I was, of course, very excited to see our friends. They really are like family, after all, and they had been living in Monterey for the last 10 months, so I missed them. But when Bill left and I got in the car to leave, I wasn't sure at all that it would be worth being without him. I was emotional for about 2 minutes, and then I distracted myself with chatting with my youngest sister, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to.
We spent a night in Las Vegas, and then boarded a plane to Oakland, CA. Our first stop was the Oakland Temple, which was very, very beautiful.
We watched a presentation in the visitors' center about eternal families, which was nice to see with my family and my friends. But then it got to the part where the main couple's daughter was getting married, and I really missed Bill then. But I pressed on and enjoyed all the food and sights that other days brought.
I had a really great time, and I was sad to leave. But at the same time, I was very excited to get home and see Bill again. I was so excited, in fact, that I may or may not have driven my family crazy with expressing my excitement as we were on our way to the airport. . . and while waiting to board, and while on the plane, and while driving home from Las Vegas. And then we were home! And Bill came to get me, and I was really happy, and I got kind of emotional again, which is embarrassing. But he didn't notice until I told him I think. It felt so very good and right to be together again.
Mushy enough yet? You can hardly tell at all that we like each other.
That Sunday we went to church and attended our final temple prep lesson together. After giving Heather a day to recuperate from her last vacation, we loaded up the Suburban (now with working A/C) and drove on down through Zion National Park, then up and out the East park entrance toward North Fork Road and Clear Creek Ranch for my mother's family's reunion. While there for two and a half days we ate, canoed, explored on foot, ate some more, ATV'd, slept, ate, played badminton, bocce ball, ladder ball, shot skeet, ate, relaxed, ate, ATV'd, karaoked, slept again and ate some more. All together there were 29 of us sharing space in a converted horse stables.
On Wednesday morning everyone said their goodbyes and we packed our leftover food for the return trip home. On the way out we stopped and cast our eyeballs on Checkerboard Mesa in the park.
On Monday we had had to pay the $25 entry fee to drive through Zion NP, but the entry pass is good for 7 days. We decided to make good use of it and went back to Zion that Saturday. This year we'd already attempted to hike the Watchman Trail, but had to turn back when one of our group's members decide that heights didn't agree with her constitution. This time we made it a bit further, but turned around again as this time one of the group's members simply wasn't feeling all that well.
Plus, the squizzard infestation was pretty substantial this year. Instead, Heather and I played in the Virgin River, rode the tram around a little and then explored the town of Springdale together. We visited galleries, poked around rock shops and ate burgers (hers beef and mine elk) at Blondie's Diner.
When we'd been driving toward Zion earlier in the day I'd spotted a small, hand painted sign pointing the way to Grafton. I had been to the ghost town of Grafton as a kid, so after all of our treasure hunting in Springdale was over, we turned off the highway in Rockville and travelled over both paved and graded dirt roads that snaked along farms to either side. Just as we arrived at the old town itself, a couple were near the property having photos taken for their bridal/groomal session. The lighting and sunset were incredible and changed the whole time we were there.
Once all of the magic light had faded, we examined the Grafton cemetery up close, reading each individual's headstones in the ebbing light and then drove back home in the dark.
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