tree, in this one. I am standing on the sawdust pile from the old sawmill.

 Here is the contraption they are playing on. Any ideas what it could be?

 And just to prove that when life gives you crap, you can still grow pretty toadstools in it.

 I have no idea the make and model of this truck, but look how cute the kids are.

What kind of a ghost town is it? Since there were no ore cars or saloons, we can go with Mormon town.
At one point, this lazy little town had, 2 hotels, a church, 4 stores, a confectionery (which I am guessing is a candy store), and a 3 room schoolhouse. In 1920 the census stated that there was a population of 310 people, but in 1936 there were only 40 people left. The government came in and rescued the people from the harsh winters, and desolation. They purchased the land from them and relocated the people to other places in Utah.
So, if you go there, Don't remove ANYTHING! It would be a violation of both Federal and state laws. Plus, I guess people get all cranky if you do.

Ophir, Mercur, and Ghosts?

It is 2am on Sunday morning.
Why am I not sleeping you ask?
Stupid steroids! I really hope they help with the earache and dizziness. Since the loss of my hearing, and balance nerve in my left ear almost 4 years ago, I have had bouts of dizziness. But nothing like the last week or so, due to the ear infection/barometric pressure. But that is a different story for a different time. Me telling you this, just answers your first question in the longest way possible.
So while I am awake, and everyone else in my house is making me jealous, with all the sleeping they are getting done, I figured I would write a long overdue post, on ghost towns.
Don't ask me what my fascination is....I can't put my finger on it. I think I must feel a strong tie to things of the past. I like to imagine what went on there. Maybe I just like the old west? I have read every Louis L'Amour ever written. Some even more than once, which Mac thinks is crazy. So here we are with 2 more ghost towns, to add to the other 4, we have seen since spring break.
First is Ophir.. a friendly little town .......NOT! This welcome sign, is a ruse. But, my kids look cute posing around it.
I think LittleMan and Red are trying to look like they are lifting it. Not sure though.

Ophir has a welcome sign, but then, about every 3 feet, there is a no trespassing sign. Again, they LIED when they said "Welcome". On top of the no trespassing signs, there are several Quiet Time signs.

I took this picture just so you wouldn't think I was lying.

While visiting Ghost towns this summer I learned a few things.
#1~ Don't tell people that live there, that you came to visit their Ghost town. They tend to get their panties in a wad.
We ran into this lady, as we stopped by the town museum. (It is only open on weekends) First she informed us that this was her property. (It was the only spot in town that wasn't covered in, No Trespassing signs.)  I mentioned that I was taking my kids to see some of the ghost towns in Utah this summer. She very nicely informed me that, " this is not a ghost town, and it needed to be taken off the list". As if there were some Ghost town statistician, who I could call and give that message to. Not! She wasn't nice at all. You would think with all the sleep those town people were getting they would be a little less grumpy. Maybe it was the lack of Diet Coke, at the convenience store, since I didn't see one. So we promptly loaded back in the car, like clowns at the circus, and moseyed on up the road. Because that is what you do in the old west, is, mosey.
There is a new blog I found, while doing my research, before we visited these fun places. The man who writes this blog gave me a really good hint as to how you can tell what kind of a ghost town you are in.
"towns in Utah typically had two different backgrounds. Either you were sent to some far off patch of land by the LDS Church and spent your days trying to stay alive, or you ran off to the hills and found something of value and stayed to mine it. If you are having a hard time telling which type of town you are in, look around and count the number of ore carts that you can see. If that number is greater than zero, chances are you living in a mining town. This test may produce some incorrect results if you are visiting a mining museum."
Did I mention this guy is funny. Seriously, if he wrote history books, kids would quit drooling on their desks in class.
 If we apply his tried, and true, technique for knowing what type of ghost town you are in...

(Say this in "The Counts" voice). One ore cart....ahahahah.....
(I wish I could explain how long it took me, and how hard it was, to get my kids to pose for this picture.) Stinkers.
Two, two ore carts...ahahahaha!! We can conclude from this, that we are in fact, in a mining town.
Doesn't BigD look thrilled to be here? Truthfully though he LOVES going to see ghost towns. But maybe not so much waiting for mom to take a million pictures.
One of my favorite things in this picture, (besides my kids) is the, little water tower doohickey in the upper middle of the pic. It even had a little spigot on it.

