June 13, 2022
We had several visitors this week. First, a friend named Judy and her husband Ernie came to see us. We know Judy from the art association we belonged to when we lived in Massachusetts. We went to dinner with them at the hotel they were staying at and then took them out to Devil’s Garden to explore a bit. My next visitor was my Mom and I was overjoyed to see her and that she was willing to come all this way to see me. Since we are a five hour drive from the airport, she took some time getting here so she spent a day at the Valley of Fire State park in Nevada and a day in Zion National Park in Springdale, UT before arriving in Escalante. She found the coolest little pioneer cabin to rent in town that was originally built in 1809. It even had wildflower gardens all around it and an outdoor shower on the back porch.
I had to work for the first full day she was here so we took it easy at first and went to dinner and took a nice evening drive on scenic route 12 headed toward Boulder, UT so she could see the beautiful area. The next night we started building an awesome puzzle of Zion she brought me (pictured above) and cooked dinner together which we enjoy doing. After dinner we bought a bottle of wine and sat in a classic car at Yonder to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Mom is a deep thinker and avid reader so a few days later she read a story about the movie which explained that Ferris’ friend Cameron is really the protagonist in the movie as we see his character develop after he encounters a conflict. The story is really all about Cameron. You even had the antagonist incorrect if you thought it was the principal or Ferris’ sister. It was really Cameron’s father who we never even met.
Mom also loves quilting so we took a drive out to Panguitch, UT as they just happened to have their annual quilt festival going on. We browsed the quilts entered into the competition and those displayed by vendors. We stopped in at the trunk show and heard stories women were telling about the quilts they made and brought to show. We also learned about the original quilt walk and how this all began. In 1864, seven mormon pioneers braved a winter 40 miles journey from Panguitch to Parowan in search of food as their village was starving. The snow was waist deep so they had to abandon their oxen and wagons. It was so difficult to walk through so they laid down their quilts to kneel on and pray. That’s when they realized that the quilt kept them from sinking in the snow. They made a walkway to finish the journey by laying down one quilt after another and the village survived. Now each year at this time they have classes and shows and the main street is lined with hanging quilts. We also bought some Navajo jewelry and stopped at Kodachrome basin state park on the way home. This was my favorite quilt from the show. The Tom Jones quilt with all the panties that women throw at him.
The adventure didn’t even end there. We met up with Luke and went out to Boulder to have dinner and watch the music festival at Sweetwater Kitchen in Boulder, UT. It was a cozy farm to table restaurant and Mom and I loved the food. Luke didn’t find anything he would eat so he just drank coffee. We sat on a porch and the musicians played in the park below.
Luke and I discovered that the batteries had died in our keyless entry lock so we were locked out of the RV. Just when I thought we may have to break a window to get in, Luke managed to pick the lock. Now we have a system in which our calendar gives us reminders to change the batteries at regular intervals so hopefully that doesn’t happen again.
Mom got sick so she took a day to rest and work on the puzzle with me. It was a bummer she was sick, but it was super hot out anyhow so we didn’t want to do a lot. We made up for it the next day though by going to Capital Reef National Park which was beautiful. It was still extremely hot so we only did a couple of short walks to see some petroglyphs and to Panorama point. We took each other’s photos by the petroglyphs. Doesn’t she look happy? We also noticed that on the opposite wall os this canyon were names of some early pioneers who traveled through. It was a beautiful canyon.
Panorama point was also not disappointing at all. Also featured here is me and my happy Mom and goosenecks point. The drive up through the mountains to get here and back was also breathtaking. Mom has a couple more days here so there are more adventures to be had before she has to go back home.