Now you need to know,the area we were in, when the above picture was taken had, No Trespassing signs all over. I knocked on many doors in the area, hollered around, and tried to find someone to ask about the town, the rail cars, and mining equipment. No such luck. So we came, we saw , we skedaddled. (another good old western word one must use while exploring ghost towns.)
I was trying for artsy with this one, but I couldn't get BigD to stop pretending to "drink like a wino" to get a good one. Look how nice and properly Cutie and Red are being.

This structure is on the way into town. I believe it is a flume, used to transport ore down to the base of the mountain. You can see it better in the next pic down.

There is a structure up above that you can't see in this pic.

Now is that special? I will be honest, I thought it was a really pretty canyon. I could see why people lived there. Even without the silver that was mined there. Now all that is left is a cute little town, that isn't friendly, and some Iron Pyrite. In the defense of the people who live there. Generally people who live in towns of 100 people, move there because they don't like people. So I shouldn't have expected any different. oh, I almost forgot, BigD said he wanted to move there. Maybe folks would be nicer if my son moved in.

In the next canyon down you can find what is left of the ghost town of Mercur. If you want to know more about it go here. You can also use Google.
We didn't drive very far up the canyon, when we saw to the right....this. There is a little pullout spot with a sign. If you look closely you can see the picket fencing. Around about 10 graves there is the little picket fences. I have to admit, it is even a little creepy in the daytime. At night......yikes.

 Now this canyon, on the other hand, I can't see why anyone would want to live here. Can you say desolation? This is the trail you have to hike up.

Here is a blurry picture of my kids with the graves in the background. I am blaming the blurriness on the ghosts. One must have wanted to hog the picture.

 The biggest thing I wonder is why the little fences? who is buried there?

 

Did the people who buried them just get tired of burring all their neighbors and resort to rocks? I can imagine, I would be tired of hauling boards up that hill, but they were made of stronger stock.
this looks as if it could be a family of eight. This picture took forever too, mostly because I was trying to get the twins to quit hitting each other. As you can see BigD is raring back to smack LittleMan in this one.

An interesting place to visit. Apparently it is haunted, you wouldn't catch me there at night. But definitely worth seeing. My dad things Widstow cemetery is desolate, I think this one has it beat.
It is now 3:30, I think I may try for sleep again. I hope this post makes some sense.

Bats, Bravery, and Beauty!

I wish I was super smart. Or even had an Eidetic memory, no such luck. I have thought of all the clever things I could say in this post, if I could remember what I had read for more than 2 seconds. Plus then I would need to make it interesting, so you didn't nod off while reading.
One of the things we discover this year, on one of our trips to Southern Utah, was Mammoth Cave. Or as my uncle refers to them as, the lava tubes. I want to take you all there, the drive in and of itself is incredible! So beautiful!  My words will be insufficient. As you drive along a windy road ,through Ponderosa pine trees, and aspen trees, suddenly you  come around a corner to a mountain of lava rock, dotted with lichen. I believe it is Basalt, to be exact. I am not a geologist, but from what research I have done. that is my guess.

It is stunning and amazing.

Maybe I say that because, I was always, "that kid", you know the one, the one who came home from school everyday with  pockets full of rocks. So imagine, if I was actually let out in the wild. My poor parents, my dad got to the point, that every rock I picked up he would tell me they were "Leavarites" and that I needed to "leave-them-right" there. My mom would tell me, that their mom would miss them if I took them home with me. Yes, I am still that kid, at the age of 42, I just can't pass a pretty rock. Some of my kids have inherited that trait. There is always rocks rumbling around in my car from our adventures.

Rocks fascinate me, their origins, their composition, their colors. They make me all warm and fuzzy inside. Please don't read too much into that. Yes, there could be psychological parallels.

I wish this picture would give you the right perspective of its grandeur. Maybe one day I will have a camera that will help you to get a feel of this!
The kids wanted to get out and check out the huge hole in one of the lava fields. Yes, some of the kids have mud all over their faces.  sigh.  Don't ask.

 This pic gives you a little better perspective on the size of this hole.

My cousin Justin is there in the front. Mac is in the background.

 

 From what I have read, they believe this pushed up through fissures in the earths crust. I am going to keep looking for info on it, but haven't been able to find much.
 My cousin's son Atticus found the spot where he believes the lava originated. Yes, those were his exact words. See the crack, on the lower left hand side, that is the spot. Atticus and LittleMan were very excited to show me that.

 Once you think you have left all the lava fields, you come to Mammoth Cave.
I am going to give you sojme advice here. Long pants, and a GOOD flashlight, are essential, if not critical to exploring here. A hard hat would be nice, I can't tell you how many times I hit my head.

There are 3 tunnels that you can climb through. If you are claustophobic, you could just go in the main hole.  Here are all the kids, in the main hole.

BigD

The first tunnel I want to mention is the one to the right of the kids on the floor. Red and Cutie are crawling across the shelf to get to it. You can also come down through the hole you can see in front of Red. I haven't been all the way through that one. It is the only one I didn't finish. You are on your stomach, doing the commando crawl, through most of this one. The nice thing is, the floor is mostly sandy, so it isn't too bad.

Here is BigD and my cute neighbor crawling across the shelf. bigD said to me. "Mom. I am crawling like a crab."

This is where that tunnel comes out. Here is Red. He loved going through these. Even though it doesn't look like it in this pic.

 

 Now if you go back up 3 pictures, to where the kids are shining their lights in front of themselves, That is the next tunnel I want to tell you about. It is muddy, rocky and dark. But you can walk through most of it. (it is easier if you have both hearing and balance nerves.) But I made it! At the end, it is a tighter squeeze. If I can fit, most people can.

Look how shiny, and clean these 2 girls are! 

Inside the tunnel. You can see how wet, and rocky it is. This particular tunnel is closed from September to may every year, because there are a couple of species of protected bats that live  in there.

In the background, BigD, Mac, and Justin. In the front, left to right is Bryton, Tegan, and Cutie. (Cutie is the one with the headlamp, which is much preferable to a flashlight that you have to carry as you crawl over rocks. Please notice, they are all still pretty clean.

 

Red looks like he has 2 heads here, the other head is Tegan. Then there is Bryton and Cutie. Bryton and Spencer were pretty much glued at the hip all week. They even have matching hair.

Still clean here too!

Now the after photos. Please excuse the blurriness of this picture. Again, my camera stinks. Not so clean, and trust me I didn't look any better. Plus I was bruised all down my shins and my forearms. But we had fun!

BigD sat right in the cave and picked all the dirt off. It cracked me up how he was sitting there.

Remember those 2 clean girls at the first...not so much now.

I love the pose! Miss Piper found the light stick in the tunnel. It still worked! 

One tunnel left. The start is directly behind the kids. Nice big opening, sandy floor, dry...at the beginning.
BigD, LittleMan, and our neighbor Hannah.

 Beginning of the tunnel. I swear to you I hit my head every time in this tunnel.

 The second trip in to this one, we took miss Scout. Please note the ensemble. So dang cute. I asked her if I could wear her boots. She said , no. Dang.

 Now as I mentioned, the floor was nice and sandy, dry and roomy when we got started......Not so much now. This is a pic of LittleMan. Please note the lack of crawl space. I have a couple of stories to tell about this particular tunnel.

The first time we came to the lava tubes, I wasn't sure I would fit, so I waited at the beginning, I was waiting about 10 minutes when LittleMan came tearing out, all by himself. When I asked what was going on he replied, " I SAW A BAT!" I just giggled, because all the bats I saw in there were about the size of my thumb.

This trip , as we planned to go in the same tunnel, I asked him if he was coming with me. As he ducked into the tunnel he said, "I have to face my fears." I have to admit I was quite proud of him.

As we neared the end, as I crawled over rocks on my stomach,  my pants kept slipping down. By the time I got to the end, they were down about 12 inches. "Kids please avert your eyes as I come out.". But I made it. I did loose $24.00 in there and had to send the kids back in after it. They found it! 

I forgot to explain the mud facials. It had been raining that day, my kids saw a little kids playing in the mud, so naturally they had to join in. and all this before the 45 minute drive home.
Here is Red and Bryton

 And Cutie, who actually was the one who started it.

All in all, a fun adventure!

 

2 different trips were mashed together to give a good picture of what you would find here. The first trip was taken the end of July, with Red, Cutie, BigD, LittleMan, and our neighbor Hannah. The second trip was the end of August with my kids, and their cousins, Tegan, Justin, Piper, Shori, Bryton, Atticus, and Scout.



Panguitch, Pills, and Peril

I can't tell you how often I think that I need to post, and don't. I have been really dizzy the past couple of days. The dizziness is due to barometric pressure, having no hearing or balance nerve in my left ear, and an ear infection. (that I didn't realize I had). Tonight I decided, that instead of doing nothing, I would get to posting.
We had quite a few adventures this summer, that I haven't posted about.  We even have an adventuring play list on my ipod. This music contains such hits as, Marie Laveau, Bass head, Ride of the Valkyries, needless to say, a wide variety of music. Since I am the Nazi mom, I ask that my kids don't use their ipods, and we all listen to the same music together. Seriously, I am sure people passing us on the road think we have all lost our everlovin' minds! The bass head song is 6 1/2 minutes long, all techno! We crank the bass, and just bounce down the road. I really hope one day the kids remember it, with smiles on their faces.
The only vacations I took as a child were to southern Utah, and specifically Garfield county. That will probably be the same for my kids. I have tried to make it fun, we usually don't just drive down and back. We adventure a little.  We went down in July to pick up Red from my aunt's house. He really didn't want to come home, because, he informed me, "Our house is noisy." Imagine that, a house with 6 kids is noisier than one with 2 adults. Plus, he got to fish, every day my uncle had off work, the two of them would spend the whole day on the lake.
So, I loaded the other 3 kids, plus one of the neighbor kids, in the car and headed south. Yes, I needed to gather extra's because it is fun...
The ride down was uneventful. As we headed home the next day we planned to make some fun stops.

Cruising up highway 89 we first stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain. Mostly so the kids could get out and climb around.
This picture does it no justice at all. It really is beautiful!

Don't ask me what BigD is doing here. He is being his normal, funny, self. 




It was quite windy that day, but the kids had fun anyway. If you look really carefully you can see Red and LittleMan. Center of the photo, tiny black dot.

 I tried to get them all to pose, but as you can see, it never happened. Starting at the top of the photo, (again, the little black dots) LittleMan and Red, Cutie, BigD, (who knows what he is doing) and our adorable neighbor.

 Have any of you ever smelled a Ponderosa pine? They smell  like butterscotch. Now, I don't like butterscotch, but, they do smell lovely! Also there is a debate at my house whether they smell like butterscotch or vanilla. What is your opinion? Here is Cutie trying to decide for herself.

 After leaving there I remembered I hadn't taken my meds that day. Before I left home, I had put exactly what I would need for the 2 days in a zip lock bag. (My regular meds, plus 2 Excedrin pm to help me sleep.) The night before I got to bed late and so I only took one.
As we left Big Rock Candy mountain, I dumped the remainder of the bag in my hand and took them all. About 2 hours down the road, I just kept yawning, and yawning. I was so tired! About the time we reached Salina, it hit me. I turned to the kids, and asked if there had been a blue pill in my hand, when I took them all. It was concluded that, yes there was. No wonder I was so tired. We pulled over in Salina at the giant pop cans and got out, I walked around a bit and got me another diet coke. I sure wished I could have stayed for the night.

Here is LittleMan with the pop cans.

 We got back in the car, cranked up the A/C and the tunes and prayed we would make it home safe. Not too far after Salina, is Gunnison, as we were leaving Gunnison, we drove past this...

 I actually turned around so we could get a pic of ole' Mater! Is he not the most adorable thing?
We made it home safe and sound! In spite of my stupidity.